Member Avatar for Prabakar

Need A Little Help

Senario:
In the near future I will have to transfer data from my computer to & from A computer infected by lots & lots of viruses. I do not have rights to modify, install or uninstall any software in the infected system. All I can do is to transfer data. The Infected system is not connected to the internet.
Question:
I was just wondering whether I can have a live version of XP which runs from a CD or a pen-drive( more preferably ) so that I may prevent my computer from getting infected.

Or Please let me know if there are other ways to do things

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by salim hussain

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Thread context: needs to move files to/from an offline Windows XP box that is heavily infected and where no software can be installed. and already pointed toward booting from external media and not executing files. The safest approach is a controlled, read-only transfer workflow plus thorough post-copy scanning rather than trying to run a "live XP" image of uncertain origin on the infected machine.

A practical low-risk workflow:

  1. Boot the infected PC from a trusted, clean rescue medium that the operator prepared and controls (media should be immutable whenever possible).
  2. Ensure the infected volume is mounted read-only or use a hardware write-blocker to prevent any writes back to the source disk (write blocker).
  3. Disable autorun/autoplay and do not open or run executables, installers or scripts on the infected system. Copy only the necessary data files.
  4. Compute checksums (hashes) of copied files immediately so integrity can be verified later.
  5. Move the copied files to a separate, clean and fully patched machine and scan them with up-to-date anti-malware engines. For suspicious single files, multi-engine services such as VirusTotal can supplement local scanning.
  6. For documents, extract content and disable macros before opening; treat archives and installers as high risk.

If the goal is to run Windows-only tools, run them on an isolated, patched VM on a trusted host with snapshots rather than on the infected PC. For critical or forensic needs, consider professional imaging or hardware write-blockers. These steps reduce cross-contamination risk and give verifiable artefacts if files need deeper analysis.

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Member Avatar for salim hussain

Again the PCLinuxOS can do it but for that you need a USB in FAT32 (which they usually are !) - So copy the data wanted to the USB key - and save it to some other disk and continue until you completed your copy (I mean if your USB key is not big enough).

Member Avatar for OlyComputers

There are CD bootable versions of XP available, but their legality is questionable at best, but google it if you're interested.

You can use a CD bootable Linux distrobution as salim suggested (not all can work with NTFS, but I'm assuming PCLinuxOS can if he suggested it).

The third option isn't viable in all situation IE is it your computer, can you take it apart, do you have the capacity to take on another hard-drive. You should be able to put the infected Hard drive in your system as long as you don't execute ANY files on it (as long as it's not the boot drive windows shouldn't load infect itself from the viruses) and run thorough scans of the files you do transfer. I'm not going to guarentee you wouldn't get infected, but I never have pulling files off of infected systems.

I'm assuming the PC doesn't boot properly, or you'd just be putting the files directly onto disks, but in the event it does CDs/flash drive makes the most sense.

commented: Thanks It really helped:) +1
Member Avatar for Prabakar

I am glad with your answers:)

Question of taking the hard dive is entirely ruled out. I just can't.

I knew Live PCLinuxOS will help in this case.
But I thought it would be better if I can take my XP because I can use the softwares that I have like Macromedia Flash & Visual Studio 2008 Express Edition in the infected computer.

Taking a hard disk and other such things are too much for a newbie in OS & hardware, so I think using PCLinuxOS will serve me better.
I have just downloaded a tiny version of windows( its a free ware. I just got it free of cost) which runs from a CD. I will see how it works soon.

Member Avatar for OlyComputers

Just because something is free doesn't mean it's actually legal freeware. Most illegal hacked software is distributed on the web free of cost.

I'm not judging, I use it, I just want to make sure you have the facts.

Member Avatar for salim hussain

Hello from Salim,
Yeah, Olycomputers is right, most of what is proposed is illegal - as of MS Eulas. If your CD is Bart PE then its unattackable if you made it yourself from your legal Windows XP. But these are limited windows without even the normal
explorer.exe, and you have to a lot of messing to get tools in it. If you work repairing other's PC you should consider a
Virtualized Windows on USB - that probably work on 90% of PC with a 4G size and 2.5G free.

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