Where has Hiren's bootCD been all my life?

I just started my current help desk position and one of the first things that was given to me was a copy of Hiren's BootCD...my god...what an amazing set of tools!! Some of this stuff I knew about but there are a ton of extremely useful tools on this disk that I have never heard of. I have been having driver issues with my laptop for a while and have been unable to find the display drivers that I needed...popped that disc in, ran the 3dp chip program and just like that my laptop is fixed and able to connect to my TV. If you haven't heard of it already, google Hiren and check it out...

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Comments

Hypntick

Pretty handy little thing, we use it to break passwords on non-domain systems mostly.

GPIT

I think I have a copy of this laying around here somewhere. Saved me a few times.

htebazile

Before I found Hiren's disk I used ERD commander (which is pretty much obsolete now - best for XP systems). Both have been very helpful over the years.

Edit: I meant the version of ERD commander I have is obsolete - I don't have the newer versions.

chaser7783

GPIT wrote: »

Before I found Hiren's disk I used ERD commander (which is pretty much obsolete now - best for XP systems). Both have been very helpful over the years.

ERD is still around, it has been rolled into MSDart, which works in vista, win 7 etc.
ERD Commander in MSDaRT 6.5

alokin123

i always thought this CD was illegal

paulgswanson

Nope it's all freeware and software that the authors let the patents expire on. Nothing illegal here.

ally_uk

Hirens is awesome, so is Trinity Rescue Kit, Also Linux live cds have saved my ass on a few occasions especially if you need to find a driver in Windows. Boot up a live cd fire up the CLI, and type lscpi or lshw and it well tell you everything about the hardware

sratakhin

Some versions of Hiren's Boot CD use a lot of software that is not free or open source.

Devilry

I haven't used it in a while, but it has been on my USB drive for years that is on my keychain.

4_lom

UBCD is better

Petrinoda

4_lom wrote: »

UBCD is better

But is it legal?

sokkaNET

Hiren used to use have a bunch of pirate software, but now it's all freeware or open source, same goes for UBCD.

I find UBCD much better, but it's just because I'm more used to it.

4_lom

Petrinoda wrote: »

But is it legal?

Of course it is. It's a free download. Ultimate Boot CD - Download the UBCD

Petrinoda

I thought there was more than 1 illegal one. I must of been thinking of the Hirens with norton and stuff on it.

Plantwiz

@Petrinoda,

Please explain why you think the tools being recommended are 'illegal'!
PW

4_lom

Petrinoda wrote: »

I thought there was more than 1 illegal one. I must of been thinking of the Hirens with norton and stuff on it.

You're making my brain hurt

. Can you explain a little better please? I have never heard of UBCD or Hirens containing illegal software.

WafflesAndRootbeer

The software in question was not illegal but rather unliscensed, making it illegal for business and personal use and it was purged from the contents of future discs. I don't remember exactly what was on there but that is what went down.

4_lom

WafflesAndRootbeer wrote: »

The software in question was not illegal but rather unliscensed, making it illegal for business and personal use and it was purged from the contents of future discs. I don't remember exactly what was on there but that is what went down.

Oh okay, I understand now

Priston

Norton Ghost was on the boot CD at one point

Plantwiz

I've never had a copy with Ghost. The software on the disks I've seen was opensource. Perhaps others have made modifications to their copies over the years. IIRC, there are insturctions for adding software.

kevozz

Plantwiz wrote: »

I've never had a copy with Ghost. The software on the disks I've seen was opensource. Perhaps others have made modifications to their copies over the years. IIRC, there are insturctions for adding software.

Versions before 11 contained several commercial products:
Hiren's BootCD - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hiren’s BootCD 10.6 release notes:
Hiren