Hi guys.....My father is a beta tester for home server. He downloaded the software and burned the iso to a dvd. The computer he was going to install it in has a bad optical drive. Can the file be opened any other way. It is only like 1.4 gig and i have a 2 gig flash drive. Can a iso file be opened or installed directly to the hard drive via the usb flash drive?.....Thanx for the help im a linux guy so I REALLY don know much about windows, I am just trying to help out my father.

Hmmm...

Microsoft has a free program:

"Virtual ISO CD drive mount" or something similar that may resolve your issue.

Hold on, let me look it up...

One place that describes it - Virtual CD-ROM Control Panel v2.0.1.1- and it can be downloaded, is h e r e.

It is one of those "unsupported" by Microsoft programs, but I've used it successfully.

Hope it works for your situation.

There are many programs out there that simulate a CD/DVD ROM drive and placing the iso in the drive so to speak. Jump on google and look up Virtual CD/DVD Drives and see what programs are lurking the WWW.

Depending on how old your BIOS is in the computer youwant to install Home Server, you can set it to boot from a USB device.