2

I need to access a few files which are part of a linux distro iso that I've downloaded. I can't install the distro so I was wanting to mount it if that's possible under Mac OS X.

I found a guide that suggested just double clicking the iso but I get the error "No mountable file systems"

Any suggestions?

Improve this question

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
13

I was having some trouble with this whilst trying to install Arch Linux via PXE. I found a working answer here, which can be summed up as follows:

❯ mkdir arch-mount

❯ hdiutil attach -nomount archlinux-2017.05.01-x86_64.iso
/dev/disk2              FDisk_partition_scheme          
/dev/disk2s2            0xEF

❯ mount -t cd9660 /dev/disk2 arch-mount
Improve this answer
1
  • Still working with Monterey +1.
    – Rui F Ribeiro
    Commented Jan 13, 2022 at 9:33
0

So it appears the issue is with the way the iso was created.

Here is an answer from the Ask Ubuntu site.

https://askubuntu.com/a/153909

Since 11.10, Ubuntu ISOs have been "hybrid", meaning that the ISO can also be written bit-for-bit to a USB device to make it a working Live-USB, without having to use StartUp Disk Creator, UNetBootin, etc.

Note that this "hybrid" is different from the OS X/Disk Utility definition of "hybrid", which simply refers to an ISO readable on both Mac (HFS+) and Windows (ISO9660).

Ubuntu's hybrid functionality is provided by the isohybrid script in the SysLinux bootloader. It works by encapsulating the standard ISO9660 CD filesystem within a partition, so that it will work unmodified if written to a USB/hard disk.

So I wasn't able to mount the iso in the way I was wanting however I did find a file extraction tool called Keka that allowed me to extract the distro iso and then browse the filesystem. Which was the next best thing.

Improve this answer
1
  • While this link may answer the question, it is better to include the essential parts of the answer here and provide the link for reference. Link-only answers can become invalid if the linked page changes.
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Jan 2, 2016 at 11:10

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .