How to Create an ISO File at the Command Line

An ISO file is an archive image of an optical disk, either a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM. It is the file format you find when you download a Linux distribution. It can also be used to archive files either for storing on a hard drive or for burning to optical. Learn how to create a basic ISO file from the command line in Linux.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Unix or Linux

1. Create a directory to hold your files.
   mkdir ~/cd_files/

2. Move all the files you want in the ISO into your directory.
   mv file1 file2 ~/cd_files

3. Ensure that your directory does not exceed the size of the media you want to store it on.
   du -h ~/cd_files
   This command shows you the disk usage (size) of your directory and all the files in it. The line you are looking for will look like:
   700M cd_files/

4. Create the ISO file.
   mkisofs -o mymedia.iso ~/cd_files

5. Make a mount directory for the ISO file.
   sudo mkdir /mnt/disk

6. Mount the ISO file with the following command:
   sudo mount -o loop mymedia.iso /mnt/disk

7. Check to make sure your ISO contains all your files.
   ls -la /mnt/disk

Tips & Warnings

• The makeisofs command has many different options for creating bootable images, specifying file system meta data, specifying whether the final ISO will be burnable to CD-ROM or DVD-ROM and more. It is a good idea to read the mkisofs main page before creating ISO files. It is possible to install and run mkisofs on a Windows computer.

References

• mkisofs Man Page