DLC Boot 2023

About this release

DLC Boot is a rescue environment you write to a stick and boot when the installed operating system will not cooperate. Instead of a single tool it carries a whole shelf of them, arranged behind a launcher menu, so a technician facing a machine that will not start has partition editors, imaging tools, password resets, file recovery, and hardware tests all in one place without hunting for separate downloads.

The environment boots on both legacy and UEFI machines and lands in a small graphical desktop rather than a command prompt, which makes the tools approachable for someone who is not living in a terminal. From there the launcher groups the utilities by job, so backup and restore sit together, partition work sits together, and the diagnostic tools sit together.

The point of a kit like this is that the machine you are fixing does not have to be working. Everything runs from the stick in memory, so a drive can be reimaged, a partition table rebuilt, a forgotten local password cleared, or a failing disk tested, all without the installed system ever booting. When you are done, you pull the stick and the machine boots normally again.

What it does

• Boots on both legacy BIOS and UEFI systems from a single stick
• Graphical rescue desktop rather than a bare command prompt
• Partition tools for resizing, moving, splitting and rebuilding tables
• Disk imaging and restore for full drive backups off a dead system
• Local account password reset for locked out machines
• File recovery tools for pulling data off a failing install
• Hardware diagnostics for memory, disks and general stress testing
• Antivirus rescue scanning against an offline drive
• Driver and network tools for getting a rescued machine talking again
• Launcher menu grouping every utility by the job it does

Changes in this version

• Updated tool set with current versions of the bundled utilities
• Improved UEFI boot compatibility on recent firmware
• Reworked launcher menu with clearer grouping
• Added driver support for newer storage controllers
• Fixed a boot hang on some systems with many attached drives

What the package contains

• Bootable rescue image ready to write to a stick
• Full grouped tool set behind the launcher
• English and Vietnamese interface
• Notes on writing the image to USB with the common tools
• Readme with the boot and menu steps

Installation notes

Follow these in order. Most reports of a failed install come from skipping a step rather than from the package itself.

1. Write the image to a USB stick of 8 GB or larger with your preferred imaging tool.
2. Set the target machine to boot from USB, choosing the UEFI entry on modern firmware.
3. Boot the stick and wait for the rescue desktop to load into memory.
4. Open the launcher and pick the tool for the job in front of you.
5. Do the work, then close the tool and shut the environment down.
6. Pull the stick and let the machine boot its own system again.

System requirements

Things worth knowing

• Some security software flags parts of a rescue kit like this, that is expected for the category of tools it carries.
• Secure boot may need to be turned off in firmware before the stick will boot on some machines.
• The imaging and partition tools write to disks directly, double check the target before you commit anything.

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Listing information

This entry is catalogued under Utilities & Tools and carries the tags below. Language coverage is English, Vietnamese, and the supported platform list is Bootable rescue environment. Version 4.3 is the current catalogued build, last checked 1 week ago, and the entry has been in the index since it was added 2 years ago.