How Can I Add Additional Files in ISO Image without Destroying Its Current MBR (Working 100%)

The use of DVD and CD is depleting day by day, as they possess vulnerabilities like getting scratched, damaged or even getting broken into. As a safe practice, backing them up in the form of images on the hard drives or on pen drives (USB drives) is quite popular these days.

When it comes to making DVD images, .ISO is one of the most popular disk image file format, and UltraISO is an equally popular application to prepare the desired ISO images.

When you make a bootable disk, the trick lies in the MBR i.e. the Master Boot Record that holds the boot sector’s information. These are the special set of codes that make the bootable disks boot the system.

The MBR gets corrupted when you try to add some files to a bootable ISO image by extracting its contents and then re-creating the ISO image normally. With this approach, a simple bootable disc becomes non-bootable. If you wish to add files to an ISO image without destroying the current MBR, just follow the below described steps:

1. Initialize the UltraISO program from the Start menu, using any privileges.
2. On the UltraISO’s interface, select File from the menu tabs.
3. On the drop-down list that opens, click on Open.
   
   
4. On the browsing window, locate and open the target ISO file.
5. On the main window, in the menu bar click on Actions menu.
6. From the drop-down, click on Add Files.
   
   
7. On the browser window that appears, locate and select the files you wish to add, and hit OK.
8. Once the files are added, from the menu bar, click on File.
9. On the drop-down, click on Save As, and save the image with a new name and you are done. 

This will add the additional files into your ISO image, and you can access them directly from the image file. This process will create a new ISO image without destroying its MBR. The new ISO that you created will have additional files as well as the MBR from the original image.

Note: Try not to add an installation file (.EXE or .MSI) in the root folder of the ISO image, as it may hinder the boot process of the bootable image.