Two critically important tools on my laptop are the Microsoft “Virtual CD-ROM Control Panel for Windows XP” and Alex Fienman’s ISO Recorder (which also creates ISOs from CD / DVD). I am ridiculously bad at keeping track of installation media so whenever I get something new I make an ISO and mount it virtually or burn copies as-needed. ISOs are also very convenient for installations in VMs.
ISO Recorder has a Vista version, but I haven’t seen any update to the VCDCP. What’s the alternative? Daemon Tools is Vista compatible but it ships with adware that is supposedly friendly to uninstall but on principal I won’t touch it…
