Can I mount IMG files in Hyper-V?

The vast majority of the software I use on a regular basis is packaged as either standalone executables, MSIs, or ISO images. However, the Team Foundation Server client for Visual Studio 2005 (yes, I still have to use 2K5 regularly) is in an IMG file. With VMWare Workstation, this wasn’t a problem; IMG images could be mounted just as easily as ISO images. Hyper-V (and R2), unfortunately, is limited to mounting ISOs. So how do I get the VSTF client installed on my Hyper-V guest?

Given the rarity of IMG files nowadays, I decided to settle for a one-off workaround, and convert my IMG to an ISO that would be broadly compatible with any image mounting software, including Hyper-V.  Several options are available for this; I used MagicISO to do the conversion.  The entire process, from download to new ISO, took only a few minutes, and I was able to successfully mount what had originally been an IMG image.

2 Responses to “Can I mount IMG files in Hyper-V?”

  1. Tristan Watkins Says:

    Hi Scott. MagicISO sorted me out as well, but I just mounted the IMG with it, if memory serves? I belive I mounted it on my host and just installed over an internal network from the mounted IMG.

    For what it’s worth, we seem to be tackling a lot of similar issues right now (I found you on the Virtual PC Guy blog and I was also mounting VS 2005 TFC).

    • Scott Havens Says:

      I could have mounted the IMG file with MagicISO, but I wasn’t sure how many times in the future I’d need to install the TFS client again. Given that, I decided to go the more permanent route of converting the IMG so I wouldn’t need to bother with MagicISO or some equivalent IMG mounter at any point in the future.


Comments are closed.