Computer First Aid Using Knoppix By Cedric Shock and Susan Sullivan These instructions were written using

Knoppix version 3.7. It can be downloaded from http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index en.html. This document is available online at http://www.shockfamil!.net/cedric/knoppix/. There is also an older version written for Knoppix 3.". If !ou need help with these instructions or have corrections or suggestions please direct !our communications to cedric Preface: on!t Panic #indows $ust crashed. The computer won%t boot back up. Those &'!stem (ecover! )isks& that came with !our computer will erase all of !our data. In most cases* when #indows breaks and will not start up again* none of !our data has been lost* !ou $ust don%t have a wa! to get to it. These instructions are a wa! of getting to !our data when #indows won%t work. If these instructions fail to recover !our data* don%t panic+ even in cases of ph!sicall! damaged drives* reformatted drives* and accidentall! deleted files* professional data recover! companies such as ,ard )rive (ecover! -roup t!picall! have a ./ to .01 success rate. These services cost 2/3 to 2"/33 depending on the severit! of damage to the drive. 4ou should not use Knoppix if !our drives are ph!sicall! damaged. If !our drive was making strange sounds that !ou have not heard before* such as whirring* clicking or bu55ing* !ou should get professional data recover! help and !ou should not use Knoppix. If !our computer was damaged in a flood* a power surge* or an! other kind of disaster* get the help of a professional recover! service. In these situations an! further use of the drive will cause more damage* making recover! more expensive or impossible. If !ou have accidentall! deleted files or reformatted a drive it is imperative that !ou do not write an!thing to the drive+ save !our current work 6on a different drive if possible7 and turn off the computer. This means don%t download or install an! data recover! software onto the affected drive 6at all if !ou have onl! one drive7. 4ou should onl! use recover! software that does not write to the drive. 4ou can use Knoppix to get to and back up !our other files* but do not remount the drive so that it%s writable. 4ou can find more about what to do when !ou lose data. -et professional help with damaged drives and deleted files and please* don%t panic. I can not provide complete step b! step instructions for all of the methods covered because the! depend on !our computer%s setup* so in places !ou ma! need to know a little about !our own computer. 8or this reason* it might be helpful to find the manuals* documentation* and disks that came with !our computer and an! documentation provided b! !our internet service provider or information about !our network. These are certainl! not re9uired* but ma! be helpful. Part ": Starting Knoppix :ut the Knoppix ;) in the ;) drive of the computer !ou need to get data out of. If !ou have a 5ip drive or other removable disk drive* put a disk in the drive. If !ou have a <'= ke!chain drive or <'= hard drive connect it to the computer. Turn the computer on. 'ome computers will start the ;) automaticall!* while others will act like it isn%t there. If the ;) boots $ust b! putting it in !our computer and turning the computer on* great. 4ou can skip the next paragraph. shockfamil!.net.

If Knoppix does not start when the computer is turned on* first tr! restarting the computer. If that does not work* tr! pressing )el* >';* 8?* or 8". @ne of these ke!s should bring up either a menu from which !ou can select to boot from a ;)* or the =I@' configuration. In the latter case* !ou will need to find the &=oot @rder& in the bios configuration and make the ;) drive first. The documentation that came with !our computer should be helpful in finding this setting. After making this change and saving* restart the computer. 4ou will see a screen that sa!s: Press keys F2 or F3 for help and boot options KNOPPIX V3.7 ... boot: :ress >nter. Knoppix will spend a little while detecting all of !our hardware and starting up. This will take about / minutes. It certainl! shouldn%t take longer than ?/ minutes. If it takes a long time and is making no visible progress* !ou ma! want to start over. Part #: Finding $our ata %&elaxing'

@nce Knoppix starts !ou will be presented with a web browser window. There is a button with an B in the upper right hand corner of this window. ;lick on it+ the window will close. 4our screen should now look something like this:

There will be a series of icons down the left side of the screen. The ones labeled &,ard )isk :artition& are the hard drives in !our computer. If !ou can* find one labeled &,ard )isk :artition Chda?D& or &Csda?D&. If !ou can%t* $ust pick the top one. This is probabl! the drive that is called &;:& in windows. ;lick on this icon. This will bring up a window that looks similar to the #indows >xplorer 8ile Eanager. This window will have a director! tree view on the left* and an icon view on the right. If the drive !ou found is !our ; drive* the icon view on the right will have some icons called things like &:rogram 8iles&* &winnt&* &windows&* &E! )ocuments&* &rec!cled&* &)ocuments and 'ettings&* etc. If !ou are disappointed b! what is on this drive* or !ou get an error message* close the window and tr! another one. @nce !ou have figured out which drive is which* or at least which one is !our &;:& drive or other drive that !ou want to get data off of* go onto the next section* which is about rescuing !our data. (ips on Finding Files

The &E! )ocuments& folder is t!picall! found in one of the following places: #indows "333* B:: )ocuments and 'ettings/!our username/E! )ocuments/ #indows "333: )ocuments and 'ettings/Administrator/E! )ocuments/ #indows B:: )ocuments and 'ettings/@wner/E! )ocuments/ #indows FT: winnt/:rofiles/!our username/E! )ocuments/ #indows FT: winnt/:rofiles/Administrator/E! )ocuments/ #indows ./* .0* E>: E! )ocuments/ The )esktop is t!picall! found in one of the following places: #indows "333* B:: )ocuments and 'ettings/!our username/)esktop/ #indows "333: )ocuments and 'ettings/Administrator/)esktop/ #indows B:: )ocuments and 'ettings/@wner/)esktop/ #indows FT: winnt/:rofiles/!our username/)esktop/ #indows FT: winnt/:rofiles/Administrator/)esktop/ #indows ./* .0* E>: windows/)esktop/ Part ): &escuing $our ata There are a number of options in this section which !ou can use to rescue !our data. ?. ". 3. H. /. I. 8lopp! )isk: This re9uires that !ou have a flopp! disk drive and that the files !ou are tr!ing to save are small. Gip )isk or @ther (emovable )isk: This re9uires that !ou have a 5ip drive or other removable disk drive. <'= Ke!chain )rive or <'= ,ard )rive: This re9uires a <'= drive connected to the computer. ;)(@E: =urning files to a ;) re9uires that !ou have two ;) drives. 4ou must have the ;) drive that Knoppix was booted from and another ;) drive that can write ;)s. > mail: 4ou need a working internet connection through a local area network. #indows Fetworking: 4ou need a working connection to a local area network* and another computer on the network with a shared folder that !ou can cop! files to. Another ,ard )rive or :artition: 4ou need another hard drive installed* or another hard drive partition onto which to rescue !our data.

7.

)*": Floppy isk 8lopp! disks are prone to failure. )o not use them for an!thing other than transferring files between computers. Fever keep data on a flopp! disk that isn%t saved elsewhere. To recover data onto a flopp! disk !ou need to have a flopp! disk drive and a blank* formatted flopp! disk. :ut the disk in the drive. ;lick on the &8lopp! disk& icon on the desktop. This will open another file manager t!pe window for the flopp! disk. -o back to the window where !ou found !our data !ou wish to recover. 'elect the files. (ight click on them and select cop!. -o back to the window for the flopp! disk. (ight click in the big area on the right and select paste.

)*#: +ip isk or ,ther &emova-le isk 4ou need a Gip )rive or some other removable disk drive and a disk to use this method of data recover!. :ut the disk in the drive. @n the desktop there will be an icon labeled something like &,ard )isk :artition ChdcHD&* &ChddHD&* &CsdcHD&* or &CsddHD& that corresponds to !our Gip )rive. ;lick on it. It should open a window in which !ou can see the contents of the removable disk. -o back to the window where !ou found !our data !ou wish to recover. 'elect the files. (ight click on them and select cop!. -o back to the window opened for the removable disk. (ight click in the big area on the right and select paste. .f you can not /rite to the remova-le disk: 4ou might get a message that is like &;ould not write to /mnt/hdcH&. In this case !ou will need to change the properties for the removable drive. ;lose the window for the removable disk. (ight click on the removable drive on the desktop. This will bring up a little menu. 'elect &<nmount&* which is about the /th item from the bottom of the list. (ight click on the removable drive on the desktop. This will bring up the little menu again. 'elect the last item in the menu* &:roperties&. This will open a window with four tabs. 'elect the third tab* &)evice&. There is a checkbox labeled &(ead onl!&. Eake sure it is unchecked* and click on @k. 'ee Appendix ; for a picture. ;lick on the removable drive icon. This will open the explorer t!pe window again. This time !ou should be able to write to the disk. .f you can not remove the disk ;lose the window for the removable disk. (ight click on the removable drive on the desktop. This will bring up a little menu. 'elect &<nmount&* which is about the /th item from the bottom of the list. Tr! e$ecting the disk again. Further pro-lems If !our removable disk drive $ust won%t work* tr! restarting Knoppix with a disk in the drive. 'ome disk drives have issues with being empt! on bootup. )*): USB Keychain rive or USB 0ard rive The drive needs to alread! be connected when the computer is turned on.

;lick on the

at the bottom of the screen. This will make a window that looks like this:

;lick on the or &ub&:

on the left side of the screen. It should change to look like this* showing a list of devices in the left panel. The <'= drive will have a name starting with either &sd&

;lick on one of these drives and the right panel should displa! the contents of the <'= drive. -o back to the window where !ou found !our data !ou wish to recover. 'elect the files. (ight click on them and select cop!. -o back to the window opened for the <'= drive. (ight click in the big area on the right and select paste. )*1: C &,2 =urning files to a ;) re9uires that !ou have two ;) drives. 4ou must have the ;) drive that Knoppix was booted from and another ;) drive that can write ;)s.

This re9uires one challenging step before we can begin. ;lick on the in the lower left hand corner of the screen. This will bring up a menu like the #indows 'tart Eenu. >nter the &KF@::IB& submenu and select &(oot 'hell&. This will open a window with a light blue prompt that reads something like rootJtt!p3C/DK T!pe &passwd& and press enter. >nter a new password twice. ;lose this window.

;lick on the

in the lower left hand corner of the screen. This will bring up a menu like the #indows 'tart Eenu. >nter the &Eultimedia& submenu and select &

K3b&.

4ou will need to set up the ;) burning software before !ou can use it. In the K3b &'ettings& menu select &K3b 'etup&* the last entr!. 4ou will be asked to enter the password !ou entered earlier. :ress @k. I can%t see the bottom of this setup wi5ard on m! screen. :ress >nter or &Fext& H times. In step /* press the &Add <ser...& button. T!pe &knoppix& and press &@k&. :ress >nter or &Fext&. -etting past the last screen can be hard if !our screen isn%t big enough. #e need to push the &8inish& button. I succeeded b! moving m! mouse over the border of the window so that the resi5e cursor was visible. Then I right clicked and a menu came up. I selected &Eove& and moved the window so that the bottom portion of it was visible* then pressed &8inish& 4ou should be able to use the ;) #riter now. )*3: 45mail To rescue data using e mail !ou will need a working email account and an internet connection. If !ou are on a local area network* !our internet connection should alread! be working. If !our internet access is through a dial up service* see Appendix A* )ial up Fetworking. If !our internet access is through a local area network that was not automaticall! configured properl!* see Appendix =* Local Area Fetwork ;onfiguration.

#eb based e mail access is the easiest wa! to get email working. @pen a #eb =rowser. 4ou have two choices* account to send things through at http://mail.!ahoo.com/.

Kon9ueror* and

Eo5illa. 4ou can get a free e mail

It is also possible to set up )*6: 7indo/s 8et/orking

Eo5illa as an e mail client if !ou prefer this harder route or if !ou have files too large to send through web based e mail.

To rescue data using #indows Fetworking* !ou need a connection to a local area network* and another computer running on the network with a shared folder !ou can write to. If !our local area network was not automaticall! configured properl!* see Appendix =* Local Area Fetwork ;onfiguration. 4ou will need to know the following information about the other computer: #orkgroup: <sername: :assword: ;omputer Fame: 'hared 8older: If the computer is running windows ./* .0* or E> and does not re9uire a password for the shared folder* the username is &guest& and there is no password+ it should be left blank. At this point there are three options for connecting to the computer. The first option is easiest* but doesn%t alwa!s work+ tr! it first. The second option is a little harder* but is rock solid. The third option is presented onl! for those who desire it. ,ption ": Kon9ueror

;lick on the

at the bottom of the screen. This will make a window that looks like this:

8ill in the location bar* substituting the information garnered above for the bold text like this* and press enter: BM Location: smb://computer/folder

8or example* if the computer%s name is susan and the shared folder is called shared it would look like this:

)o F@T put an extra slash at the end of the folder. 8or example smb://susan/shared/ would not work. -o back to the window where !ou found !our data !ou wish to recover. 'elect the files. (ight click on them and select cop!. -o back to the window we $ust opened for the shared folder. (ight click in the big area on the right and select paste. ,ption #: (he Command :ine

;lick on the in the lower left hand corner of the screen. This will bring up a menu like the #indows 'tart Eenu. >nter the &KF@::IB& submenu and select &(oot 'hell&. This will open a window with a light blue prompt that reads something like rootJtt!p3C/DK T!pe &cd /mnt/& and press enter. The prompt should now read rootJtt!p3CmntDK

T!pe &mkdir /mnt/shared& and press enter. This makes a director! 6folder7 on this computer that will represent the shared folder on the other computer. T!pe* substituting the information garnered above for the parts in magenta: mount t smbfs o uidNknoppix*workgroupN#orkgroup*usernameN<sername*passwordN:assword //;omputer Fame/'hared 8older /mnt/shared and press enter. This attaches* or &mounts&* the other computer%s shared folder to the folder we created. ;lose this window.

@pen a new Kon9ueror window b! clicking on the at the bottom of the screen 6it is the /th from the left7. In the address bar* after where it reads BM Location: t!pe &file:/mnt/shared/& and press enter. This window is now displa!ing the shared director! on the other computer.

-o back to the window where !ou found !our data !ou wish to recover. 'elect the files. (ight click on them and select cop!. -o back to the window we $ust opened for the shared folder. (ight click in the big area on the right and select paste. ,ption ): :in8eigh-orhood

;lick on the in the lower left hand corner of the screen. This will bring up a menu like the #indows 'tart Eenu. >nter the &Internet& submenu then &Eore Applications& and select &LinFeighborhood In LinFeighborhood find the &@ptions& menu and select &=rowse entire network...& 4ntire 8et/ork Bro/se If !our network re9uires authentication $ust to see the list of shared folders* select &=rowse as user& and enter !our network username and password. ;lick &@k&. LinFeighborhood should now show a list of workgroups and the computers in them like this:

8ind the computer !ou will be cop!ing files to and double click on it. The list should now show the shared folders on that computer. 'elect the shared folder to which !ou will be cop!ing data. ;lick on the &Eount& button in the upper left corner of the window. 2ount ialog 4ou will be presented with a window that looks like this:

>nter !our username in the box labeled &'E= <ser:& and !our password in the box labeled &'E= :assword:&. ;lick &Eount&.

Fow we need to open the director! that represents the shared folder on the other computer. ;lick on the at the bottom of the screen. This will open a file manager t!pe window. There should be a folder called &mnt& in the icon view on the right+ open it. In this folder* there should be one folder with the name of the computer !ou connected to+ open it. In this folder* there should be one folder with the name of the shared folder !ou connected to+ open it. This director! now represents the shared folder on the other computer. -o back to the window where !ou found !our data !ou wish to recover. 'elect the files. (ight click on them and select cop!. -o back to the window we $ust opened for the shared folder. (ight click in the big area on the right and select paste. )*;: Another 0ard rive or Partition

To recover data onto a hard disk* !ou will need to have either another hard drive or hard drive partition. The hard drive will need to be installed before starting Knoppix. FT8' 6#indows "333 or B:7 formatted drives or partitions will not work without use of the ;aptive FT8' tool* documented in Appendix -. If !ou are cop!ing data to another partition on the same drive* beware. (einstalling #indows or using &'!stem (ecover! )isks& will probabl! )>L>T> !our rescued files. 4ou will need to make the drive or partition writable to be able to cop! files to it. (ight click on the drive or partition on the desktop. This will bring up a little menu. 'elect the last item in the menu* &:roperties&. This will open a window with four tabs. 'elect the third tab* &)evice&. There is a checkbox labeled &(ead onl!&. Eake sure it is unchecked* and click on @k. 'ee Appendix ; for a picture. (ight click on the drive or partition icon again. If there is an item in the menu called &<nmount& select it. ;lick on the icon on the desktop for the drive or partition. This will open the explorer t!pe window again. -o back to the window where !ou found !our data !ou wish to recover. 'elect the files. (ight click on them and select cop!. -o back to the window we $ust opened for the drive or partition. (ight click in the big area on the right and select paste. Part 1: Knoppix as a (emporary Computer Knoppix can be used as a temporar! operating s!stem. It has support for a wide variet! of printers and other hardware. Knoppix has programs for creating and editing documents* spreadsheets* presentations* charts and drawings including those in Eicrosoft @ffice formats. It also has powerful image editing software* web browsers* e mail clients* games* a music pla!er* a planetarium* flowcharting and diagramming* a calculator* a persistent clipboard* and man! other programs. To use Knoppix in place of a broken windows installation* there a few things that !ou will find convenient. 4ou ma! wish to be able to write to !our hard drive 6Appendix ;7. If !ou configure a printer 6Appendix )7 or set up a dial up internet connection 6Appendix A7* !ou ma! wish to save the configuration 6Appendix >7. If !ou start using @pen@ffice or a #eb =rowser* email client* or other program that has personal settings or configuration* !ou will want to create a persistent home director! 6Appendix 87.

@pen@ffice* a free replacement for Eicrosoft @ffice* can be opened using the

button at the bottom of the screen.

4ou can get on the internet using Kon9ueror or Eo5illa. Eo5illa and &Kmail& are e mail clients. Kon9ueror makes a good ftp client+ t!pe &ftp://ftp.!ourhost.com/& in the address bar. There are more internet programs* such as the A@L IE client &-aim&* in the &K& menu in the submenu &Internet&.

In the menu* tr! the addictive game &8ro5en =ubble& under &-ames&* the planetarium &K'tars& in &>dutainment&* the other &@ffice& programs* and the &<tilities& &K;alc& and &Klipper&. &Klipper& is great if !ou do a lot of cop!ing and pasting. &The -imp& image manipulation program is found in &Eultimedia& &-raphics&. 4ou can pla! E:3s and other audio files using &BEE'& found in &Eultimedia&. Appendix A: ial5up 8et/orking

;lick on the tool7&.

in the lower left corner of the screen. This will bring up a menu like the #indows 'tart Eenu. >nter the &Internet& submenu. 'elect &K::: 6Internet )ial up

This will open K:::* a dial up internet tool. KPPP ;lick on &'etup ...& KPPP Configuration <nder the &Accounts& tab click on &Few...& Create 8e/ Account ;lick on &)ialog 'etup& 8e/ Account >nter a &;onnection Fame&* it can be an!thing. ;lick on the &Add...& button. Add Phone 8um-er >nter the phone number for !our internet provider+ click &@k&. 8e/ Account ;lick ok. KPPP Configuration ;lick on the &)evice& tab. 'elect &Eodem )evice:& according to the following list: 7indo/s evice ;@E ? ;@E " ;@E 3 Select: /dev/tt!'3 /dev/tt!'? /dev/tt!'"

;@E H

/dev/tt!'3

@ther Internal Eodem /dev/modem 6(arel! #orks7

;lick on &@k&. KPPP >nter !our &Login I)& 6username7 and &:assword& and click &;onnect&. B: :ocal Area 8et/ork Configuration This section covers local area networking configuration when the network is not started automaticall!. This is mostl! for networks with static I: address assignment* t!picall! old networks of #indows ./* .0* FT* and E> computers.

;lick on the in the lower left corner of the screen. This will bring up a menu like the #indows 'tart Eenu. >nter the &KF@::IB& submenu. >nter the &Fetwork/Internet& submenu. 'elect &Fetwork card configuration&. This will open a series of dialog boxes that will re9uest information about the network. There ma! be a screen asking which network card to configure+ if so select one. The next screen will ask if the network settings should be configured through ),;:+ click no unless !our network has automatic configuration and it failed to work the first time for a reason such as a disconnected cable. After !ou click no* it will ask !ou for an I: address. This and the subse9uent settings rel! on !our network configuration* so I can%t tell !ou what to do here. C: 2aking a drive /rita-le 4ou can not make an FT8' formatted drive 6sometimes used for #indows FT* "333* B:7 writable without use of the ;aptive FT8' tool* documented in Appendix -. ;lose all windows and programs using files from the drive or showing director! listings of the drive.

(ight click on the drive icon on the desktop and select &:roperties&. This will open a little window. 'elect the &)evice& tab. There is a checkbox labeled &(ead onl!&. Eake sure it is unchecked* and click on @k.

: Printer Configuration

;lick on the in the lower left corner of the screen. This will bring up a menu like the #indows 'tart Eenu. >nter the &KF@::IB& submenu. >nter the &;onfigure& submenu. 'elect &;onfigure printer6s7&. This will open a window called &:rinting Eanager&. Fear the top left corner of the window there is a button labeled &Add& with a little black arrow pointing down on it. ;lick on it. This brings up a small menu+ select &Add :rinter/;lass&. .ntroduction ;lick &FextM&.

Backend Selection 'elect &Local printer 6parallel* serial* <'=7&. ;lick &FextM&. :ocal Port Selection This screen will show a list of all the ports on !our computer* and an! automaticall! detected printers. If the printer was detected automaticall!* select it and click &FextM&. If it wasn%t* select the port it is connected to and click &FextM&. Printer 2odel Selection 'elect !our printer%s manufacturer from the list on the left. Then select the model from the list on the right. ;lick &FextM&. river Selection 'elect a driver for !our printer. I prefer the ones that sa! &;<:'& or &gimp print&. ;lick &FextM&. Printer (est If !ou wish* !ou can test !our printer at this point. ;lick &FextM&. Banner Selection ;lick &FextM&. Printer <uota Settings ;lick &FextM&. User Access Settings ;lick &FextM&. =eneral .nformation >nter a name for the printer. It can be an!thing. ;lick &FextM&. Confirmation ;lick &8inish&. ;lose the &:rinting Eanager& window. 4our printer is now set up. If !ou want to save !our configuration* see Appendix >. 4: Saving Configuration 'aving configuration re9uires a flopp! disk* removable disk* <'= drive* or a non FT8' formatted drive.

;lick on the in the lower left corner of the screen. This will bring up a menu like the #indows 'tart Eenu. >nter the &KF@::IB& submenu. >nter the &;onfigure& submenu. 'elect &'ave KF@::IB configuration&. This will bring up a little window asking what to save. ;lick &@K&. The next window will ask where to save the configuration. I suggest the flopp! drive or a <'= drive. ;lick &@k&. To load the configuration the next time !ou run Knoppix. If !ou are using a flopp! disk* put it in the drive once the &boot:& prompt appears. Instead of pressing enter* t!pe &knoppix m!configNscan& and press enter.

F: Persistent 0ome Eaking a persistent home director! re9uires a non FT8' formatted drive.

;lick on the in the lower left corner of the screen. This will bring up a menu like the #indows 'tart Eenu. >nter the &KF@::IB& submenu. >nter the &;onfigure& submenu. 'elect &;reate a persistent KF@::IB home director!&. This will bring up a window with a lot of text. ;lick &@K&. The next window will ask where to store the home director!. 'elect a drive and click &@k&. Click >8o>* o 8,( use the entire partition* The next screen asks for a si5e in megab!tes for the persistent home director!. 33 is good. ;lick &@k&. ;lick &Fo&. #e don%t need encr!ption. The next time !ou run Knoppix* instead of pressing enter enter at the boot: prompt* t!pe &knoppix homeNscan& and press enter. If !ou want to use both a persistent home director! and a saved configuration* t!pe &knoppix homeNscan m!configNscan& and press enter. =: Captive 8(FS tool This tool allows writable access to an FT8' formatted partition.

;lick on the in the lower left corner of the screen. This will bring up a menu like the #indows 'tart Eenu. >nter the &KF@::IB& submenu. >nter the &<tilities& submenu. 'elect &;aptive FT8'&. 8ollow the instructions on the screen. @nce ntfs.s!s and ntoskernel.s!s are found !ou ma! click @k to finish the program. cedric data rescue dice calculator underground railroad skeleton Contact .nformation

;edric 'hock cedric shockfamil!.net 888 E 18th Ave. Apt Eugene, OR 97401 (541) 343-6640 Last updated #ednesda! Oanuar! "H* "337. Piew page source.