Scott Hanselman

How to convert an IMG file to an standard ISO easily with Linux on Windows 10

February 13, 2019 Comment on this post [10] Posted in Gaming | Musings
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Modded Goldstar 3DO for USBThe optical disc drive is giving out on my GoldStar 3DO machine. It's nearly 30 years old. I want to make sure that the kids and I can still play our 3DO discs. I ordered this fantastic USB mod for the 3DO from a fellow out of Belarus. It came and it's great. It includes a game/file selector app that you boot off of if you put it in the root of a FAT32 formatted USB drive.

However, when I cloned my collection of CD-ROMS I ended up with a bunch of IMG files, and this mod wants ISO files. I thought my cloner was going to give me ISOs. I did the obvious thing and googled for "how to convert an img file to an iso."

This plunged me into the hellscape that is CNET and Major Geeks download wrappers. Every useful application or utility out there is hidden on a page filled with Download Now buttons that aren't the button you want OR if you get the app you want, it's actually a Chrome Search hijacker. I just want to convert a damn IMG to an ISO. If you want to do this on Windows you're going to be installing a bunch of virus-laden trial ISO cracking crap.

Fortunately, Windows 10 can run Linux very nicely, thank you very much. Go install Ubuntu from the Windows Store and get set up ASAP.

I just installed ccd2iso inside Ubuntu on my Windows 10 machine.

scott@IRONHEART:~$ sudo apt install ccd2iso
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following NEW packages will be installed:
ccd2iso
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 27 not upgraded.
Need to get 7406 B of archives.
After this operation, 26.6 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic/universe amd64 ccd2iso amd64 0.3-7 [7406 B]
Fetched 7406 B in 0s (21.0 kB/s)
Selecting previously unselected package ccd2iso.
(Reading database ... 61432 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../ccd2iso_0.3-7_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking ccd2iso (0.3-7) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.8.3-2ubuntu0.1) ...
Setting up ccd2iso (0.3-7) ...
scott@IRONHEART:~$ cd /mnt/c/Users/scott/Desktop/3do/

Then I cd (change directory) into my file system where my IMG backups are. Note that my C:\ drive on Windows is at /mnt/c so you can see me in a folder on my Desktop here. Then just run ccd2iso.

scott@IRONHEART:/mnt/c/Users/scott/Desktop/3do$ ccd2iso AloneInTheDark.img AloneInTheDark.iso
179500 sector written
Done.

Boom. Super fast and does the job and now I'm up and running! Regardless of why you got to this blog post and needed to convert an IMG to an ISO, I hope this helps and saves you some time!


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About Scott

Scott Hanselman is a former professor, former Chief Architect in finance, now speaker, consultant, father, diabetic, and Microsoft employee. He is a failed stand-up comic, a cornrower, and a book author.

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February 15, 2019 20:42
A few years soon after Linux on Windows was release, I was developing some web apps in Visual Studio, someone else's code added a bunch of JS that was getting restored though Gulp or something, but it got in a loop creating directories deeper and deeper before crashing. Windows could not delete it because "the file path is too long", I started trying to make the folders a single char until I remembered that I had Linux on my Windows. A quick
rm -rf
and boom the folder that was created in Windows, that Windows could not delete, was gone! Having Linux on your Windows has come in handy a few other times but this was my first major selling point.
February 15, 2019 22:11
"...into the hellscape that is CNET and Major Geeks download wrappers..." These sites have gotten out of control. CNET is the new SourceForge. As a PC user, where does one go to get legit share ware and free ware apps?
February 16, 2019 11:56
A long time ago, I discovered that any Google query for apps containing the word "Converter" or "Convert" is doomed to fail in the same manner that you mentioned.

Back then, I was looking for a video converter. (Oh, horrors!) So, I eventually tried "transcoding" instead. Soon, I discovered powerful options: Handbrake, XMedia Recode and MeGUI (which is the contender for the title of the worst UI ever). I stayed away from the most powerful option for years: ffmpeg! But can you see how they don't have "converter" in their names?

But as for working with discs and disc images, the most powerful options are UltraISO, PowerISO, ISOBuster (which does not have much to do with .iso files), Daemon Tools and (this one might surprise you) 7-Zip. The features of these tools are mutually exclusive; I use all of them.
February 17, 2019 23:17
I think even prettier and cleaner way to use LCOW (linux containers on windows) for this task. Nothing left behind after conversion except for the files you want
February 18, 2019 7:34
@Jeff
As a PC user, where does one go to get legit share ware and free ware apps?

The answer lies in the power of the Universal Windows Applications.

Type Store in the Cortana box.It will bring up Microsoft Store, clicking that will give you access to alot of cool stuff for windows 10

I recommend Inkscape , Gimp for graphic editors.

I am still on the fence about PDF Jack. I love and hate it at the same time.

There is something in there built for every purpose so look around.

February 18, 2019 7:37
Scott,
Ironheart? Is this a very very old Gamer reference I should be aware of?
February 18, 2019 19:07
All Download buttons will disappear if you use Pi-Hole.
February 20, 2019 10:23
I did same but since I'm boring GUI man I just used virtual cd and imgburn. After modding my 3do with RBG mod I can enjoy much clearer picture in my huge OLED tv thanks to OSSC.
February 21, 2019 22:09
I don't have any .img file to test this theory with, but creating a text file on Windows 10 and changing its extension to .img shows that you can right-click on an .img file and then select Mount.

Then presumably, ImgBurn's "Create image file from disc" will see the mounted drive like any other and let you create an ISO out of it...?

[Edit]
Looks like Scottish Pantsman above has already proved it (although using Virtual CD rather than Win10's built-in IMG mount capability)
February 26, 2019 17:10
Thanks so Much i Need This

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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.