# My computer won't open any ISO files!



## tdunlavey (Mar 30, 2009)

Hey guys. Recently my computer has stopped opening or mounting ISO or "CD/DVD image" files. I've noticed this ever since I reformatted my computer. I am running Vista x86, SP1.

I have attempted to mount or open the ISO files with WinRAR, WinISO, PowerISO, MagicISO, and 7-Zip. All of these programs give me similar errors. 

PowerISO Error: "Name of file".Iso, The file format is invalid or unsupported.

MagicISO Error: Can't find the file or file isn't CD image file!

WinRAR error: The archive is either in unknown format or damaged

WinISO error: Cannot open file: it appears to be a invalid format image!

7-Zip error: Can not open file "FILE LOCATION/NAME.ISO" as archive

I have tried opening older ISO files that I know worked and opened previously, and they all give me this error! I know that these older ones are not corrupted. 

Any help on this issue is greatly appreciated!


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## wmorri (May 29, 2008)

Hi,

Welcome to TSF!!

Can you tell us what iso file you are looking to burn, and also where you are downloading it from? I want to make sure that it is a good iso and that the md5 checksum is good when you download it.

Cheers!


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## joeten (Dec 4, 2008)

hi it could be a codec problem you may need to install them ie klite but do the check of iso first no point installing anything if the file is at fault


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## wmorri (May 29, 2008)

> hi it could be a codec problem you may need to install them ie klite


I don't follow your logic on that one. What would a codec have to do with an iso burning program? If you could flesh out that answer it would be great.

Cheers!


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## joeten (Dec 4, 2008)

hi invalid format etc can be a codec missing for prog to utilise


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## Dracia (Mar 19, 2008)

Hi Joeten, if I'm not mistaken codecs are to do with video and not iso.


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

burn the iso to disk with this

http://www.imgburn.com/index.php?act=download


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## Shadowmeph (Jan 30, 2009)

if you were downloading the ISO is it finished ( complete) and is it an actual ISO or was it made by a program. I had this free program ( I don't remember the name of it) but it was supposed to be able to make a folder into an ISO file I tried it and when it made a ISO out of a folder I could never open it up with any programs like Power ISO even imgburn ( which is a great free program) wouldn't let me Burn the ISO's that I made with this program so i ended up just loading Power ISO and drag and dropping the Files into it and remaking all of the Images. So I Check and make sure that it is an actual ISO file.


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## tdunlavey (Mar 30, 2009)

Thanks for all the help guys! 

@ Wmorri - These are ripped pc games from my personal collection. Just incase my original games stop working. A lot of them are getting real old! 

@Shadowmeph - These are actual ISO files, not ones that I've personally compiled or made. I've burnt them to DVD-R's before in the past, so I'm just unsure about why they're not working now.

@joeten - Sorry but I have to agree with Wmorri. I'm not sure that a codec could cause this problem. I think you may have been referring to a missing .dll file or something within the application used to open ISOs. (like a corrupt install of powerISO or something).

@Dai - Thanks, I'll try this when I get home tonight. I actually think you could be right on this one. I can't remember if I ever really opened these ISO files, or if I simply burned them to a blank disc using NERO. I no longer have nero, so I'll go ahead and try imgburn (which sounds really familiar, and I'm sure I've used this before somewhere)... But isn't powerISO, magicISO, and winRAR supposed to burn ISO or image files to discs? I could've sworn that I've done that before... 

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. I really appreciate it! I'll let you know if I can find a fix, and after I try Imgburn.


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## joeten (Dec 4, 2008)

hi yeah my bad on that one should have read the post better


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