June 28, 2018 at 16:066 years later, a new version of the legendary crash distribution Hiren's BootCD
Today is a holiday with ironworkers, repairmen, sysadmins and enikeyshchikov!
After long oblivion, the release of the legendary Hiren's BootCD boot disk was resumed .
Hiren's BootCD (also known as HBCD ) is a bootable image with software for writing to CD \ DVD \ USB-flash, containing a number of diagnostic utilities, such as system performance tests, formatting and layout programs, cloning and image creation tools, data recovery tools, tools for working with MBR, tools for flashing and updating BIOS and other tools for fixing various computer problems.
This time the distribution is based on 64-bit Windows PE 10.0and contains only programs that are legal for free distribution, provided that you will use HBCD solely for the purpose of diagnosing and eliminating computer problems, and not as the main software for your computer.
The release of new official versions is carried out by a group of especially dedicated fans of the distribution, who were given access to the official site (the old version of the site until the announcement of new versions), while the original author has long gone.
Historical reference
The history of the Hiren's BootCD disaster recovery distribution kit began in 2004. Initially, Windows 98 Second Edition and MS-DOS 7.1 were used as operating systems. Later, in version 9.9, Mini Windows XP SP3 was introduced as the OS quality.
Hiren's BootCD has long been classified by warez, since it actually violated the copyrights of the publishers of individual computer programs. Despite the fact that the distribution kit was 95% abandoned or free to use, it also contained programs from Microsoft and other companies that required special licensing. Therefore, HBCD users had to consider that its use could violate the law on intellectual property (due to the significant number of proprietary licensed programs in its composition). In some countries, distributing the Hiren's BootCD was considered illegal.
A significant number of commercial software products protected by copyright and requiring special licensing, in Hiren's BootCD contained until version 11.0.
For example, in version 10.6, 17 commercial programs were indicated in the release notes. First of all, these were Acronis True Image, Norton Ghost, Acronis Disk Director and Paragon Partition Manager (Partition Magic Pro was replaced already in version 10.5.). In order to be able to run a commercial application, the user had to swear that he was the owner of the license, but in fact this was not checked in any way.
In version 11.0 of commercial products, there were only three:
- Mini Windows 98
- Mini Windows XP
- MS-DOS Utility Collection
Some fans only liked the old distribution strategy, as a result of which they created an alternative branch Restored Edition , which included (returned) tools that required a commercial license, deleted by the original author of the distribution.
The latest version released by the original author was Hiren's BootCD v15.2 , released on November 9, 2012, after which the creators, for unknown reasons, lost interest in the development of their brainchild.
For some time, an unofficial series of releases of Hiren's BootCD v. 15.3 - v.16.x
Is using Windows PE 10.0 legal?
Windows PE is not a general purpose operating system. It cannot be used for any other purpose than deployment and recovery. It should not be used as a thin client or embedded operating system. There are other Microsoft products, such as Windows Embedded CE, that should be used for this purpose.The
To prevent being used as the primary operating system, Windows PE automatically shuts down the shell and restarts after 72 hours of continuous use. This period cannot be changed by regular means.
Windows PE source does not contain Windows license keys. In addition, Hiren's BootCD is not in conflict with Windows PE and retains the same 72 hours continuous use limit. Thus, the use of Windows PE in Hiren's BootCD is legal from the point of view of the policy of Microsoft license agreements.
What's inside the Hiren's BootCD PE x64 image (v1.0.1)
Direct link to download a 1.3 GB image. But it is better to download from this page.
Core os
BCD-MBR Tools
Hard Disk Tools - Data Recovery
Hard Disk Tools - Defrag
Hard Disk Tools - Diagnostic
Hard Disk Tools - Disk Explorer
Hard Disk Tools - Imaging
Hard Disk Tools - Partition Tools
Hard Disk Tools - Security
Windows recovery
| Other tools
Removable Drive Tools
Security - AntiVirus
Securiy - KeyFinders
Security - Passwords
System tools
Network
|