Windows File Recovery Using Linux Boot CDs

Windows wont start or the BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH is displayed! You just added a new piece of software or you have been hit by a nasty virus, either way you get that sinking feeling in your stomach since you can't remember the last time you backed up you photo and music collection! DO NOT PANIC! You can use a Linux Live CD to access your hard drive and copy all your valuable data to CDs or a USB drive.

These instructions were written using Knoppix version 5.01, but can easily be adapted to most bootable Linux Live CDs and DVD.

Starting Linux Live

Linux Live is an operating system that boots directly from CD or DVD. There are very many different version of Linux Live but they all boot directly form the CD or DVD. Since the CD or DVD based operating system CAN'T be changed, they are immune to Virus and malware attacks.

This guide uses Knoppix Linux Live to show how easily a Live Linux operating system can be used to recover files from a  crashed Windows hard drive.Insert the Live Linux DVD or CD in the DVD or CD drive of the crashed computer. If you have a DVD and a CD-RW drive it is super easy, insert the Live Linux CD or DVD in the DVD drive so you can use the CD-RW drive to backup your files. If not, you can use an external USB drive or another Windows computer that is networked to the crashed computer, to backup you files.

If you have any external USB drives plug them in before you turn on the computer. Turn the computer on. Most newer computers will start Live Linux from the CD automatically.

If Live Linux (Knoppix) does not load when the computer is turned on, first try restarting the computer. If that doesn't help, try pressing either the Del, ESC, F1, F2, or F12. The F12 key should bring up a menu from which you can select to boot from the CD or hard drive. The Del, ESC, F1, or F2 should enter the BIOS configuration. In the latter case, you will need to find the "Boot Sequence" in the bios configuration and make the CD drive first. Check the documentation that came with your computer. After making this change and saving (usually F10), restart the computer.

A startup screen is displayed, either a simple menu (Ubuntu and Suse Live Linux) or a text menu (Knoppix Live Linux). Either select the correct menu item to start Live Linux (Ubuntu and Suse) or press ENTER to start from a text based menu (Knoppix).
Live Linux ( Knoppix) will detect all of your hardware when starting up, this is why we plugged in the USB devices before turning on the computer.

Finding Your Files

Once Live Linux ( Knoppix) starts you will be presented with the Knoppix main screen and a  web browser. Try surfing the web, if the computer is attached to a router Linux will configure itself to use the internet. If you can access the web you can email your files to another computer. Close the web browser window by clicking on the X in the upper corner.

Your screen should now look something like this:
Notice the icons on the left side of the screen. These  are the hard drives in your computer. If you can, find one labeled "Hard Disk [hda1]"; this is probably the "C:" drive in windows. Click on this icon. This will open a window similar to the Windows Explorer File Manager.  If the drive is your C drive, the icon view on the right will have some icons called things like "Program Files", "winnt", "windows", "My Documents", "recycled", "Documents and Settings", etc. If this is not what is on this drive, or you get an error message, close the window and try another one.

Finding Your Files

The "My Documents" folder is typically found in one of the following places (username will be YOUR username):

Windows 2000, XP: Documents and Settings/username/My Documents/
Windows 2000: Documents and Settings/Administrator/My Documents/
Windows XP: Documents and Settings/Owner/My Documents/
Windows NT: winnt/Profiles/username/My Documents/
Windows NT: winnt/Profiles/Administrator/My Documents/
Windows 95, 98, ME: My Documents/
The Desktop is typically found in one of the following places:
Windows 2000, XP: Documents and Settings/username/Desktop/
Windows 2000: Documents and Settings/Administrator/Desktop/
Windows XP: Documents and Settings/Owner/Desktop/
Windows NT: winnt/Profiles/username/Desktop/
Windows NT: winnt/Profiles/Administrator/Desktop/
Windows 95, 98, ME: windows/Desktop/
Once you have found your files and have opened them in a window you are ready to copy your files.

Copying your files

We will cover two methods of copying your files off the crashed Windows drive in this Guide.

USB Drive or USB Hard Drive: This requires a USB drive connected to the computer.
CDROM: Burning files to a CD requires that you have two CD drives. You must have the CD drive that Knoppix was booted from and another CD drive that can write CDs.

USB Drive or USB Hard Drive

The drive needs to  be connected before the computer is turned on.You should be able to see your USB drive on the Desktop, it will have a name starting with "sd", like sda (Serial Drive A). You have to make this drive writeable before you can copy files to it. Move the mouse pointer over the drive icon and press the RIGHT mouse button. The properties menu will be displayed, first select "MOUNT to mount the drive  and then press the RIGHT MOUSE button and select "Change read/write mode" so you can copy files to the the drive.

All drives in Live Linux are usually mounted READ ONLY to prevent you from accidently damaging the drive.Click the drive icon to open the drive in a window. Go back to the window that has your files and simply drag and drop them into the USB drive window.

CDROM

Burning files to a CD requires that you have two CD drives or a DVD and CD\RW drive. You must have the CD drive that Knoppix was booted from and another CD drive that can write CDs.

The CD burning program  K3b should be set up with what is know in Linux as "root access". To enable "root access" click the TERMINAL icon on the task bar on the bottom of the screen (the sixth icon), or select the Knoppix icon, then the KNOPPIX menu item and finally the 'root shell' item. This wiil open what is know as a Linux Shell:

root@ttyp0[/]#

Type "passwd" at the prompt and press enter. Enter a new password twice. REMEMBER this password. Close this window by clicking on the X or typing "exit" plus  the ENTER key.Next select the files or a folder you wish to copy to CD and press the RIGHT mouse button and select "Actions" and then 'Create data CD with K3b' .
A dialog box will appear that allows you to set up K3b will appear (notice it says you have to have root access. Follow the instructions, enter the password you created when asked and K3b will be automatically setup for your CD/RW drive.


Select OK at theK3bSetup Window since Live Linux sets it up automatically for you.
The K3b window will appear and you can simply drag and drop the files you wish to burn to CD to the window. Watch how much space the files take up so you do not overfill the CD. Once you have your files selected simply BURN the CD.
You have now recovered your files from a crashed Windows hard drive. Reinstall Windows and copy you files back to your computer!