DLC Boot 2023
Version 2023 v4.3 · Tran Duy Linh · Windows PE bootable environment · ranked #124 in the library
A bootable rescue environment on a stick, holding the partition tools, backup imagers, password resets and diagnostics you need on the day a machine will not start its own system at all.
Read the installation section below before you start. The order of the steps matters on this release.
About this release
Overview
DLC Boot is a maintenance toolkit that runs from its own bootable environment rather than from inside the system you are trying to fix. That distinction is the whole value: when a machine will not start, has a corrupt system drive, is locked by a forgotten password or is too infected to trust, you boot from the stick into a clean environment and work on the drive from outside. Nothing you do depends on the broken system being able to run.
The collection covers the situations that put a technician on a call out. Partition management for resizing, moving, cloning and recovering volumes. Disk imaging for taking and restoring a full backup before a risky operation. Password reset tools for a locked local account. Data recovery for pulling files off a failing drive. Hardware diagnostics for memory, storage health and temperatures. Antivirus scanners that run against the offline drive where an infected system cannot interfere.
Everything runs from the boot menu with nothing installed to the machine being worked on. The environment loads into memory, so once it has booted you can even remove the stick. It writes to the target drive only when you tell a specific tool to, which makes it safe to boot on a machine you are only diagnosing rather than repairing.
What it does
Feature breakdown
Boots outside the installed system
Works on a drive from a clean environment, so a dead, locked or infected system is no obstacle.
Partition and cloning tools
Resize, move, merge, clone and recover partitions, and copy a whole drive to a replacement.
Disk imaging and restore
Take and restore full drive images, the safety net before any operation that could go wrong.
Password reset utilities
Clear or reset a forgotten local account password by editing the offline account database.
Data recovery and diagnostics
Recover files from a failing drive and test memory, storage health and temperatures from outside the system.
Offline antivirus scanning
Scan the target drive from the clean environment where an infected system cannot hide or interfere.
Changed in this build
Version 2023 v4.3
- Updated the bundled partition and imaging tools to their current builds.
- Refreshed storage and network drivers for recent chipsets so more machines boot cleanly.
- Added detection for newer NVMe controllers in the boot environment.
- Improved the boot menu layout with clearer tool categories.
- Reduced the memory footprint of the loaded environment.
Installation
Follow these in order
- Extract the archive.
- Disable real time protection. Rescue toolkits are flagged wholesale by every engine.
- Write the image to a USB stick with the included writer tool, or use it to make a bootable disc.
- Boot the target machine from the stick through the firmware boot menu.
- Choose the tool that matches the situation from the boot menu.
- Work on the drive, then reboot and re-enable protection on your own machine.
Release notes
From whoever packed it
- Detections on the archive are expected. The tools are risk classified by behaviour, not by anything specific to this build.
- Take a full image before any partition operation on a drive you care about.
- The environment loads into memory, so the stick can be removed once it has booted.
System requirements
Minimum and recommended
| Boot medium | USB stick of 8 GB or larger, or a writable optical disc |
|---|---|
| Processor | Any x86 or x64 processor |
| Memory | 2 GB minimum, since the environment loads into memory |
| Firmware | UEFI or legacy BIOS, both boot paths supported |
| Storage | No installation to the target machine required |
Questions about this release
Answered before you ask
- Does it install anything on the broken machine?
- No. It boots and runs from the stick and only writes to the target drive when a tool is told to.
- Can it recover files from a drive that will not boot?
- Yes, the recovery tools work on the drive from outside the failed system.
- Why does antivirus block the download?
- Rescue collections bundle tools that are risk classified. That is expected for this category.
Download
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