After 6 years, a new version of the legendary emergency distribution Hiren's BootCD has been released.

Today is a holiday for ironworkers, repairmen, system administrators and enikeyschikov!
After long oblivion, the release of the legendary boot disk Hiren's BootCD was resumed.

Hiren's BootCD (also known as HBCD ) is a boot image with CD \ DVD \ USB-flash burning software, containing a number of diagnostic utilities, such as system performance tests, formatting and partitioning tools, cloning tools and disk imaging tools, data recovery tools, tools for working with the MBR, firmware tools and BIOS modifications, and other tools to fix various computer problems.

At this time, the distribution is based on 64-bit Windows PE 10.0 and contains only programs that are legal for free distribution, provided that you use HBCD solely for the purpose of diagnosing and repairing computer malfunctions, and not as the main software for the computer.

The release of new official versions is carried out by a group of especially loyal fans of the distribution kit, who were given access to the official site (the old version of the site before the announcement of new versions), while the original author has long since retired.

History reference

The history of the Hiren's BootCD disaster recovery distribution began in 2004. Initially, Windows 98 Second Edition and MS-DOS 7.1 were used as operating systems. Later, in version 9.9, Mini Windows XP SP3 has become the OS quality.

Hiren's BootCD was classified by warez for a long time, because it actually violated the copyright of publishers of individual computer programs. Despite the fact that 95% of the distribution consisted of abandoned or free to use programs, it also contained programs from Microsoft and other companies that required special licensing. Therefore, HBCD users had to take into account that its use could violate the law on intellectual property (due to a significant number of proprietary licensed programs). In some countries, the distribution of the Hiren's BootCD disk was considered illegal.

A significant number of commercial software products that are protected by copyright and require special licensing in Hiren's BootCD contained up to version 11.0.

For example, in version 10.6, 17 commercial programs were indicated in the release notes. First of all, it was Acronis True Image, Norton Ghost, Acronis Disk Director and Paragon Partition Manager (Partition Magic Pro was already replaced in version 10.5.). To be able to run a commercial application, the user had to swear that he is the holder of the license, but in fact it was not tested in any way.

In version 11.0 there were only three commercial products left:

• Mini Windows 98
• Mini Windows XP
• MS-DOS Utility Collection

Some fans liked only the old distribution strategy, as a result of which they created an alternative branch Restored Edition , which included (returned) tools that required a commercial license removed by the original author of the distribution.

The latest version, released by the original author, was Hiren's BootCD v15.2 , released on November 9, 2012, after which the creators for unknown reasons lost interest in the development of their offspring.

Through the efforts of one of the groups of fans, for some time, an unofficial series of Hiren's BootCD v releases was released. 15.3 - v.16.x

Is using Windows PE 10.0 legal?

Windows PE is not a general-purpose operating system. It cannot be used for any other purpose than deployment and recovery. It should not be used as a thin client or embedded operating system. There are other Microsoft products, such as Windows Embedded CE, that should be used for this purpose.

To prevent it from being used as the primary operating system, Windows PE automatically shuts down the shell and restarts after 72 hours of continuous use. This period can not be changed by regular means.

A source

Windows PE does not contain Windows license keys. In addition, the appointment of Hiren's BootCD is not contrary to the purpose of Windows PE and retains the same limit of 72 hours of continuous use. Thus, the use of Windows PE in Hiren's BootCD is legal from the point of view of the policy of licensing agreements of Microsoft.

What's inside the image of Hiren's BootCD PE x64 (v1.0.1)

Direct link to download a 1.3 GB image. But it is better to download from this page.

Core os Windows Preinstallation Environment x64 10.0.14393.0 BCD-MBR Tools BootIce v1.3.3 EasyBCD v2.3 Hard Disk Tools - Data Recovery CheckDisk GUI v1.2.0 Lazesoft Data Recovery v4.0.0.1 Puran Data Recovery v1.2.0 Puran File Recovery v1.2.0 Recuva v1.53.0.1087 Runtime GetDataBack for FAT v4.3.3 Runtime GetDataBack for NTFS v4.3.3 Runtime GetDataBack Simple v5.0.0 Runtime NAS Data Recovery v4.0.0 Runtime RAID Reconstructor v4.4.0 Runtime RAID Recovery for Windows v4.0.0 Hard Disk Tools - Defrag Defraggler v2.22.33.995 Hard Disk Tools - Diagnostic GSmartControl v1.1.3 HDDScan v4.0 HDTune v2.55 WD Data Lifeguard Diagnostics v1.31 Hard Disk Tools - Disk Explorer Runtime Captain Nemo v7.0.0 Runtime DiskExplorer for FAT v4.3.2 Runtime DiskExplorer for Linux v4.3.6 Runtime DiskExplorer for NTFS v4.3.2 Hard Disk Tools - Imaging Acronis TrueImage 2018 build 11530 ( recovery only! ) AOMEI Backupper v4.1.0 Lazesoft Disk Image & Clone v4.0.0.1 Macrium Reflect PE v7.1.3196 Runtime DriveImage XML v2.6.0 Hard Disk Tools - Partition Tools AOMEI Partition Assistant v7.0.1 Macrorit Partition Extender v4.9.3 Hard Disk Tools - Security HDD Low Level Format Tool v4.40 Windows Recovery Lazesoft Windows Recovery v4.0.0.1

Other Tools FSViewer v6.5.0 Free Office rev 703 Sumatra PDF v3.1.2 7-Zip v18.05 ExamDiff Pro v10.0.0.6 HxD v2.0.0 Notepad ++ v7.5.6 WinMerge v2.14 Removable Drive Tools CDBurnerXP v4.5.8.6795 Rufus v3.0.1304 Security - AntiVirus ESET Online Scanner v2.0.22 Malwarebytes Anti-Malware v2.2.1.1043 Securiy - KeyFinders ProduKey v1.92 ShowKeyPlus v1.0.6610 Security - Passwords Lazesoft Password Recovery v4.0.0.1 NT Password Edit v0.7 System tools CPU-Z v1.85.0 GPU-Z v2.9.0 HWInfo v5.84-3450 Speccy v1.32.740 TechBench ISO Downloader v4.13 WinNTSetup v3.9.0 Attribute Changer v9.0 CCleaner v5.43.6522 Change Keyboard Layout v1.0.0 Dependency Walker v2.2.6 Registry Backup v3.5.3 Regshot v2.0.1.70 SysInternals Suite Windows PowerShell v1.0 Network Aero Admin v4.5 Teamviewer v6.0.10511 Acrylic Wi-Fi Home v3.3.0 Chrome v67.0.3396.62 Mozilla Firefox v60.0.1.6710 PENetwork v0.59.0.4