Can't mount ISO as drive K:, but drive V: works fine

Hello everyone

A bit of background: I use Office 2003 alongside Office 2016. Office 2003 is installed from an ISO file created from the original Office 2003 CD. Every now and then, however, something on the computer causes Office 2003 to "break", and I suspect it may be Windows or Office 2016 updates that do that. Anyway, the solution has always been simple: whenever Office 2003 tells me that it needs to "repair" itself, it would look for the installation files in drive V:, and so mounting the ISO in drive V: would cause Word to repair itself. However, after my most recent reinstall of Windows 10, Office 2003 is looking for the installation files in drive K:, not drive V:. And you can't change which drive the installer looks in.

So, at this time, when I want Office 2003 to repair itself, I mount the ISO file as drive K:, but: when I do that, drive K: does not work. After mounting it, it shows up as a "CD Drive" in This PC, and I can't browse it, nor can I unmount it (the only way to unmount it is to reboot). Mounting the same ISO as drive V: works fine: I can browse it and I can unmount it. For mounting ISO files, I usually use wincdemu, but I've also tried Windows' built-in mounting facility -- same result.

What do I need to do so allow me to mount an ISO file as the K: drive in such a way that I can browse the drive and also unmount it, i.e. so that the Office 2003 installer recognises it as a "CD" with the installation files?

(Or: do you perhaps know how to tell Office 2003 to look for the installation files in drive V: instead of drive K:?)

Thanks
Samuel

Added: If I switch to the Administrator user, the ISO mounted as drive K: works fine, and I can let Office 2003 repair itself while logged in as Administrator, so at least there is a workaround to my problem.

Try this:

Mount the ISO image as whatever drive letter works initially, say V:.

Open Disk Management. Locate V:. Right click on V: and choose "Change Drive Letter and Paths...".

Click on Change > Assign the following drive letter: > K

Does that work or is K not available for some reason?

If not available, do you see any other device within Disk Manager that already has K: assigned to it? If so, you could possibly assign another drive letter to whatever is using K: (at least temporarily) and then change it back to K: after you dismount the ISO image?

Changing/swapping around Drive Letter as suggested by hsehestedt is a good idea.
Also note, you could also try drive letter view by Nirsoft to see if there is any device connected at K:

https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/drive_letter_view.html

Thanks to everyone who tried to help. I also tried to see if there are other utilities that can mount the ISO file correctly, and I eventually found one that works just fine (and thus solves the problem):

Pismo File Mount Audit Package | Pismo Technic Inc.

ugcheleuce said:

Every now and then, however, something on the computer causes Office 2003 to "break" ... whenever Office 2003 tells me that it needs to "repair" itself, it would look for the installation files in drive V:, and so mounting the ISO in drive V:...

I see you have found a solution for now. But there could be a way for Office 2003 to never need to ask for the CD again.

Do you have the folder C:\MSOCache\All Users\90000409-6000-11D3-8CFE-0150048383C9\? If so, copy all the *.CAB files from your Office 2003 install ISO to this folder. NB: from then on, be very careful when using Disk Clean-up not to tick 'Office Setup Files'.