/rescueusb

Universal rescue usb config based on grub2 and grub4dos

Primary LanguageShell

Update 2022-05-03 Move to docker

Universal Rescue USB drive

I searching for recovery USB drive for long time, but all find solutions not fully cover my needs, so i decide make my ideal universal USB drive by myself.

In this repo i share my configs for GRUB2 and GRUB4DOS + instructions how format and test USB drive.

This USB drive can:

  • Boot on BIOS and UEFI
  • Diagnose HW problems
  • Install Linux (debian)
  • Install Windows (XP, 7, 8.1, 10)
  • Backup / Restore
  • Pen-testing (Kali linux)
  • Repair bootloader
  • Repair partition table
  • Flash BIOS
  • And more

New docker usage:

Clone repo:

git clone git@github.com/upya4ko/rescueusb.git
cd rescueusb

Make magic

(if you have rescueUSBbackup.tar.gz to ./rescueusb/backup/)

build docker image

./build.sh

Find your USB drive path

sudo dmesg

make basic setup

run-make-usb-shell.sh /dev/sdX make

update Debian based distros

run-make-usb-shell.sh /dev/sdX update

backup all distro from USB drive to archive

run-make-usb-shell.sh /dev/sdX backup

restore all distro files from archive to USB drive

run-make-usb-shell.sh /dev/sdX restore

to acces debug shell use

run-make-usb-shell.sh /dev/sdX debug

OLD README NEXT

---

Items:

  1. More usefull tools
  2. Testing

Prepare USB drive:

Insert USB drive, and check what name it take

dmesg

[2949128.264602] usb-storage 3-4:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
[2949129.487527] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] 7909376 512-byte logical blocks: (4.05 GB/3.77 GiB)
[2949129.499389] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk

Next steps be use /dev/sdb as USB drive

Download GRUB4DOS
unzip grub4dos-0.4.4.zip
cp grub4dos-0.4.4/grub.exe /mnt/rescueusb/boot/

More usefull tools:

Images put in /mnt/rescueusb/boot/rescuecd/

Dos image to upgrade BIOS

Modified floppy image from site zheleznov.info

  • Why need floppy with DOS:
    • Install Windows 2000
    • Flashing motherboard BIOS
    • Run DOS programs to work with low level utilities (TestDisk, MHDD, Partition Magic, Acronis Disk Director)
    • RAM testing "MemTest86+"
  • Image contains:
    • Image based on "Windows 98 SE boot disk"
    • Added drivers and utilities:
      • Driver IDE CD-ROM: ECSCDIDE
      • Driver SATA CD-ROM: GCDROM V2.4
      • Driver SATA CD-ROM: XGCDROM V2.4b
      • RAM testing "MemTest86+ 1.65"
      • Russian keyboard driver "KEYRUS"
      • Mouse driver MOUSE.COM
      • Diver disk caching "SMARTDRV.EXE", need to install Windows 2000
      • File manager "Volkov Commander", run with command VC
  • Other improvements:
    • Remove unused files.
    • Remove unpacking utilities to RAM-disk, all utilities fit in to floppy unpacked.
    • Original utilities moved to directory DOS.
    • Additional drivers and utilities moved to directory UTILS.
    • Directories added to environment variable PATH, so all utilities can be called from any catalog.
    • Removed boot variant without CD-ROM support.
    • Rework config files and boot menu.
wget http://web.archive.org/web/20160418222032/http://zheleznov.info/file/boot_dos.zip
unzip boot_dos.zip
mv boot_dos/boot_dos.ima .
rm -r boot_dos/ boot_dos.zip

Chntpw also known as Offline NT Password and Registry Editor

Download Files for USB Install (usb140201.zip)

cd /mnt/rescueusb/boot/chntpw/
unzip *
mv initrd.cgz initrd.cpio.gz
mv scsi.cgz scsi.cpio.gz
gunzip initrd.cpio.gz
gunzip scsi.cpio.gz
cat scsi.cpio >> initrd.cpio
gzip initrd.cpio
rm boot.msg isolinux.bin isolinux.cfg readme.txt syslinux.cfg syslinux.exe *.zip scsi.cpio

Clonezilla to backup linux PC

Go to Clonezilla download page Select:

  • CPU - i686-pae
  • File type - ISO
  • Repository - auto

HDD Regenerator

You must buy one on official site Never search any livecd with this software.

Hirens BootCD 15.2 DOS

MHDD DOS

wget http://www.mhdd.ru/files/mhdd32ver4.6floppy.exe
7z e mhdd32ver4.6floppy.exe
cp mhdd32ver4.6floppy /mnt/rescueusb/boot/rescuecd/mhdd32ver4.6_Boot-1.44M.img

Norton Ghost 11 ima

Rescatux

WHDD

Testing:

To test USB drive easy i use QEMU

*NOTE: Release mouse - Ctrl + Alt + G

Install QEMU:

sudo apt-get install qemu-system-x86 ovmf
mkdir testing_boot_usb
cd testing_boot_usb

Create dummy drive image:

dummyDriveCreate.sh

Options:

(more RAM and cores = faster boot)

  • -m 2048 - give 2GB RAM
  • -usb /dev/sdb - attach usb drive
  • -hda test1.qcow - attach dummy drive
  • -cpu kvm64 - emulated CPU
  • -smp cores=2 - set 2 cores to emulated CPU
  • -cdrom /some_iso.iso - optional ISO images testing
  • -enable-kvm - enable KVM full virtualization support (if host support virtualization it make boot way more faster)
  • -bios bios.bin - use specific bios image
  • -boot order=dc - Boot iso first, a, b (floppy 1 and 2), c (first hard disk), d (first CD-ROM)
  • -fda floppy.img - Attach floppy image

To test in BIOS mode:

X32

qemu-bios-x86.sh

X64

qemu-bios-x64.sh

To test in UEFI mode:

X32

qemu-uefi-x86.sh

X64

qemu-uefi-x86.sh

Also you can test any other CPU, to show available CPU list:

qemu-system-x86_64 -cpu help