Mounting ISO files as non-admin

Well a long time ago I posted about using Virtual CDRom Control Panel to create a Virtual CDRom Drive (i.e. mount ISO files). I use this quite often however now that I have switched to being a non-administrator on my system I can't use it anymore. I keep getting the error message "Cannot Open SCM : Access is denied". I tried to figure out how to setup the correct permissions and got as far as attempting to change the Security Descriptor via the sc command, but no luck. Eventually I gave up and looked for another way to mount ISO files.

Currently I have installed Daemon Tools and it allows me to mount ISO files properly. Like most other stuff you do need to install Daemon Tools as an Administrator but afterwards it works properly for normal users.

9 Comments

  • For anyone running their systems as non-admins but do have access to a local admin account and want to continue using the Virtual CDRom Control Panel you can do the following:

    right-click on the program's icon, select "Run as..." then choose the Radio Button that allows you to put in the username and password of a local admin account. Then just run as usual, keeping in mind that you are in the context of the admin account things like My Docs and the Desktop won't correspond to the currently logged in user.

  • You are a life-saver - The Run As for Virtual CDRom is wonderful! It worked great.

  • Thanks. Great help.

  • while running as administrator works for VCdControlTool, it still does show the drive in the system. It is invisible.

  • I guess the last guy meant:

    "while running as administrator works for VCdControlTool, it still does NOT show the drive in the system. It is invisible"

    this is my experience. For whatever reason the virtual drive is not seen by Explorer when using the "run as" workaround.

  • Hi all,

    A solution that works for me running 32-bit Vista Home Premium:

    1. GETTING VCDCONTROLTOOL WORKING:

    a) right click VCdControlTool, select properties and then compatibility

    b) select compatibility for Windows XP SP2 and tick the run as administrator box

    The program should now run and allow you to add drives and mount images

    2. GETTING THE DRIVES TO SHOW UP IN EXPLORER

    a) run a command prompt as administrator (right click and "run as administrator")

    b) check that it can see your virtual drives by typing Z: (or whatever driveletter you assigned)

    c) run explorer as admin from the command line by typing:

    explorer -admin

    at the c:\ prompt

    d) your drive(s) should now be visible in explorer.

    It would appear that only applications running as admin can see the newly-created drives.

  • Should make it clear that for some odd reason you need to run explorer as admin FROM A COMMAND PROMPT RUN AS ADMIN, i.e. navigating to explorer.exe in the windows directory and running it as admin via a right click does not make the cd drives visible :(

    You could always make a simple batch file to run explorer with admin rights each time you want to run VCdControlTool. Open notepad and enter the following:

    explorer -admin

    then save it as .bat and save it somewhere memorable like in the same folder as vcdcontroltool. right click and run as admin each time you want to see you drives.

    OK, it only saves a few clicks, but what are computers for if not for saving time :)

    Cheers.

  • "while running as administrator works for VCdControlTool, it still does NOT show the drive in the system. It is invisible"

    Assuming you're trying to run this under vista, go to all programs->accessories and right click Command Prompt and run-as Administrator. This Dos shell will allow you into the drive you've created

  • What do you do with Vista? I tried the administrator bit, and it got further, but it still did not load the image.
    Leon

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