Free Download Hirens Boot CD ISO – Create a Bootable USB Flash Driver

Hiren’s BootCD (also known as Hiren BootCD, Hirens Boot Disk, Hiren Boot Disk or HBCD) is a bootable software ISO containing a large number of Freeware diagnostic programs
In the past it also contained several commercially available software programs, but since version 11 it almost entirely contains Freeware. For Comprehensive list of programs see below
Although the normal method of running Hirens Boot Disk is to burn Hiren’s.BootCD.15.1.iso to a CD and then boot from the CD, an easier and more versatile method is to burn the Hirens Boot CD ISO to a USB Flash Drive.
This has to be one of the most useful things I have come across recently – it gives you a portable fast-loading stripped down copy of Windows XP that boots fast from a USB flash drive. You can boot a dead or malfunctioning system, copy data – such as valuable images and files – back to the USB flash drive. It can also be used to recover the drivers from a dead system, and passwords – such as Windows XP or Windows 7 product key, Office product key etc.

 Hirens Boot Instructions & Getting Started Tutorial:

Step 1: Download Hiren’s Boot Disk

Hirens Boot CD Download: Hirens.BootCD.15.2.zip

See http://www.hirensbootcd.org/download/

Contents of the Hirens Download Zip File  (500 MB):

Step 2 download  YUMI – Multiboot USB Creator

Download: YUMI – Multiboot USB Creator

This  is an easy way of making a Bootalble USB FlashDrive for Hirens Boot Disk

Yumi is run as a stand-alone installer. 

Insert your USB Flash drive and run Yumi. Your flash drive will be detected.

In the Yumi Multiboot Menu, scroll down to Hiren’s Boot CD and browse the location of your downloaded Hiren’s.BootCD.15.1.iso and press Create

An 8gb Flash drive leaves considerable space for copying and moving data from an unbootable PC – so we can add a folder called RECOVERED where we can copy data from the PC we are working on.

3: Booting a dead PC with the Bootable Hiren Boot USB Flash Drive

1. To boot from the Bootable Hiren Boot CD USB Disk, the boot order needs to be changed, so that the computer will t boot from the USB Storage before the hard drive
   
2. It is often possible to change the boot order by pressing F12 or F8 just after the system starts to power up – this image shows the Boot Menu that comes up after pressing F12 on a Dell PC.
3. If the system won’t boot from the Bootable Hiren Bootcd USB Disk – you need to change the boot order in the BIOS
4. Just after the system starts, press Del or F1 to enter the Bios. The boot order can be set usually from the Advanced Boot Configuration menu.
5. If the bios is password protected, open the PC and remove the CMOS battery for a moment or so. This should remove the password protection (and all other bios settings – which will need to be set up again – usually only the Date and Boot order are essential)
6. Allow the system to boot up from the Bootable Hirens USB Flash Drive

4: Starting Hiren’s Boot Disc

This is the boot menu that comes up – select Mini Windows XP and press Enter

Mini XP starts to load..

Mini XP Loading…

Hiren’s Boot CD desktop showing the program launcher at bottom RHS

The HBCD Menu pops up showing the programs available:

The Program Launcher can be undocked from the system tray

You can now use Hirens Boot CD to recover your files and copy them back to the USB Flash Drive, or perform other diagnostic operations.