Microsoft has just released a developer preview of their upcoming operating system Windows 8. Users from all over the world can download the preview and install it on their systems. There is only one restriction with regards to the installation: You cannot update an existing copy of Windows, the Windows 8 installation requires a clean install.

I thought it would be perfect for my Acer notebook. It is fairly underpowered by today’s standards, and does not come with a DVD drive which I could use otherwise to install Windows 8.

The only viable option in this case is to install from USB keys, sticks or drives. Installation is a little bit difficulty, as it requires more preparation than just burning an ISO image to disk and putting that ISO into the DVD drive of the computer.

You need an USB key with at least four Gigabytes of free space. The first step is to format the key with the FAT32 file system. This is done by connecting the USB key to the computer, right-clicking its drive letter and selecting Format from the options. The Format window pops up where you need to make sure that Fat32 is the selected file system. Everything else can be left as is.

Wait until the formatting has finished. You now need access to the Windows 8 ISO or DVD. The developer preview is only provided as an ISO image. Check out Windows 8 Download for instructions or download the developer preview right here.

The easiest way to copy Windows 8 to an USB drive and make that drive bootable at the same time is to use Microsoft’s Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool. While designed specifically for Windows 7, it appears to work just fine to create a bootable Windows 8 USB key as well.

Just select the Windows 8 ISO when asked to pick an ISO image from the computer. Then select to copy the contents to an USB drive. The program will copy all files to the drive and make that drive bootable at the same time. You can download the Microsoft tool from here.

Install Windows 8

You plug in your USB key into the computer you want to install Windows 8 on. You need to tell the computer on first start to boot from USB and not from hard drive or another location. This is done in the Bios. You usually enter the Bios with F1, F1, Delete, Esc or another key that is highlighted on the screen on Post. Press that key and look for an entry that says Boot or Boot order and make sure that USB has the highest priority on the system. You can easily repeat the steps if the computer is not booting from USB.

The computer should pick up the installation files on the USB drive automatically and installation should commence.

Windows 8 has the following system requirements:

1 Gigahertz or faster 32-bit or 64-bit processor
1 Gigabyte of RAM for 32-bit, 2 Gigabytes of RAM for 64-bit minimum
16 Gigabyte hard drive for 32-bit systems, 20 Gigabyte for 64-bit systems
Direct X 9 graphics card
Update: It is also possible to install Windows 8 by mounting the ISO image directly on another Windows system. The instructions have been posted on Reddit (via):

If you want to install the Windows Developer Preview, but have no blank DVDs or usable thumb drives, fear not. It’s fairly simple. This assumes you are installing the preview on a computer already running Windows, of course.

Download the ISO file from Microsoft.
Mount the ISO using Daemon Tools, Clone Drive, or similar.
This is important. Do not use the autorun installer. The autorun installer only allows you to upgrade your existing Windows installation and will not allow you to install to a separate hard drive or partition.
Navigate to the virtual install disc and go to the folder called “sources”.
Run setup.exe and proceed as if installing Windows Vista or 7.

The Windows 8 developer preview is out for all to try, but installing it over your main Windows setup is a scary (and unrealistic) prospect. Here’s how to dual boot Windows 8 with your current Windows 7 installation so you can run them both side by side.
If you’ve ever dual booted a machine before, this shouldn’t seem too foreign. All you need to do is create a new partition for Windows 8, install it on that partition, and then edit your new boot menu so Windows 7 stays the default OS. Here’s how to do it.

Step One: Create a New Partition

Before you start, make a backup of your data—you’re going to be formatting drives and installing OSes, so anything could go wrong, and you don’t want to lose your whole system. When you’re ready, we’ll need to create some space for Windows 8 on your hard drive. Assuming you have at least 20GB of space free on your drive, you’re going to use Windows’ Disk Management to set partition those 20GB for Windows 8. Open the Start Menu and right click on the “Computer” option. Click “Manage”, and in the window that appears, click on “Disk Management” in the left sidebar.

Find your system hard disk in the graphical list that appears in the bottom pane. Right-click on it and then click “Shrink Volume”. Shrink it down so you have at least 20GB of space left on the end of the drive, and click OK. Then, click on the “Unallocated” block of that drive that appears and click “New Simple Volume”. Click Next on the next few windows until you get to the “Format Partition” window. Here, give it a volume label you’ll recognize (like “Windows 8″) and click Next. It should format the drive for you. Now you’re all set to install Windows 8.

Step Two: Install Windows 8

If you haven’t downloaded the Developer Preview ISO yet, head over to the Windows Developer Center and download it. Burn it onto a DVD using something like ImgBurn,or burn it to a thumb drive if you don’t have a DVD drive in your machine. Make sure your computer is set to boot from CD or USB, stick in your installation media, and reboot.

If you get a prompt to “Press any key to boot from DVD”, then hit a key on your keyboard. You should boot right into the Windows 8 installer. It actually looks almost exactly like the Windows 7 installer, so it should seem a little familiar. Just pick your language, hit “Install Now”, and choose “Custom” when asked what type of install you’d like to perform.

On the next screen, find your new partition on the list of drives. Make sure it’s the right one, because you’re about to write over whatever’s on it. Hit “Next” and let the installer do its thing. When you’re done, your computer should reboot into Windows 8. It’ll probably reboot one more time after it does, then you’ll be greeted with the Windows 8 Start screen. If you choose to enter a Windows Live ID here, make sure you have access to your email and can confirm your computer—otherwise it might not let you boot into it.

Step Three: Make Windows 7 the Default (Optional)

You’ll notice when you first boot up into Windows 8 that you’re presented with a new graphical boot menu that’ll let you choose between your Windows 7 and Windows 8 installations. Windows 8 will be the default, meaning if you don’t manually choose Windows 7 from the menu, your computer will boot into Windows 8 after three seconds of inactivity. Chances are, you don’t want to make Windows 8 the default quite yet, so here’s how to make Windows 7 the default.

On the boot menu, click on the button at the bottom that says “Change Defaults or Choose Other Options”, and hit “Choose the Default Operating System”. From there, you can pick Windows 7 from the menu. From now on, your computer will boot into Windows 7 by default, but if you feel like playing around with Windows 8 that day, you can just pick it from the boot menu. Enjoy playing with the developer preview, and let us know what you think in the comments.

The tool, when directed to use an ISO dumped via ImgBurn, would error out. Everything was to UDF spec, so what was going on here?

I’m not a UDF expert, hell not even a novice, but I skimmed through ECMA-167 and the reflected tool code. It appears there are two (possibly more) “navigation buoys” within UDF-formatted ISOs that point to important chunks of the image called Anchor Volume Descriptor Pointers (AVDPs). The first AVDP is somewhere near the top of the image. The last AVDP is located in what appears to be the last logical block of the image. (My guess is this is to support bi-directional reading.)

So assuming each logical block of the image is 2048 bytes large, one could also assume the last logical block is –2048 from the end of the file, right? Well, that’s what the tool assumes. It checks for the last AVDP at the start of the last logical block, doesn’t find it, and bombs out.

I haven’t read through the entire spec., but I doubt there’s anything in here regarding the container of the UDF formatted data.

While one could argue Microsoft Store-downloaded ISOs are comprised in a compatible manner and therefore this scenario is unsupported it wouldn’t have been hard to add some AVDP seeking code.

As a quick hack to resolve this issue, I wrote a tool that merely finds the AVDP in your ISO file and copies it to offset (EOF-2048). This will allow you to use your own ISOs with the Microsoft tool. Microsoft.NET 2.x or higher required.

Source: http://withinwindows.com

The Windows 7 USB/DVD Download tool allows you to create a copy of your Windows 7 ISO file on a USB flash drive or a DVD. To create a bootable DVD or USB flash drive, download the ISO file and then run the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download tool. Once this is done, you can install Windows 7 directly from the USB flash drive or DVD.

The ISO file contains all the Windows 7 installation files combined into a single uncompressed file. When you download the ISO file, you need to copy it to some medium in order to install Windows 7. This tool allows you to create a copy of the ISO file to a USB flash drive or a DVD. To install Windows 7 from your USB flash drive or DVD, all you need to do is insert the USB flash drive into your USB port or insert your DVD into your DVD drive and run Setup.exe from the root folder on the drive.

Note: You cannot install Windows 7 from the ISO file until you copy it to a USB flash drive or DVD with the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download tool and install from there.

The copy of the ISO file that the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download tool creates is bootable. Bootable media allows you to install Windows 7 without having to first run an existing operating system on your machine. If you change the boot order of drives in your computer’s BIOS, you can run the Windows 7 installation directly from your USB flash drive or DVD when you turn on your computer. Please see the documentation for your computer for information on how to change the BIOS boot order of drives.

You may make one copy of the ISO file on a disc, USB flash drive or other media in order to install the software on a computer. Once you have installed the software on a computer, the license terms that accompany the software apply to your use of the software and replace these terms. The license terms for Windows 7, once accepted, permit you to make one copy of the software as a back-up copy for reinstallation on the licensed computer. If you do not delete the copy of the ISO file you made to install the software on your computer, then the copy of the ISO file constitutes your back-up copy.

Installation

To install the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download tool:

Click here to download the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download tool installation file.

When you are prompted to either save the file to disk or run it, choose Run.

Follow the steps in the setup dialogs. You’ll have the option to specify where to install the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download tool and whether to create shortcuts on your Start Menu or Windows Desktop.

You need to be an administrator on the computer you are installing the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download tool on. The tool requires the Microsoft .NET Framework version 2.0 or higher.

System Requirements

Windows XP SP2, Windows Vista, or Windows 7 (32-bit or 64-bit)

Pentium 233-megahertz (MHz) processor or faster (300 MHz is recommended)

50MB of free space on your hard drive

DVD-R drive or 4GB removable USB flash drive

For Windows XP Users

The following applications must be installed prior to installing the tool:

Microsoft .NET Framework v2 must be installed. It can be downloaded here.

Microsoft Image Mastering API v2 must be installed. It can be downloaded here.

Using the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool

Before you run the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download tool, make sure that you have downloaded the Windows 7 ISO file to your hard drive.

To make a copy of your Windows 7 ISO file:

Click the Windows Start button, and click Windows 7 USB/DVD Download tool in the All Programs list to open the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download tool.

In the Source File box, type the name and path of your Windows 7 ISO file, or click Browse and select the file in the Open dialog box.

Select USB to create a copy on a USB flash drive or DVD to create a copy on a DVD disk, then click Next.

If you are copying the file to a USB flash drive, select your USB device in the dropdown list and click Begin copying. If you are copying the file up to a DVD, click Begin burning.

When your Windows 7 ISO file is copied onto your chosen media, you can install Windows 7 by navigating to the root of your DVD or USB flash drive and double-clicking Setup.exe.

Frequently Asked Questions

The following are some frequently asked questions about using the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download tool:

Where can I download .NET framework v2?

The .NET framework can be downloaded here.

Where can I download Image Mastering API v2?

The Image Mastering API can be downloaded here.

What size USB flash drive is required?

You need a USB flash drive with a minimum of 4 GB of free space.

Can I use my newly created USB drive to install Windows 7 on someone else’s computer?

No. The Windows 7 ISO file on the USB flash drive is only intended to be used to install Windows 7 on the licensed user’s own computer.

Can I backup to a CD-R?

No. The Windows 7 ISO file is too large to fit on a CD.

Can I backup to a Blu-Ray DVD disk?

Yes, as long as your DVD drive can write to a Blu-Ray DVD.

If I have other files on the USB flash drive will the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download tool delete them?

This tool requires the USB flash drive to be completely blank before the Windows 7 files are copied. This helps ensure that the device is bootable after the copying has completed.

Can I backup to an iPod, camera, or other device with enough free disk space?

Yes, but this is not recommended.

The device must be formatted in order for the device to be bootable.

A dedicated USB flash drive would be a better option.

Can I use the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download tool to backup other files?

No. But there is another article which describes how to use this tool with other iso files.

Does the tool support dual-layer DVD discs for burning?

No. Currently, the tool does not support dual-layer DVD discs.

Troubleshooting

The following tips might help if you run into a problem using this tool.

The tool is requesting that I install the .NET framework and Image Mastering API before I can install the tool

For users running on Windows XP, you must install the .NET Framework v2 and the Image Mastering API v2 before installing the tool. You can download .NET framework here and you can download the Image Mastering API here.

Please note that a restart may be required after installing the .NET framework and the Image Mastering API.

When creating a bootable USB device, I am getting an error about bootsect

To make the USB device bootable, you need to run a tool named bootsect.exe.

My USB device is not in the list of available devices

If you don’t see your USB flash drive in the list of available devices, please make sure the drive is inserted in the USB port and click the refresh button beside the list of available drives.

I inserted a blank DVD in my DVD-R drive, but the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download tool doesn’t recognize it

If there are multiple drives on the system the tool will select the first one that is capable of burning DVDs. If you have multiple DVD-R drives, try inserting the blank DVD into another DVD-R drive. If that doesn’t help, please make sure that your disc isn’t damaged and that your DVD-R drive is operational, and contact product support.

I inserted a blank DVD in my DVD-R drive, but the tool won’t let me burn it

Make sure the disc isn’t dual-layer DVD disc. Currently, dual-layer discs are not supported within the tool.

Windows 7 interface (and desktop) is rather clean and minimalist. Of course, you can find everything you need in the famous and well-known Control Panel. However this solution won’t allow you to see and easily use all those nested settings included in the main options. Did you know that you can become a God? Well, at least on Windows 7!

One of the less known options on Windows 7 is the God Mode feature. Basically, it lets you have every setting and option right in front of you, ready to be used without having to browse among different settings before getting what you are looking for. Here is how to enable it:

1. Right click on any bank space on your desktop.
2. Click new from the menu and create a New Folder.
3. Rename the folder as follow: GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}
4. DO NOT use this trick on Vista 64X. It will cause your Windows to crash! (read comments below)

This simple command will create a special shortcut to the God Mode option letting you access all Windows 7 functions via a handy GUI!

EDIT: GodMode also works on Windows Vista!

Hiren’s Boot CD is a boot CD containing various diagnostic programs such as partitioning agents, system performance benchmarks, disk cloning and imaging tools, data recovery tools, MBR tools, BIOS tools, and many others for fixing various computer problems. It is a Bootable CD; thus, it can be useful even if the primary operating system cannot be booted. Hiren’s Boot CD has an extensive list of software. Utilities with similar functionality on the CD are grouped together and seem redundant; however, they present choices through UI differences. Hiren’s BootCD – All in one Dos Bootable CD which has all these utilities.

Download & Website: Hirens BootCD

All in One Bootable CD which has all these utilities:

Partition Tools
Partition Magic Pro 8.05 Best software to partition hard drive
Acronis Disk Director 10.0.2160 Popular disk management functions in a single suite
Paragon Partition Manager 7.0.1274 Universal tool for partitions
Partition Commander 9.01 The safe way to partition your hard drive,with undo feature
Ranish Partition Manager 2.44 a boot manager and hard disk partitioner.
The Partition Resizer 1.3.4 move and resize your partitions in one step and more.
Smart Fdisk 2.05 a simple harddisk partition manager
SPecial Fdisk 2000.03v SPFDISK a partition tool.
eXtended Fdisk 0.9.3 XFDISK allows easy partition creation and edition
GDisk 1.1.1 Complete replacement for the DOS FDISK utility and more.
Super Fdisk 1.0 Create, delete, format partitions drives without destroying data.
Partition Table Editor 8.0 Partition Table and Boot Record Editor
EASEUS Partition Master 4.1.1 Partition Resize/Move/Copy/Create/Delete/Format/Convert, Explore, etc.
USB Format Tool Format/make bootable any USB flash drive to FAT, FAT32, or NTFS partition.

Backup Tools
ImageCenter 5.6 (Drive Image 2002) Best software to clone hard drive
Norton Ghost 11.5 Similar to Drive Image (with usb/scsi support)
Acronis True Image 8.1.945 Create an exact disk image for complete system backup and disk cloning.
Partition Saving 3.71 A tool to backup/restore partitions. (SavePart.exe)
COPYR.DMA Build013 A Tool for making copies of hard disks with bad sectors
DriveImageXML 2.13 backup any drive/partition to an image file, even if the drive is currently in use
Drive SnapShot 1.39 creates an exact Disk Image of your system into a file while windows is running.
Ghost Image Explorer 11.5 to add/remove/extract files from Ghost image file
DriveImage Explorer 5.0 to add/remove/extract files from Drive image file
WhitSoft File Splitter 4.5a a Small File Split-Join Tool
InfraRecorder 0.50 An Open source CD/DVD burning software, also create/burn .iso images
FastCopy 1.99r4 The Fastest Copy/Delete Software on Windows
Smart Driver Backup 2.12 Easy backup of your Windows device drivers (also works from PE)
Double Driver 2.1 Driver Backup and Restore tool
DriverBackup! 1.0.3 Another handy tool to backup drivers
RegBak 1.0 a light-weight and simple utility to create backups of Windows registry files

Recovery Tools
Active Partition Recovery 3.0To Recover a Deleted partition.
Active Uneraser 3.0 To recover deleted files and folders on FAT and NTFS systems.
Ontrack Easy Recovery Pro 6.10 To Recover data that has been deleted/virus attack
Winternals Disk Commander 1.1 more than just a standard deleted-file recovery utility
TestDisk 6.11.3 Tool to check and undelete partition from Dos/Windows
DiyDataRecovery Diskpatch 2.1.100 An excellent data recovery software.
Prosoft Media Tools 5.0 v1.1.2.64 Another excellent data recovery software with many other options.
PhotoRec 6.11.3 Tool to Recover File and pictures from Dos/Windows
Active Undelete 5.5 a tool to recover deleted files
Restoration 3.2.13 a tool to recover deleted files
GetDataBack for FAT 4.0 Data recovery software for FAT file systems
GetDataBack for NTFS 4.0 Data recovery software for NTFS file systems
Recuva 1.32 Restore deleted files from Hard Drive, Digital Camera Memory Card, usb mp3 player…
Partition Find and Mount 2.3.1 Partition Find and Mount software is designed to find lost or deleted partitions
Unstoppable Copier 4.2 Allows you to copy files from disks with problems such as bad sectors, scratches or that just give errors when reading data.

Testing Tools
System Speed Test 4.78 it tests CPU, harddrive, ect.
PC-Check 6.05 Easy to use hardware tests
Ontrack Data Advisor 5.0 Powerful diagnostic tool for assessing the condition of your computer
The Troubleshooter 7.02 all kind of hardware testing tool
CPU/Video/Disk Performance Test 5.7 a tool to test cpu, video, and disk
Test Hard Disk Drive 1.0 a tool to test Hard Disk Drive
Disk Speed1.0 Hard Disk Drive Speed Testing Tool
S&M Stress Test 1.9.1 cpu/hdd/memory benchmarking and information tool, including temperatures/fan speeds/voltages
IsMyLcdOK (Monitor Test) 1.02 Allows you to test CRT/LCD/TFT screens for dead pixels and diffective screens

RAM (Memory) Testing Tools
GoldMemory 5.07 RAM Test utility
Memtest86+ 4.00 PC Memory Test
MemTest 1.0 a Memory Testing Tool
Video Memory Stress Test 1.7.116 a tool to thoroughly test your video RAM for errors and faults

Hard Disk Tools
Hard Disk Diagnostic Utilities
Seagate Seatools Graphical v2.13b
SeaTools for Dos 1.10
Western Digital Data Lifeguard Tools 11.2
Western Digital Diagnostics (DLGDIAG) 5.04f
Maxtor PowerMax 4.23
Maxtor amset utility 4.0
Maxtor(or any Hdd) Low Level Formatter 1.1
Fujitsu HDD Diagnostic Tool 7.00
Fujitsu IDE Low Level Format 1.0
Samsung HDD Utility(HUTIL) 2.10
Samsung Disk Diagnose (SHDIAG) 1.28
Samsung The Drive Diagnostic Utility (ESTOOL) 3.00g
IBM/Hitachi Drive Fitness Test 4.16
IBM/Hitachi Feature Tool 2.15
Gateway GwScan 5.12
ExcelStor’s ESTest 4.50
MHDD 4.6
WDClear 1.30
Toshiba Hard Disk Diagnostic 2.00b

HDD Regenerator 1.71 to recover a bad hard drive
HDAT2 4.53 main function is testing and repair (regenerates) bad sectors for detected devices
Ontrack Disk Manager 9.57 Disk Test/Format/Maintenance tool.
Norton Disk Doctor 2002 a tool to repair a damaged disk, or to diagnose your hard drive.
Norton Disk Editor 2002 a powerful disk editing, manual data recovery tool.
Hard Disk Sentinel 0.04 Hard Disk health, performance and temperature monitoring tool.
Active Kill Disk 4.1 Securely overwrites and destroys all data on physical drive.
SmartUDM 2.00 Hard Disk Drive S.M.A.R.T. Viewer.
Victoria 3.33e and 3.52rus a freeware program for low-level HDD diagnostics
HDD Erase 4.0 Secure erase using a special feature built into most newer hard drives
HDD Scan 3.2 HDDScan is a Low-level HDD diagnostic tool, it scans surface find bad sectors etc.
HDTune 2.55 Hard disk benchmarking and information tool.
Data Shredder 1.0 A tool to Erase disk and files (also wipe free space) securely

System Information Tools
PCI and AGP info Tool (1811) The PCI System information & Exploration tool.
System Analyser 5.3w View extensive information about your hardware
Navratil Software System Information 0.60.38 High-end professional system information tool
Astra 5.44 Advanced System info Tool and Reporting Assistant
HWiNFO 5.3.0
a powerful system information utility
SysChk 2.46 Find out exactly what is under the hood of your PC
CPU Identification utility 1.18 Detailed information on CPU (CHKCPU.EXE)
CTIA CPU Information 2.7 another CPU information tool
Drive Temperature 1.0 Hard Disk Drive temperature meter
PC Wizard 2009.1.911 Powerful system information/benchmark utility designed especially for detection of hardware.
SIW 2009-10-22 Gathers detailed information about your system properties and settings.
CPU-Z 1.52 It gathers information on some of the main devices of your system
GPU-Z 0.3.6 A lightweight utility designed to give you all information about your video card and GPU
PCI 32 Sniffer 1.4 (1811) device information tool (similar to unknown devices)
UnknownDevices 1.4.20 (1811) helps you find what those unknown devices in Device Manager really are
USBDeview 1.47 View/Uninstall all installed/connected USB devices on your system

MBR (Master Boot Record) Tools
MBRWork 1.07b a utility to perform some common and uncommon MBR functions
MBRTool 2.3.200 backup, verify, restore, edit, refresh, remove, display, re-write…
DiskMan 4.2 all in one tool for cmos, bios, bootrecord and more
BootFix Utility Run this utility if you get ‘Invalid system disk’
MBR SAVE / RESTORE 2.1 BootSave and BootRest tools to save / restore MBR
Boot Partition 2.60 add Partition in the Windows NT/2000/XP Multi-boot loader
Smart Boot Manager 3.7.1 a multi boot manager
MBRWizard 2.0b Directly update and modify the MBR (Master Boot Record)
Grub4Dos installer 1.1 an universal boot loader GRUB for DOS installer
MbrFix 1.3 To backup, restore, fix the boot code in the MBR

BIOS / CMOS Tools
CMOS 0.93 CMOS Save / Restore Tool
BIOS Cracker 5.0 BIOS password remover (cmospwd)
BIOS Utility 1.35.0 BIOS Informations, password, beep codes and more.
!BIOS 3.20 a powerfull utility for bios and cmos
DISKMAN4 a powerful all in one utility
UniFlash 1.40 bios flash utility
Kill CMOS a tiny utility to wipe cmos
Award DMI Configuration Utility 2.43 DMI Configuration utility for modifying/viewing the MIDF contents.

MultiMedia Tools
Picture Viewer 1.94 Picture viewer for dos, supports more then 40 filetypes.
QuickView Pro 2.58 movie viewer for dos, supports many format including divx.
MpxPlay 1.56 a small Music Player for dos

Password Tools
Active Password Changer 3.0.420 To Reset User Password on windows NT/2000/XP/2003/Vista (FAT/NTFS)
Offline NT/2K/XP Password Changer utility to reset windows nt/2000/xp administrator/user password.
Registry Reanimator 1.02 Check and Restore structure of the Damaged Registry files of NT/2K/XP
NTPWD utility to reset windows nt/2000/xp administrator/user password.
Registry Viewer 4.2 Registry Viewer/Editor for Win9x/Me/NT/2K/XP
ATAPWD 1.2 Hard Disk Password Utility
TrueCrypt 6.3 On-the-fly disk encryption tool, can create a virtual encrypted disk within a file and mount it as a real disk, can also encrypt an entire HDD/Partition/USB Drive
Content Advisor Password Remover 1.01 It Removes Content Advisor Password from Internet Explorer
Password Renew 1.1 Utility to (re)set windows passwords
WindowsGate 1.1 Enables/Disables Windows logon password validation
WinKeyFinder 1.73 Allows you to View and Change Windows XP/2003 Product Keys, backup and restore
activation related files, backup Microsoft Office 97, 2000 SP2, XP/2003 keys etc.
XP Key Reader 2.7 Can decode the XP-key on Local or Remote systems
ProduKey 1.38 Recovers lost the product key of your Windows/Office
WirelessKeyView 1.30 Recovers all wireless network keys (WEP/WPA) stored in your computer by WZC
MessenPass 1.27 A password recovery tool that reveals the passwords of several instant messangers
Mail PassView 1.52 Recovers mail passwords of Outlook Express, MS Outlook, IncrediMail, Eudora, etc.
Asterisk Logger 1.04 Reveal passwords hidden behind asterisk characters

NTFS (FileSystems) Tools
NTFS Dos Pro 5.0 To access ntfs partitions from Dos
NTFS 4 Dos 1.9 To access ntfs partitions from Dos
Paragon Mount Everything 3.0 To access NTFS, Ext2FS, Ext3FS partitions from dos
NTFS Dos 3.02 To access ntfs partitions from Dos
EditBINI 1.01 to Edit boot.ini on NTFS Partition

Browsers / File Managers
Volkov Commander 4.99 Dos File Manager with LongFileName/ntfs support
(Similar to Norton Commander)
Dos Command Center 5.1 Classic dos-based file manager.
File Wizard 1.35 a file manager – colored files, drag and drop copy, move, delete etc.
File Maven 3.5 an advanced Dos file manager with high speed PC-to-PC file
transfers via serial or parallel cable
FastLynx 2.0 Dos file manager with Pc to Pc file transfer capability
Dos Navigator 6.4.0 Dos File Manager, Norton Commander clone but has much more features.
Mini Windows 98
Can run from Ram Drive, with ntfs support,
Added 7-Zip, Disk Defragmenter, Notepad / RichText Editor,
Image Viewer, .avi .mpg .divx .xvid Movie Player, etc…
Mini Windows Xp
Portable Windows Xp that runs from CD/USB/Ram Drive, with Network and SATA support
7-Zip 9.07 beta File Manager/Archiver Supports 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2, TAR, RAR, CAB, ISO, ARJ, LZH, CHM, MSI, WIM, Z, CPIO, RPM, DEB and NSIS formats
Opera Web Browser 8.53 One of the fastest, smallest and smartest full-featured web browser

Other Tools
Ghost Walker 11.5 utility that changes the security ID (SID) for Windows NT, 2000 and XP
DosCDroast beta 2 Dos CD Burning Tools
Universal TCP/IP Network 6.4 MSDOS Network Client to connect via TCP/IP to a Microsoft based network. The network can either be a peer-to-peer or a server based
network, it contains 91 different network card drivers
HxD 1.7.7.0 Hex Editor provides tools to inspect and edit files, main memory, disks/disk images
Virtual Floppy Drive 2.1 enables you to create and mount a virtual floppy drive on your NT/2000/XP/Vista
FileDisk Mount Tool 25 to mount ISO/BIN/NRG/MDF/IMA images on windows.
Streams 1.56 Reveal/Delete NTFS alternate data streams
NewSID 4.10 utility that changes the security ID (SID) for Windows NT, 2000 and XP

Dos Tools
USB CD-Rom Driver 1 Standard usb_cd.sys driver for cd drive
Universal USB Driver 2
Panasonic v2.20 ASPI Manager for USB mass storage
ASUSTeK USB Driver 3
ASUS USB CD-ROM Device Driver Version 1.00
SCSI Support SCSI Drivers for Dos
SATA Support SATA Driver (gcdrom.sys) and JMicron JMB361 (xcdrom.sys) for Dos
1394 Firewire Support 1394 Firewire Drivers for Dos
Interlnk support at COM1 To access another computer from COM port
Interlnk support at LPT1 To access another computer from LPT port

and too many great dos tools
very good collection of dos utilitiesextract.exe pkzip.exe pkunzip.exe lha.exe gzip.exe
uharcd.exe imgExtrc.exe xcopy.exe diskcopy.com mouse.com
undelete.com edit.com fdisk.exe fdisk2.exe fdisk3.exe
lf.exe delpart.exe wipe.com zap.com format.com
deltree.exe more.com find.exe hex.exe debug.exe
split.exe mem.exe attrib.com sys.com smartdrv.exe
xmsdsk.exe killer.exe share.exe scandisk.exe scanreg.exe
guest.exe doskey.exe duse.exe move.exe setver.exe
intersvr.exe interlnk.exe loadlin.exe lfndos.exe doslfn.com

Cleaners
SpaceMonger 1.4 keeping track of the free space on your computer
WinDirStat 1.1.2.80 a disk usage statistics viewer and cleanup tool for Windows.
CCleaner 2.25 Crap Cleaner is a freeware system optimization and privacy tool

Optimizers
PageDfrg 2.32 System file Defragmenter For NT/2k/XP
NT Registry Optimizer 1.1j Registry Optimization for Windows NT/2000/2003/XP/Vista
DefragNT 1.9 This tool presents the user with many options for disk defragmenting
JkDefrag 3.36 Free disk defragment and optimize utility for Windows 2000/2003/XP/Vista/Windows 7

Network Tools
Angry IP Scanner 2.21 Scan IP addresses in any range as well as any their ports
CurrPorts 1.80 displays the list of all currently opened TCP and UDP ports on your computer
TCPView 2.54 Lists TCP and UDP endpoints, including the Local/Remote addresses of TCP connections
Winsock 2 Fix for 9x to fix corrupted Winsock2 information by poorly written Internet programs
XP TCP/IP Repair 1.0 Repair your Windows XP Winsock and TCP/IP registry errors

Process Tools
Dependency Walker 2.2 Checks for missing/invalid DLL/modules/functions for any exe/dll/ocx/sys.
IB Process Manager 1.04 a little process manager for 9x/2k, shows dll info etc.
Process Explorer 11.33 shows you information about which handles and DLLs processes have opened or loaded
OpenedFilesView 1.46 View opened/locked files in your system, sharing violation issues
Pocket KillBox 2.0.0.978 can be used to get rid of files that stubbornly refuse to allow you to delete them
ProcessActivityView 1.10 Detailed process access information read/write/opened files etc
Unlocker 1.8.8 This tool can delete file/folder when you get this message – Cannot delete file: Access is denied, The file is in use by another program etc.

Registry Tools
RegScanner 1.80 Tool to find/search in the Registry of Windows
Registry Editor PE 0.9c Easy editing of remote registry hives and user profiles
Registry Restore Wizard 1.0.4 Restores a corrupted system registry from Xp System Restore

Startup Tools
Autoruns 9.56 Displays All the entries from startup folder, Run, RunOnce, and other Registry keys, Explorer shell extensions,toolbars, browser helper objects, Winlogon notifications, auto-start services, Scheduled Tasks, Winsock, LSA Providers, Remove Drivers
and much more which helps to remove nasty spyware/adware and viruses.
Silent Runners Revision 60 A free script that helps detect spyware, malware and adware in the startup process
Startup Control Panel 2.8 a tool to edit startup programs
Startup Monitor 1.02 it notifies you when any program registers itself to run at system startup
HijackThis 2.0.2 a general homepage hijackers detector and remover and more

Tweakers
Dial a Fix 0.60.0.24 Fix errors and problems with COM/ActiveX object errors and missing registry entries, Automatic Updates, SSL, HTTPS, and Cryptography service (signing/verification) issues, Reinstall internet explorer etc. comes with the policy scanner
Ultimate Windows Tweaker 2.0 A TweakUI Utility for tweaking and optimizing Windows Vista
TweakUI 2.10 This PowerToy gives you access to system settings that are not exposed in the Windows Xp
Xp-AntiSpy 3.97.5 it tweaks some Windows XP functions, and disables some unneeded Windows services quickly
Shell Extensions Manager (ShellExView) 1.45 An excellent tool to View and Manage all installed Context-menu/Shell extensions
EzPcFix 1.0.0.16 Helpful tool when trying to remove viruses, spyware, and malware
RemoveWGA 1.2 Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications Removal tool
RRT – Remove Restrictions Tool 3.0 To Re-enable Ctrl+Alt+Del, Folder Options and Registry tools etc.

Antivirus Tools
Kaspersky Virus Removal Tool 7.0.0.290 (1811)

Free on-demand virus scanner from Kaspersky Lab to remove viruses.
Spybot – Search & Destroy 1.6.2 (1811) Application to scan for spyware, adware, hijackers and other malicious software.
Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware 1.41 (1811) anti-malware application that can thoroughly remove even the most advanced malware.
SpywareBlaster 4.2 (1811)
Prevent the installation of spyware and other potentially unwanted software.
SmitFraudFix 2.424 This removes Some of the popular Desktop Hijack malware
ComboFix (1811) Designed to cleanup malware infections and restore settings modified by malware
CWShredder 2.19 Popular CoolWebSearch Trojan Remover tool
RootkitRevealer 1.7.1 Rootkit Revealer is an advanced patent-pending root kit detection utility.
SuperAntispyware 4.30 (1811) Remove Malware, Rootkits, Spyware, Adware, Worms, Parasites (a must have tool)

Changelog:
+ BootCD Customizer to create custom bootable cd
+ RegBak 1.0
+ Grub4Dos installer 1.1
+ USB Format Tool
+ MbrFix 1.3
+ MBRWizard 2.0b (for windows)
+ Diskman 4.2 (for windows)
+ FileDisk Mount Tool 25
+ GPU-Z 0.3.6
+ Dependency Walker 2.2
- ace.exe rar.exe arj.exe unrar.exe
- PC-Config 9.33
- BootMagic
- PC Doctor 2004
- LapLink 5.0
- Lost & Found 1.06
- Partition Table Doctor 3.5
Program Launcher 1.3 (Autorun.exe)
BIOS Cracker 5.0
EASEUS Partition Master 4.1.1
DriveImage XML 2.13
Recuva 1.32
Memtest86+ 4.00
IBM/Hitachi Drive Fitness Test 4.16
IBM/Hitachi Feature Tool 2.15
Navratil Software System Information 0.60.38
Astra 5.44
CPU Identification utility 1.18
PC Wizard 2009.1.911
SIW 2009-10-22
USBDeview 1.47
MBRTool 2.3.200
TrueCrypt 6.3
ProduKey 1.38
WirelessKeyView 1.30
MessenPass 1.27
Mail PassView 1.52
Opera Web Browser 8.53 (with flash support)
7-Zip 9.07 beta
CCleaner 2.25
CurrPorts 1.80
OpenedFilesView 1.46
Unlocker 1.8.8
RegScanner 1.80
Autoruns 9.56
Silent Runners Revision 60
Xp-AntiSpy 3.97.5
Shell Extensions Manager (ShellExView) 1.45
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware 1.41 (1811)
SmitFraudFix 2.424
SuperAntispyware 4.30 (1811)
UnknownDevices 1.4.20 (1811)
Kaspersky Virus Removal Tool 7.0.0.290 (1811)
SpywareBlaster 4.2 (1811)
PCI 32 Sniffer 1.4 (1811)
PCI and AGP info Tool (1811)
ComboFix (1811)
Spybot – Search & Destroy 1.6.2 (1811)

Download & Website: Hirens BootCD

UBCD4Win is a bootable recovery CD that contains software used for repairing, restoring, or diagnosing almost any computer problem. Our goal is to be the most complete and easy to use free computer diagnostic tool. Almost all software included in UBCD4Win are freeware utilities for Windows®. Some of the tools inlcuded are “free for personal use” copies so users need to respect these licenses.

A few of the tools included in UBCD4Win are paid for and licensed software owned by UBCD4win. On occasion we work with software companies/authors for permission to include their software in our download or have requested their software better support PE. Users can freely share copies of UBCD4Win with friends but selling UBCD4Win for a profit is not acceptable. We have worked hard for many years helping people for free with this project, others should not make money from our hard work.

UBCD4Win is based on Bart’s PE©. Bart’s PE© builds a Windows® “pre-install” environment CD, basically a simple Windows® XP booted from CD. UBCD4Win includes network support and allows you the ability to modify NTFS volumes, recover deleted files, create new NTFS volumes, scan hard drives for viruses, etc. Our download includes almost everything you need to repair your system problems. This project has been put together to be the ultimate recovery cd and not a replacement OS (Operating System). Please visit the “List of Tools” page for a complete list of what is included in the latest version of UBCD4Win.

Download UBCD 3.50

Website: UBCD4Win.com

Ultimate Boot CD allows you to run floppy-based diagnostic tools from CDROM drives and consolidate as many diagnostic tools as possible into one bootable CD. An experimental feature also allows you to run UBCD from your USB memory stick on newer machines that supports booting from USB devices.

Run floppy-based diagnostic tools from CDROM drives. More and more PCs are shipped without floppy drives these days, and it is such a royal pain when you need to run diagnostic tools on them.

Free yourself from the slow loading speed of the floppy drive. Even if you do have a floppy drive, it is still much much faster to run your diagnostic tools from the CDROM drive, rather than wait for the tool to load from the floppy drive.

Consolidate as many diagnostic tools as possible into one bootable CD. Wouldn’t you like to avoid digging into the dusty box to look for the right floppy disk, but simply run them all from a single CD? Then the Ultimate Boot CD is for you!

Download: Ultimate Boot CD

Website: Ultimate Boot CD

EasyBCD is NeoSmart Technologies’ multiple award-winning answer to tweaking the new Windows Vista bootloader. With EasyBCD, almost anything is possible. Setting up and configuring Windows boot entries is simple, and there is no easier way to quickly boot right into Linux, Mac OS X, or BSD straight from the Windows Vista bootloader – on the fly, no expert knowledge needed!

EasyBCD is geared for users of all kinds. Whether you just want to add an entry to your old XP partition or want to create a duplicate for testing purposes; if you’re interested in debugging the Windows Kernel or septuple-booting your seven test operating systems, EasyBCD is the key.

EasyBCD is used and recommended by Microsoft, PC-World, PC-Magazine, Softpedia, PC-Welt, and dozens more! In the words of Harry McCracken (VP & Editor-in-Chief of PC World): “[EasyBCD] impressed the editors with its functionality and usability. These are some of the most well-crafted services available – congratulations to EasyBCD!” Don’t get left out – download it today, it’s free!!

Download: EasyBCD

What if your Windows 7 becomes corrupt and fails to boot? Most laptops and PCs today come with Windows pre-installed and the manufacturers sometimes don’t include Windows installation disc.

This is where Recovery Disk come into play. It is recommended that users create a recovery disk as soon as possible and keep it in a safe location. In case your Windows 7 fails to boot, the recovery disk can help fix the problem.

To create a recovery disk in Windows 7, go through the following steps:

Click Start Orb and go to Control Panel. Here, select Back up your computer under the System and Security option.

From the left sidebar, select Create a system repair disk. Finally select your CD-R/RW or DVD-R/RW drive from the new dialog window and hit Create Disc.

It will start creating a disc instantly. Once complete, hit OK, label it, and save the disk in a safe location.

The total file size of the recovery disk is 164MB which means you can burn it to a CD instead of DVD.

In case you forgot to create a recovery disk and your Windows 7 fails to boot, you can ask your friend or co-worker to create you one. If all else fails, below you will find the ISO image I have created, you can download and burn the ISO image directly to a CD or DVD.