Rescatux 0.73 desktop

Rescatux is a Debian-based live distribution featuring a graphical wizard for rescuing broken GNU/Linux and Windows installations and boot loaders.

Rescatux 0.73 hands on video

Rescatux 0.32b3 Tutorial video

VIDEOS – Boot Info Script, Change Gnu/Linux password, Filesystem check (Fix forced), Generate sudoers, Clear Windows password, Restore grub, Restore Windows MBR, Share Log, Update Grub, Share log on forum videos, Tour, Tutorial – VIDEOS

Where to Download

Just check the Rescatux Download stable .

How to burn it into a cdrom or put it in a USB

USB DEVICE : Please use Etcher (or dd carefully if you are an expert) to flash the iso to your usb device ( Warning : The complete usb device is erased). Other methods based on external tools that put many ISOs into a single usb are discouraged and not supported because it’s not easy that the resultant USB will support all the as-is Rescatux supported systems.

: Please use Etcher (or dd carefully if you are an expert) to flash the iso to your ( : The complete usb device is erased). Other methods based on external tools that put many ISOs into a single usb are discouraged and not supported because it’s not easy that the resultant USB will support all the as-is Rescatux supported systems. CDROM or DVDROM: Burn the iso with k3b, brasero, nero burning rom, or your favourite burning tool (it fits under 700 MiB).

Boot options:

Update UEFI order

Create a new UEFI Boot entry

UEFI Partition Status

Fake Microsoft Windows UEFI

Hide Microsoft Windows UEFI

Reinstall Microsoft Windows EFI

Check UEFI Boot

GRUB options:

Easy GNU/Linux Boot Fix

Restore GRUB and GRUB2

Update any GRUB2 menues

Update Debian/Ubuntu grub menues

Windows options:

Restore Windows MBR

Reset Windows passwords

Promote a Windows user to Administrator role

Reinstall Microsoft Windows EFI

Unlock Windows user

Password options:

Change Gnu/Linux Password

Regenerate sudoers file

Clear Windows passwords

Filesystem options:

File System Check (Forced Fix)

Support options:

Help

Web

Chat

Show log

Share log

Share log on forum

Boot Info Script

Expert tools:

Gparted

Photorec

Testdisk

CLI Programs:

Gpart

extundelete

Resources:

About Rescatux

Rescatux is a Debian based live cd that lets you fix your GRUB1 and GRUB2 installations (as per Super Grub2 Disk lacks) but does much more. Here the are some of its features that will be explained in detail in the rest of the article:

Helping newbies

The different approach of Rescatux is found in its main program: Rescapp. Rescapp is a nice wizard that will guide you through your rescue tasks.

At the first glance Rescapp seems to be just a launcher for Rescue tools:

. However it has some Support features that make it unique:

Chat: Open the chat for asking help directly in Rescatux channel.

Share log: After running an option you can share its log (the action registry that it has done) so that in the chat they can help you better. O better, even, you can help debug and fix Rescatux bugs on the fly.

Share log on forum: Prepares a forum post alike text so that you can just copy and paste it in your favourite forum. Logs are nicely inserted into it with [CODE] symbols.

Boot Info Script: Run Boot Info Script option to share your computer configuration (specially boot one).

More than this the non-support features such as:

are being driven with nice wizards :

.

Features explained

When a filesystem has some errors in it some bad things might happen. Maybe GRUB1 or GRUB2 cannot find its own files (Grub errors) or the kernels (cannot find file error). Maybe the kernel can be loaded but its initrd stage isn’t able to find the final device root filesystem (Kernel panic – not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs. (initramfs))

This option tries to fix this filesystem errors even if the filesystem seems to be clean and ok.

The old chntpasswd program has been hacked so that you can use it from a GUI. You can just select your Windows drive and the user you want its password to be cleared.

Have you ever forgotten your Gnu/Linux password? Now you can change it from this nice wizard. As always you’re prompted to choose your Gnu/Linux installation and then the user which you want to change its password.

Have you ever tried to run an special program as a normal user… but by doing it you have somehow borked your /etc/sudoers file? Don’t panic! Now after baking up your previous sudoers file a new one is generated on the fly. You just have to select which it’s your user.

Not sure what’s the current situation with Windows 8 and Windows 7 but in previous versions once you reinstalled Windows (because of a virus or whatever reason) you lost your Grub menu. That meant that you couldn’t boot anymore into your Gnu/Linux system. The truth is that you can download the light-weight Super Grub2 Disk and boot into your system in a temporal way.

But how to fix it permanently? If you’re not good at the Gnu/Linux command line you can just use Rescatux’s Restore Grub option.

Sometimes the Grub configuration is no longer valid. Either your hard disks order at boot have changed (It should only affect to GRUB1) or you have added a new Windows installation and it’s not detected.

Update Grub option let’s you rebuild your Grub configuration files. This option will only work in Debian based distros like Ubuntu.

This option tries to restore Windows MBR but it’s kind of buggy because some users report that it’s not working for them. It probably works with no problem on Windows XP (without dynamic disks) and previous Windows versions. This is the reason why it’s a BETA option.



Architecture detection

Either you have an old 32bit system or a new 64bit system Grub2 integrated into Rescatux will detect it and load the corresponding kernel.

About Rescatux future

There’s so many things to be enhaced in Rescatux that it’s hard to categorize them.

I18N for options (Documentation is already translated)

Document Resclib API

Add extra tools like Parted Magic or System Rescue cd programs even if they don’t have a nice wizard option in Rescapp.

Make Rescapp a Debian Package

Improve option: Restore Grub: Being able to restore non-distribution based GRUB1 installations.

Add more translations

Partition assistant for new Gnu/Linux installations where you have to shrink Windows partition

Try to force the installation of packages when an apt-get upgrade or similar has failed

Wipe a filesystem, partition or disk

Recover lost files

Save your non accesible files from Windows even if you cannot boot into it driven by Rescapp wizard.

Where to Download

Just check the Rescatux Download stable .

How to burn it into a cdrom or put it in a USB