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Installation

This page describes everything required to run SimpleXisoDrive on Windows.

System requirements

Requirement Details
Operating system Windows 10 or Windows 11 (x64 or ARM64)
Architecture x64 or ARM64
Runtime .NET 10.0 Runtime (base runtime; self-contained builds bundle it)
Driver Dokan user-mode file system library 2.x (dokan2.dll)
Privileges Administrator recommended (required by most systems for drive letter mounts)
Disk usage A few MB for the application; images are streamed, not copied

SimpleXisoDrive does not require a GPU, does not install a service of its own, and does not modify the images it opens.

Step 1 - Install the Dokan library

SimpleXisoDrive cannot run without Dokan. The application checks for %SystemRoot%\System32\dokan2.dll at startup and exits with instructions if the file is missing.

  1. Open the Dokan releases page: https://github.com/dokan-dev/dokany/releases
  2. Download the Dokan installer that matches your Windows architecture.
  3. Run the installer and accept the default options. The default installation includes dokan2.dll and the dokan2.sys driver.
  4. Restart your computer when prompted. The driver is not active until the system restarts.

To verify the installation manually, open a PowerShell window and run:

Test-Path "$env:SystemRoot\System32\dokan2.dll"
Test-Path "$env:SystemRoot\System32\drivers\dokan2.sys"

Both commands should print True. If only dokan2.dll is present, the application still runs but prints a warning that the driver (dokan2.sys) was not found; mounting may fail in that case.

For more detail about Dokan, see the official documentation.

Step 2 - Install the .NET runtime

Framework-dependent builds require the .NET 10.0 Runtime (the base runtime; the Desktop Runtime also works but is not required).

  1. Download the runtime from https://dotnet.microsoft.com/download/dotnet/10.0.
  2. Choose the .NET Runtime for your architecture (x64 or ARM64).
  3. Install it.

Self-contained release builds bundle the runtime and do not require this step. If a release archive contains the runtime files alongside the executable, you can skip this step for that build.

To verify an installed runtime:

dotnet --list-runtimes

Look for an entry such as Microsoft.NETCore.App 10.x.x.

Step 3 - Install SimpleXisoDrive

SimpleXisoDrive is a portable application; there is no installer and no registry footprint.

  1. Download the release archive for your architecture from https://github.com/purelogiccode/SimpleXisoDrive/releases:
    • win-x64 for standard Intel/AMD PCs
    • win-arm64 for Windows on ARM devices
  2. Extract the archive to a folder of your choice, for example C:\Tools\SimpleXisoDrive.
  3. Optionally create a desktop shortcut to SimpleXisoDrive.exe.

Tip: Do not extract the application directly into C:\Program Files if you intend to run it without administrator rights; the application writes log files next to the executable.

Architecture notes

The release names use the following conventions:

Archive suffix Architecture Typical devices
win-x64 x86-64 Most desktops and laptops
win-arm64 ARM64 Surface Pro X, Snapdragon-based laptops

The Dokan and .NET runtimes must match the application architecture.

Step 4 - First run

Open a terminal and run:

SimpleXisoDrive.exe

With no arguments the application prints its usage information and a reminder that you can drag and drop an ISO, XISO or ZAR file onto the executable. The console uses a green-on-black theme and remains open until you press a key.

For a first real mount:

SimpleXisoDrive.exe "D:\Games\MyGame.iso" Z:

See Getting Started for a guided walkthrough.

Upgrading

  1. Close any running instance of SimpleXisoDrive.
  2. Replace the application files with the new release. Your logs, error.log, and critical_error.log files can be deleted or kept; they are not configuration.
  3. Optionally delete logs\ to start a clean log history.

The application checks GitHub for newer releases on every start and offers to open the release page in your default browser. See Services for details.

Uninstalling

  1. Unmount any active volumes (press a key in the console window, or press Ctrl+C).
  2. Delete the application folder.
  3. Optional: uninstall Dokan through Windows Settings > Apps if no other software uses it.

No files outside the application folder are created, aside from logs written next to the executable and temporary files used by the .NET runtime.

Verifying a healthy installation

Check Expected result
SimpleXisoDrive.exe with no arguments Usage text is printed, exit code 1
%SystemRoot%\System32\dokan2.dll exists Dokan runtime is present
%SystemRoot%\System32\drivers\dokan2.sys exists Dokan driver is present (warning otherwise)
A test mount The volume appears in Explorer as XBOX_ISO

If a check fails, see Troubleshooting.