Mounting an ISO

If you need to pull files from an ISO image file, is it unnecessary to first burn the image to a CD or DVD. By using the lofiadm command you can just mount the ISO and browse its contents.

The lofiadm command associates a file with a block device (you must provide an absolute path to the file). The device that becomes associated with the ISO is returned:

bleonard@opensolaris:~$ pfexec lofiadm -a ~/Desktop/sol-10-u5-ga-x86-dvd.iso 
/dev/lofi/1
bleonard@opensolaris:~$ 

Running lofiadm with no parameters will list the associated devices:

bleonard@opensolaris:~$ lofiadm
Block Device             File                          
Options
/dev/lofi/1              /export/home/bleonard/Desktop/sol-10-u5-ga-x86-dvd.iso
-
bleonard@opensolaris:~$ 

Now the device can be mounted:

bleonard@opensolaris:~$ pfexec mount -F hsfs /dev/lofi/1 /mnt
bleonard@opensolaris:~$ ls /mnt
boot  Copyright  installer  JDS-THIRDPARTYLICENSEREADME  License  Solaris_10
bleonard@opensolaris:~$

The lofiadm and mount steps can be combined into one as follows:

pfexec mount -F hsfs `pfexec lofiadm -a ~/Desktop/sol-10-u5-ga-x86-dvd.iso` /mnt

When finished, use the following to unmount and detach the image:

pfexec umount /mnt

pfexec lofiadm -d /dev/lofi/1