Windows – ‘Sorry, there was a problem mounting the file’ With ISO Files

KB ID 0001122 

Problem

Seen on Windows 10, and Server 2012, when attempting to open or mount an ISO file, (even downloaded direct from Microsoft). You get the following error;

Note: Can also been seen with .VHD files.

Problem Mounting iso

Couldn’t Mount File

Sorry, there was a problem mounting the file.

Solution

Before you try anything else simply COPY the iso file to the root of your C: drive, and try again.

99% of the time simply copying the file to the C: drive will fix the problem, but if you’re still reading then that’s probably not the case for you? The problem is most likely that the ISO file has had the sparse attribute set.

Option 1

Download Remove Sparse > Extract the Contents and > Run the .reg file.

Run .reg File

Now you have the option to remove Sparse on the right click menu.

ISO Remove Sparse

Option 2

You can open an administrative command window and remove the sparse attribute from command line;

fsutil Remove Sparse Flag

fsutil sparse setflag {Path to the .iso file} 0

fsutil  sparse queryflag {Path to the .iso file}

Related Articles, References, Credits, or External Links

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Author: PeteLong

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6 Comments

  1. I’ve been searching high and low for a solution to this and I see this one posted over and over yet it doesn’t work for me, so there must be something else causing it.

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    • Story of my life! Not really a fix but if I struggle with this, I usually install the free version of 7Zip and associate it it with .iso files. Then you can open them like a ZIP archive. Not a fix I know, but it’s my standard work-around 🙂

      P

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  2. Hugs and kisses man, I’m not going to copy 40gb file in an another folder everytime. Luckily this solves my problem. Thank you million times…

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  3. I fixed the disappearing DVD drive, but this mounting thing is still a huge pain in the arse for me.

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    • Atrax,
      how did you fix the disappearing DVD issue?

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  4. I must have tried every other method; copying to root did it perfectly. Many, many thanks.

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