Solved can't unmount ISO

DustyB · Monday at 10:59 PM

I mounted an ISO I created and all was fine however I can't unmount it. Eject is gray and disabled. Sometimes I see eject is enabled and when I click it, the PC reports a very generic error. Sorry I can't capture the text of the message at this moment. I'm running Windows 11 Home, Version 24H2, build 26100.4061.

Ghot · Monday at 11:01 PM

Hello @DustyB and welcome to ElevenForum.

You probably have a file in that ISO "opened" or "in use" somewhere, and that is causing the Eject option to be greyed out.

DustyB · Monday at 11:05 PM

I've tried rebooting the PC and immediately going to file explorer, right click on the ISO mounted on a drive letter and still no luck. This has been hanging on for a couple of months and is the only ISO i've ever mounted on this PC. The ISO drive shows as a CD Drive when this PC doesn't even have one.

Ghot · Monday at 11:08 PM

DustyB said:
I've tried rebooting the PC and immediately going to file explorer, right click on the ISO mounted on a drive letter and still no luck. This has been hanging on for a couple of months and is the only ISO i've ever mounted on this PC. The ISO drive shows as a CD Drive when this PC doesn't even have one.

Mounted ISOs always show as a CD or DVD drive. That's normal.

Without knowing what ISO you're dealing with, it's hard to say.
You can try going into Safe Mode and Ejecting it there?

Another option would be to just delete the actual ISO itself, where ever it happens to be on your comp.
If it won't let you, there are programs like EMCO UnLockIT (free), that can help with that.

DustyB · Monday at 11:13 PM

Ghot said:
Mounted ISOs always show as a CD or DVD drive. That's normal.

Without knowing what ISO you're dealing with, it's hard to say.
You can try going into Safe Mode and Ejecting it there?

I tried that once but the PC started asking questions I have no answer for. Seems I recall it wanted some kind of recovery key, something I never set up. I gave up trying Safe Mode after that.

Ghot · Monday at 11:15 PM

DustyB said:
I gave up trying Safe Mode after that.

See my additions in the post above.

antspants · Tuesday at 12:57 AM

Tell us what the ISO is so we might be able to find out what processes are running. It may help a lot.

You could also try opening Task Manager
The most common and quickest method is pressing Ctrl+Shift+Esc on your keyboard. Or Ctrl+Alt+Delete
Check to see if you can Identify anything that may be running or being accessed on the mounted ISO

DustyB said:
The ISO drive shows as a CD Drive when this PC doesn't even have one.

That’s normal.

You could also try Ejecting the Virtual Drive (ISO) via Disk management. Just as a Hail Mary

Open Disk Management by right-clicking the Start button and selecting "Disk Management".
Locate the virtual drive representing the ISO. It will usually be listed as a virtual CD/DVD-ROM drive.
Right-click on the drive and select "Eject".

abactuon · Tuesday at 2:11 AM

DustyB · Tuesday at 11:45 AM

antspants said:
Tell us what the ISO is so we might be able to find out what processes are running. It may help a lot.

You could also try opening Task Manager
The most common and quickest method is pressing Ctrl+Shift+Esc on your keyboard. Or Ctrl+Alt+Delete
Check to see if you can Identify anything that may be running or being accessed on the mounted ISO

That’s normal.

You could also try Ejecting the Virtual Drive (ISO) via Disk management. Just as a Hail Mary

Open Disk Management by right-clicking the Start button and selecting "Disk Management".
Locate the virtual drive representing the ISO. It will usually be listed as a virtual CD/DVD-ROM drive.
Right-click on the drive and select "Eject".

The ISO is one I created with ImgBurn, of an archive of a web site. The archive opens and plays fine from an external DVD drive or also from the ISO.

I can't see the mounted ISO in Disk management. I see several partitions of various sizes but nothing near the size of the ISO or any drive letter other than C.

The thing that prevents me from booting my PC in safe mode is BitLocker. I guess Dell installed it, I know I didn't. To boot in safe mode I have to provide some BitLocker key and I have no idea what Dell might have used.

Task Manager shows a lot of items running but no indication what might be connected to my ISO.

DustyB · Tuesday at 12:17 PM

I found my BitLocker key in my Microsoft account. I guess its generated when setting up the PC. I guess I'll have to get enough courage to try safe mode again.

antspants · Tuesday at 4:10 PM

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antspants · Tuesday at 4:28 PM

It’s fine to try unmounting an ISO in safe mode, but my question would be why you can’t unmount (Eject) a virtual drive (ISO)?
The only way I can think that this is happening is if something has locked it in at boot, something has to be running in Task Management.
Maybe it was the way it was created with ImgBurn?

You can see it in File Explorer.
What drive letter is the Virtual Drive assigned in File Explorer?

Regardless
Open PowerShell as administrator.
Obviously change the path to the ISO

Powershell:

Dismount-DiskImage -ImagePath "C:\Path\To\ISO\File.iso"

If you’re unsure of the path (you probably aren’t)

Powershell:

Get-DiskImage

DustyB · Tuesday at 5:03 PM

antspants said:
It’s fine to try unmounting an ISO in safe mode, but my question would be why you can’t unmount (Eject) a virtual drive (ISO)?
The only way I can think that this is happening is if something has locked it in at boot, something has to be running in Task Management.
Maybe it was the way it was created with ImgBurn?

You can see it in File Explorer.
What drive letter is the Virtual Drive assigned in File Explorer?

Regardless
Open PowerShell as administrator.
Obviously change the path to the ISO

Powershell:

Dismount-DiskImage -ImagePath "C:\Path\To\ISO\File.iso"

If you’re unsure of the path (you probably aren’t)

Powershell:

Get-DiskImage

The drive letter assigned is D:\

Dismount-DiskImage -ImagePath "C:\NoCloud\scratch\MyISO.iso" has no effect, does not unmount it or generate any error message

antspants · Tuesday at 5:13 PM

Possibly has something to do with the fact that the ISO is on C:

DustyB · Tuesday at 5:15 PM

How do I open powershell as administrator? Perhaps that is why nothing happened.

antspants · Tuesday at 5:18 PM

Try diskpart

list volume
select volume X
- X being the volume of the mount
remove all dismount

antspants · Tuesday at 5:21 PM

DustyB said:
How do I open powershell as administrator? Perhaps that is why nothing happened.

Open Elevated Windows Terminal as Administrator in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you different ways to open an elevated Windows Terminal to Run as Administrator in Windows 11. Windows Terminal is a modern host application for the command-line shells you already love, like Command Prompt, PowerShell, and bash (via Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL))...

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DustyB · Tuesday at 5:21 PM

antspants said:
Try diskpart

list volume

select volume X

X being the volume of the mount

remove all dismount

It doesn't show drive D:\ with "list volume".

antspants · Tuesday at 5:29 PM

Open CMD as Admin
mountvol X:\ /D
X being the drive letter of mounted ISO (Replace X)
Yours is D

mountvol
mountvol D:\ /D

antspants · Tuesday at 5:32 PM

Take a look in Device Manager?
1. Open Device Manager (`”devmgmt.msc” via Run).
2. Expand DVD/CD-ROM drives.
3. Right-click the mounted ISO (If there) and select Uninstall

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