illDecree Posted September 9, 2010 Share Posted September 9, 2010 what i'm trying to do is find an alternative (perfectly legal) to Hiren's Boot CD to run in a very large corporate environment. it would be used on 3k+ remote laptop users all over the world. any suggestions?? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 sc302 Veteran Posted September 9, 2010 Veteran Share Posted September 9, 2010 make your own with bart pe using free tools out in the wild. free and legal that way. Dont know what you are looking for, but ubcd4win is pretty good too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 _BeanZ_ Posted September 9, 2010 Share Posted September 9, 2010 All depends on what tools you need really. If you're signed up to Software Assurance you get access to the Diagnostic and Recovery Toolset Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 illDecree Posted September 9, 2010 Author Share Posted September 9, 2010 make your own with bart pe using free tools out in the wild. free and legal that way. Dont know what you are looking for, but ubcd4win is pretty good too. what i'm looking to do is prevent, or assist with laptops that must be sent back to us for repair. due to having a database on each of them, and proprietary software, we cannot fix a lot of things in the wild. i'd LOVE to be able to just boot into a live OS, and at least move data off of the drives onto an external for our users, and maybe, include utils to help recover the system, if needed (the fix NTLDR is missing part of Hiren's would be an example) anything along those lines is perfect. i do NOT want advanced tools that the users could use and get themselves in trouble with. with Hiren's, DBAN, KonBoot, ect are definitely not wanted. just basic stuff that a user could be guided into using themselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 sc302 Veteran Posted September 9, 2010 Veteran Share Posted September 9, 2010 look into logmein. I support a large array of clients with it. Unless there is a complete hardware failure, I can remote in and fix just about anything (viruses and malware included). What I do is logmein to their local server, then use another remote software called dameware and remote into the individuals pc's/laptops. you could do the same with teamviewer (and teamviewer also supports support sessions for free, where logmein you have to pay for them). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 illDecree Posted September 9, 2010 Author Share Posted September 9, 2010 look into logmein. I support a large array of clients with it. Unless there is a complete hardware failure, I can remote in and fix just about anything (viruses and malware included). What I do is logmein to their local server, then use another remote software called dameware and remote into the individuals pc's/laptops. you could do the same with teamviewer (and teamviewer also supports support sessions for free, where logmein you have to pay for them). We are already using LogMeIn as a backup. primarily we are using a Cisco IPSec VPN and VNC/RDP/Dameware/ect. what i need the disk for is to help when the systme won't boot, or they need to send it back. I'm thinking at this point of dual booting the image on the laptops to have DSL (Damn Small Linux) installed, and running OpenVPN with our VPN profile/cert installed already. this way, if windows dies, we can at least remotely touch the system, and at the very least, back up data for the user. oftentimes, they drives are working, but the OS is not, then they ship it to us, and the drive dies in transit, causing a lot of lost files, and aggravation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 sc302 Veteran Posted September 9, 2010 Veteran Share Posted September 9, 2010 We are already using LogMeIn as a backup. primarily we are using a Cisco IPSec VPN and VNC/RDP/Dameware/ect. what i need the disk for is to help when the systme won't boot, or they need to send it back. I'm thinking at this point of dual booting the image on the laptops to have DSL (Damn Small Linux) installed, and running OpenVPN with our VPN profile/cert installed already. this way, if windows dies, we can at least remotely touch the system, and at the very least, back up data for the user. oftentimes, they drives are working, but the OS is not, then they ship it to us, and the drive dies in transit, causing a lot of lost files, and aggravation. boot with a backup disk. backup the drive to a network share. use something like todo backup and save to a network share or a external drive. you can create a boot disk, it will basically make an image of the drive. freeware btw. if you use a pe disk that you configure you could install whatever you want on it and have it call you. it would require some thought on your part, but this would get away from hard drive corruption and you can put any utilities you want on it to be able to troubleshoot / diagnose the issue as well as backup software. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 illDecree Posted September 9, 2010 Author Share Posted September 9, 2010 boot with a backup disk. backup the drive to a network share. use something like todo backup and save to a network share or a external drive. you can create a boot disk, it will basically make an image of the drive. freeware btw. if you use a pe disk that you configure you could install whatever you want on it and have it call you. it would require some thought on your part, but this would get away from hard drive corruption and you can put any utilities you want on it to be able to troubleshoot / diagnose the issue as well as backup software. is that going to work well on a VPN, via an aircard or free wifi? most of our users don't have much else. they are sales reps. i like the idea a lot, but don't know how to get them to do this. also, wouldn't this require TB's of space? we could dedicate a few racks to it, i 'spose, but the likelyhood of that getting past management would be slim. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 sc302 Veteran Posted September 9, 2010 Veteran Share Posted September 9, 2010 well, pe is a windows environment built off of a current windows disk. the possiblity of it working is great, but you will have to put in some sweat equity into it. afterall the hirens disk you like so much is a pe environment that the hirens group put all of those wonderful toys on. as far as the imaging goes, you delete it once you are done with it so maybe a TB at most (really depends on your hardware configs and how much space is actually being used on the computer). Hell you could even buy a cheap nas or a external usb and share it out for temp backup space. Or maybe that was the digiwiz disk and not the hirens. It has been a while since I used either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 +BudMan MVC Posted September 9, 2010 MVC Share Posted September 9, 2010 (edited) "teamviewer also supports support sessions for free" Just to clarify this.. "For commercial use of TeamViewer you need one of our licenses - Business, Premium, or Corporate" "in a very large corporate environment. it would be used on 3k+ remote laptop users all over the world." This sure sounds like it would be commercial use, so they can not legally use teamviewer without a license. Just wanted to clarify that. But as already suggested, just create a PE disk with the tools you want it -- I find it unlikely your going to find a prepackaged CD image that would meet your needs.. There are many rescue type disks out there.. But most of them would have tools on them that you prob don't want your using having access to. Just create your own winpe disk, customize it to your liking -- this way you will sure it has the drivers needed for your hardware. Could prob have your cisco vpn client on it, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Octopedes Posted October 14, 2010 Share Posted October 14, 2010 what i'm trying to do is find an alternative (perfectly legal) to Hiren's Boot CD to run in a very large corporate environment. it would be used on 3k+ remote laptop users all over the world. any suggestions?? Thanks! You may want to check these links out: http://ultimatebootcd.com/ http://www.bootdisk.com/ If all you're looking for is a pre-install environment, something like the latest 'RIPLinux' Live Disc might be what you need. It's basically a platform for launching the GParted app, which can do all of your partitioning/formatting needs. It's file manager is also pretty quick at transfers, and copying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Astrum Posted October 15, 2010 Share Posted October 15, 2010 Ultimate Boot CD is very good , but you can also try many others "Live CDs" Linux-based. Depends what you need. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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illDecree
what i'm trying to do is find an alternative (perfectly legal) to Hiren's Boot CD to run in a very large corporate environment. it would be used on 3k+ remote laptop users all over the world.
any suggestions??
Thanks!
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