Mounting CD/DVD ISO images in Windows XP

Have you ever wished there was a (free) Windows equivalent to the linux "mount -o loop" command to mount CD/DVD ISO images?

Well, I just found out there is a tiny free tool from Microsoft (though unsupported) that does just that: it is called "Virtual CD-ROM Control Panel for Windows XP" and it allows you to browse a CD/DVD iso image (.iso file) as if it was a real CD/DVD connected to your Windows XP system. The tool will assign a drive letter to the virtual CD (e.g. Z:) and from that moment on you will be able to access it, read-only, using all the normal utilities like Windows Explorer and from any program (e.g. File->Open).

Direct link the tool:

http://download.microsoft.com/download/7/b/6/7b6abd84-7841-4978-96f5-bd58df02efa2/winxpvirtualcdcontrolpanel_21.exe

This is where I found the reference to the tool:

Go to:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/subscriptions/faq/
Click on:
What are ISO image files and how do I use them?
Click on:
Mounting ISO files virtually:
See the text:
---
The following tool for Windows XP allows image files to be mounted
virtually as CD-ROM/DVD-ROM devices. This tool is provided here for
your convenience, and is unsupported by Microsoft Product Support
Services.
* Virtual CD-ROM Control Panel for Windows XP
---
The last line of the text above (Virtual CD-ROM Control Panel for Windows XP) contains the link mentioned before.

David.