Burning CD-ROMs from ISO images

Under Windows

All the popular CD writing software for Windows should be able to handle ISO images directly - it's just a matter of finding the right way to do it. Here, we currently provide instructions for Easy CD Creator and Nero.

Easy CD Creator

Launch Easy CD Creator, and go to the "File" menu and select "Create CD from disc image". In the file dialog that pops up, make sure you choose "ISO image files" as the file type in the drop-down menu at the bottom. Then browse to and select the file you to use as an image, and the program will do the rest for you.

Nero

On launching Nero, close the wizard if it has opened. Then go to the "File" menu and select the "Burn image..." option. In the next dialog, choose "All files (*.*)" as the file type and select the ISO file you wish to use as an image. The next dialog will ask you to supply detailed image parameters. Here make sure these parameters are set as follows:

Type of Image is: Data Mode 1
Block size: 2048
Image header: 0
Image trailer: 0

and that all the checkboxes are unactive. Then click "Ok". In the next dialog check that the "Write" and "Finalize" option are active. Then click on "Burn".

Under Linux

The tool cdrecord can be used to burn CDs under Linux, and this should be available with most distros. For more information, see the CD-Writing HOWTO. Also, various graphical front-ends for cdrecord are available, for example, XCDRoast.

To write an ISO file using cdrecord, you'll will need to enter a command-line of the form:

cdrecord -v speed=4 dev=4,0 image.iso

Here, the dev= option specifies the SCSI device and bus number of your CD writer. (Note that ATAPI devices appear on an emulated SCSI bus). You find this number with by entering:

cdrecord --scanbus