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What Would You Put Into A Software Survival Kit?
LosManos asks: "A call for help to the Everyday Heroes that are out there: I have just returned from a 4 months scientific expedition to some of the more remote parts of the South Pacific. As soon as people we met found out that I was a computer guy they asked me to help them and all to often I had to reply that I didn't have the tools.This got me thinking; what should a software toolbox consist of? OS, patches, digital books, compilers, sniffers, servers, harddisk restore apps...? Please remember that the computers I met where often old and slow. The answers to this could be interesting also when you are not several days away from nearest inhabited island. I mean, what is it that most often break? How is it usually fixed? Are more fancy solutions more error prone?" If you were to create a "first aid kit" consisting of CDs, disks, books and other technical utilities you have used to resurrect dead systems, what would you put in it?
"So far I have found:
- A utility for reading and repairing hard disks
- 'regmon' and 'filemon' from Sysinternals
- Video drivers (but I don't know which)
- A diskette for booting MSDOS with CD support
- Digital books (but I don't know which)
- Remote controlling tools, such as VNC
- CDs with OS (but there are hundreds of those)"
M$ Boot Disks
7 0.html?tag= list
/ pstools .shtml
If you have to build a boot disk for a M$ machine, putergeek is
invaluable since M$ doesn't seem to want to you to boot to a DOS
prompt any more. You can find Win95B, WinME and Dos Bootdisks.
http://www.putergeek.com/downloads/
RegClean
If you do any development using COM or ActiveX components then
RegClean is a must have tool for fixing registry problems.
http://download.com.com/3000-2094-8814
PsTools
Listed in the Article are FileMon and RegMon from
Sysinternals.com, but I would add PsTools to that list. This
suite of tools is incredibly useful for diagnosing and solving a
vast array of problems. PsKill is probably my most frequently
used tool when I need to actually KILL a process instead of
politely requesting it to exit via End Task.
Oh and nearly everything works on remote machines as well.
http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/freeware
MDAC Utility
If you have to deal with programs accessing a variety of
Microsoft Data Access sources, the MDAC Component Checker is
essential. It's unbelievable to me how typical it is that MDAC
get's corrupted.
www.microsoft.com/data
Unfortunately, most of the essential tools relate to Microsoft
Software, but the reality is that it seems to be more difficult
to find "good" utilities to trouble shoot and fix problems under
a Microsoft OS than pretty much any other OS I've worked on.
Microsoft also publishes a tool that will automatically identify
any known security vulnerabilites that need to be patched, but I
can't find the link off hand. Again for a Microsoft OS it is
pretty handy.
Doug Tolton
"The destruction of a value which is, will not bring value to that which isn't." -John Galt
http://www.memtest86.com/ It's helped me any number of times when I was beating my head against the wall over a weird problem. It's just a diagnostic tool, though.
- Jonathan
There's also a good summary page of rescue discs that are available. Didn't look at windows specifically but I have used this to mount and fix various FAT type partitions. NTFS may be a slightly different animal.
You need one of these :)
a sh lights/active/hdl33a1.PDF
http://data.energizer.com/datasheets/library/fl
$15 at Target stores (in the U.S.), available for just under $10 on sale online some places.
3 AA batteries (works great with rechargeables). I am on #2 because I gave #1 to my mom when she took a medical missionary trip to Haiti (motto: "Sometimes we have electricity.")
Great for reading in bed, but in the computer context great for looking inside cases, looking for tiny screws that fell on the floor, etc. Small enough that it can fit into odd spaces inside a case, too, and sometimes the angle of illumination makes all the difference.
timothy
jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5
Usually, this is mainly for data recovery - its almost easier to image broken workstations than it is to waste 2 hrs fixing it.
I have always found a use for my Win98 boot disk. I know, I know, I use Linux all the time now, but back in the day, a Win98/95 boot disk was the way to go.
Nowadays, I would use a linux boot disk, but most old computers I have run into typically run Windows 98/95 or in rare occassions Windows 3.1 (gasp!).
here is FIRE
You can't judge a book by the way it wears its hair.
- bootable linux floppy / CD with at least fdisk, and hexedit tool.
- bootable msdos, with fdisk, format, sys
-Windows / Linux installation CD, other than this, they usually have the installation disk shipped with the system, just ask the host.
you don't need a video driver except for the text mode driver if necessary.
Anything requires more than those is probably something that you can't repair quickly, so take your time to collect the resources necessary and stop worrying about your emergency kit.
In my computer toolbag, I carry a CD case with copies of every Windows CD I have, since most users use Windows and can never seem to find their CD when I need to install drivers and things. Also, I have common video drivers, MS patches and service packs, lots of free (some as in beer, some as in speech) software. I also have a Win98 boot floppy, since it comes with a CD-ROM driver, a Linux boot disk that can reset any password on an NT system, and various other boot and rescue disks. A couple of blank floppies are in there, too, for when I need to make boot floppies to install OSes when an old computer won't boot from a CD. Of course, there are also some Linux distros in my CD case, for people who want to try something new.
It's an operating system, not a religion.
I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Thailand back in the mid 90's and was often asked to "look" at someone's computer.
With computers so expensive and knowledge about them so rare, these people were usually VIPs - the governor of the province, dean of a local university, important businesspeople... It behooved me to scratch their back so that they'd later help me.
Now remember, this was when Windows '95 was still brand new and a lot of people in Thailand still used DOS. CDROMs weren't in widespread use yet (I think if anything, the CDROM built Panthip Plaza - a bootleggers heaven!)
I found myself carrying around a complete set of MSDOS 6.22 disks, a Win95 CDROM and a couple of custom made boot disks - with things like FDISK, SCANDISK and such on them as well as a few floppies with common drivers on them.
Biggest hardware problem I saw on a regular basis was floppy and CD drives crapping out due to the dust in the air and, of course, moldy floppies (110 degrees F and 100% humidity will grow mold on ANYTHING that doesn't move and a lot of things that do!)
Ah, those were the days...
1)ISO Buster to restore corrupted CD's. Isobuster
2)Partition Magic Partition Magic3)Restore lost data on hard disks Google and Download.com
4)Hard disk diagnostic tool PowerMax from Maxtor- Drivers: Via, nVidia, and Intel chipsets; ATI Rage 128, ATI Radeon, and nVidia GPUs; Highpoint HPT37x and Promise Ultra IDE controllers; miscellaneous 3Com, AMD, Intel, Linksys, and NetGear NICs; Sound Blaster PCI, Sound Blaster Live, Santa Cruz, and Via integrated sound cards; DirectX; Palm Desktop; Nero UDF reader
- Applications: Mozilla, CDex, OpenOffice.org, Pixia*, SmartFTP
- Plugins and viewers: Adobe Acrobat Reader, Flash Player, Ghostscript and GSView, IrfanView, Java Runtime Environment, QuickTime, Winamp
- Emergency rescue stuff: Norton Disk Editor, Diskman, DOSLFN,
MBRWork, Norton Disk Doctor, RegEdit, CTMOUSE, FIPS, Ghost, NTFSDOS, Partition Manager, Partition Resizer, RawWrite plus a DOS boot disk image, Info-Zip UNZIP, Restoration
- Miscellanous utilities: Ad-Aware, UnxUtils, wget, PGP, Privoxy, Restoration, TweakUI, TweakUI XP, VDMSound, XVI32
Needless to say, this isn't something you want to put together in one sitting (I've been throwing stuff I find useful onto the CD for about 4 or 5 years). Most of it is freely-distributable (either free-as-in-beer or free-as-in-speech) but you might have to nix some of them (like the Symantec stuff) for licensing reasons.* I'd like to include The Gimp, but I often install the free/Free stuff from this CD onto computers I give to charity, where people might take offense to the name. I'll probably replace Pixia with CinePaint in the future.
Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer is the tool you mention that you couldn't remember the name of:
Mmmm.. Donuts
You can install the Win2k Recovery Console on NT boxes. At least on NT Server you can. Throw in the 2k CD and run winn32.exe /cmdcons from the run prompt or the command line.
So, have you always been such an idiot, or do you have to practice on weekends? Because that's the most ignorant, plain dumbest thing I've seen on Slashdot in quite a while. And that's saying something.
Seriously, Norton Utilities circa 1993, Spinrite (same vintage), DOS boot disks with fdisk and Disk Doctor, enough sizes and shapes of screwdrivers, nutdrivers, etc. to be able to strip a system, Laplink and a set of cables, lotsa floppies, and don't forget the Winn Rosch PC Hardware bible. Of course, your modern laptop will have all the other software you can possibly think of, including DOS and Windows install images (sorry). You can always burn a CD on the fly as needed. Oh yes, some RAM chips of varying types would be great. Got room for a coupls of RLE and MFM drives along with the spare IDEs?
Remember that you're not likely to have a network or phone connection out in the boondocks, and that you'll likely be working on 10 year old systems a lot. That may well mean no CD, no Ethernet, and nothing more than 4 meg of RAM and 640x480 graphics, if that. Be prepared to improvise and do without.
Drive Image or Norton Ghost is nice too, to make a backup image of the drive before fdisking it. :)
If you happen to have access to a network, all you really need is a network boot disk, and you're ready to go.
Use jv16 PowerTools. It is better and with more features! Console, analyzer, etc.
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
I would also add:
1. A copy of a decent AV. Norton/Mcafee basically suck with its new business model, I am sick and tired of cleaning up machines with expired AVs. The people from Grisoft make free nonexpiring AVs for noncomercial use.
2. Lavasoft Adaware is also a vital component. So much malware is responsible for irresponsive/crashy machines, I could set a business just selling copies of this and recovering machines.
3. The long list of SPs and QFs for Win98 and IE. Actually I am begining to ponder wether to start ditching IE and OE on the new machines I see in favor of Netscape.
My other OS is the MCP!
Just....KNOPPIX!
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
Reality is in the mind of the beholder - me 1996
Delpart.exe is unnecessary. FDISK.EXE has a complete host of undocumented command-line arguments which allow you to create/modify/destroy partitions on the command line.
FDISK Info
"Mod, mod, mod...and another troll bites the dust."
In my "tech kit" I've got:
/Library/Receipts folder with my up-to-date software update files
* A 20-GB iPod
- 10 GB of music (legal, I might add)
- All three MacOS 10.2 disk images
- The synchronized
- A MacOS 9.2.2 disk image
- An OS 9 bootable system folder with all stock cdevs/extensions, plus Toast's latest CD-R drivers. This'll probably change to an OS X folder in the next month or so.
- A copy of Norton Utilities
- A copy of Roxio Toast
- A copy of ResEdit
- Non-gimped PHP, Apache, GDLib, Freetype and mySQL packages (from Marc Liyanage, www.entropy.ch)
- Backups of my dialup fallback connection config files
- Various Free/Shareware files
* A leatherman
* A paper clip
* A smug look on my face when I say "Sorry, I'm a Mac guy"
No problem I can't fix in under an hour. Win troubleshooting, on the other hand, takes ridiculous amounts of time. You said you were on holiday -- right?
Lions and tigers and bears ... oh my!
:
Honestly though
Boot disks - make an emergency boot disk in Windows98. This thing makes a 2M RAMdrive, copies enough utils to jumpstart any computer, and CD drivers for every computer that can run 98 (which is pretty much all of them still running today.) I recommend this on a 3.5" floppy and also create a bootable CD using this as the boot image.
XTGold 2.0 or 2.5 - runs on DOS
ZTree 1.41 - in case they have a Windows environment 95 or higher running. Doesn't run in DOS but doesn't puke when the hard drive has more than 10,000 files on it.
McAfee Virus Scan, command line version.
Glonoinha the MebiByte Slayer
For broken workstations:
Norton's ghost bootable floppy with cdrom support plus 2 60 gig drives worth of standard images.
For servers:
Veritas back-up exec 9 plus latest backup tapes
For both:
Tom's root boot disk
Win NT/2k/XP password recovery disk
CD full of tools, VNC, Dameware, putty, pumpkin, regedit...
OS CD's
I have often regretted my speech, never my silence.
-Xenocrates
Here's what I'd put in a Mac version of the tools.
OS CDs
Any Mac with a CD-ROM should boot from CD...
System 7.5.3 + 7.5.5 update disk images on CD
(good for booting up 128k through many PPCs and free from Apple)
System 8.1 & 9.1 CDs
8.1 is the last for pre-PPC, 9.1 the last pre-G3
8.6 is solid, but possibly unneeded...maybe take.
System 9.2.2 and OSX 10.2 CDs
For my system or G3 and above
Arguably one could just have a CD or two with working system folders for each version...but I like to be able to install for the machine.
Utilities
Diskwarrior - Fix filesystem problems
Techtool Pro - Diagnose and fix problems
Stuffit installers
Apple disk tools floppy images on CD (in case no CD drive)
Mac general software (browsers, clients, etc)
A serial cable (can do Appletalk networking with one)
A firewire cable (target disk mode for newer models)
Pack o' floppies and a USB floppy drive (so I could use the antiquidated media)
Ethernet crossover cable
AUUI->Ethernet adapter
if there's room...
a SCSI external Apple CD-ROM
external SCSI HDD and/or SCSI ZIP
2.5" firewire HDD
a 1/2 AA battery
Mac->VGA and VGA->Mac adapters (you never know...)
that's all I can think of offhand....
Anyways, first, I'd be interested to know what OS's he encountered on these remote islands. My guess is that it would be some flavor of Win95 or 98 (or even, gasp Windows for Workgroups). Having a Linux boot disk isn't going to do much for you, unless you can't boot to the OS. And in that case, I'd try an MS-DOS disk and do a C:\>fdisk /mbr to rebuild the bootsector FIRST.
Second, what types of problems did these people report they were having? Were they strictly software based, or could hardware issues also have been a factor? If you're REALLY interested in doing tech-support in this type of situation, you need to carry more than just a bunch of boot disks. You'll need:
* RAM, in both the new 168-pin AND the older 72-pin flavors
* a spare Floppy Drive
* an ISA video card, and probably a PCI one too. (probably NOT an AGP)
* a spare hard drive, AND its Master slave settings, AND a few of those little jumper thingys
* several IDE and floppy drive connectors
* a tiny bottle of WD-40 type oil, for squeaky (or non-spinning) power supply of CPU fans.
* I'd say 'a bottle of compressed air' for blowing out dust, but I don't think you can take this on a plane nowadays
* a floppy-disk cleaning kit, with a bottle of cleaning solution (I have to admit, I rarely use these nowadays, but PCs on islands may benefit. YMMV, of course.
* a few blank floppies
* pad and paper, for writing down notes and configuration and jumper settings (BEFORE you change them)
* an ISA network card, preferably a 3COM 3C5x9 (or any older common network card, plus a bootable floppy with its drivers and the program that lets you configure the card
* a Cat-5 patch cable or two, plus a small 10mbps hub * tie-wraps, in a few different sizes. These things are second only to duct-tape in their usefulness and variety of applications.
I've supported Windows systems since the 'original' 3.1 version. More often than not, software based problems could be solved by either mucking with win.ini, system.ini, autoexec.bat and config.sys and/or other DOS and Windows files. Use scandisk to see if the harddrive is bad. Use FDISK to see what's up with the partitions.
Having a few flavors of MS-DOS boot disks can't hurt (www.bootdisk.com) I also agree with previous posters that having a linux boot disk with the NT password recovery utility would be great idea. And, of course, if these are WinNT or Win2k systems you can't go wrong with ANYTHING you find on www.sysinternals.com.
In general, if you're going to do this at all, and you can't just 'run home' and grab what you need, you really need to have anything and everything at your fingertips. The above list is what I carry with me when I get called to a client site to do support. I have all the cards in those static-proof bags, the cables are tie-wrapped to keep them organized, and I have a collection of print-outs of various stuff.
By the way, if you see any job openings for PC support next time you're down there, please forward them to me. Boston, Massachusetts (USA) is getting ANOTHER snowstorm tonight and I'm losing my mind.
I've got a complete set of tools I use. One of the best uses I have for them, is installing a computer that does not have internet access. I'll highlight a few good ones.
.EXE file of a bootdisk. Make bootdisks of ALL major OS's. (http://www.winimage.com/download.htm)
:) Don't forget to download an install version of the latest Java JRE (http://java.sun.com/j2se/downloads.html)
p -serv.polito.it/winpcap/
y /)
:( (damn sypware)
t m), OllyDbg (free) (http://home.t-online.de/home/Ollydbg/), Ida Pro (http://www.datarescue.com/idabase/). You might want to take along a set of password crackers for the various populair programs too, in case a user forgot his password.
- Install CD's for WinXP, Win98 and Linux. These are always usefull, since a lot of them also boot from CD.
- DirectX9 and the WinXP SP1 (137MB, not the net installer)
- Extra DLL's like mfc42, vb6setup and cygwin1.dll
- SFX-Bootdisks. You can use WinImage to create a self-formatting
- DOS programs: the latest Symantec Ghost, Norton Commander 4.0, ZIP, RAR, ACE. Bzip2 and gzip for DOS or Win32 won't hurt either.
- WinACE supports a lot of compression formats natively. It's really good. If you work in a mixed Win/Mac enviroment, get a copy of StuffIt for Windows.
- Drivers.. Hard to choose for 'generic' use, but a recent set of ATI and NVIDIA reference drivers never hurt. Also don't forget 'Via 4-in-1' and generic NE2000 and PPPoE drivers. ASPI drivers for cd-rom drives or writers are good too.
- For graphics ACDsee is king. For editing a copy of Paintshop Pro is useful.
- Compile a complete set of internet tools. These are some that are very useful:
Mozilla, ofcourse. That way you have a mail client too
Agent (NNTP) http://www.forteinc.com/
PCMacLAN (Let Mac and PC share files and printers on the network)
Ethereal, really good free sniffer program
http://www.ethereal.com/
http://netgrou
ICQ, latest version (www.icq.com)
Mirc (IRC) (www.mirc.com)
Gonna use SSH or telnet? Putty! (free) (http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putt
If you want to remotely contol a PC, check out Radmin. I like this a lot better then PCanywhere. (http://www.radmin.com/)
- Movies
Codecs are important, try using codec packs like Nimo or klcodec. Bring a copy of VirtualDub too. Don't forget Quicktime, PowerDVD and such. RealPlayer won't work well since it cannot install without contacting the internet
- Sound
Winamp, Lame, CoolEdit
- CD stuff
Nero CD writing software (www.ahead.de), Daemon-tools allows you to mount CD images right from the harddisk (www.daemon-tools.com)
- Harddisk
R-studio can recover both NTFS, FAT32 and EXT2 files, Ext2FS will let you mount an EXT2 drive under Windows.
- Misc
Norton anti-virus, Adobe Acrobat reader, UltraEdit. Microsofts free Word and Excel viewers.
- If you're going to code some small programs, you might want to bring a copy of CygWin (www.cygwin.com) or a Borland compiler (the old ones are free) useful to make a small tool to do some repetitive task for example.
- For the real hardcore debuggers: SoftIce (http://www.compuware.com/products/numega/index.h
It is indeed possible to create a multi-bootable Win2000 or XP CD with your own utilities on it. I followed the general instructions at this site to make my own Windows 2000 SP3 integrated Pro/Srv/AdvSrv CD, with bootable menu. The CD boots up and I can choose to install any version of Windows 2000, or I can choose the Win98 bootable floppy image to work with Dos utils. I include on the CD the floppy copies of Norton Ghost, Partition Magic, NTFSDos, McAfee, SpinRite, and a few other small utils. It's also got menu options to boot the floppy image of Tom's Most Boot (linux boot disk mentioned in an earlier post) or to simply boot from the HDD. I do the same thing with Windows XP.
It's a *very* complex process but if you put the effort in it's well worth it. The secret to making Win2000/XP do an unattended install is to make your unattended file name winnt.sif and put it in your i386 directory. No floppy needed like MS would have you believe. I do this mostly so I don't have to type that $@^# cd key every time I want to install a copy of Windows.
I haven't tried it yet but if you cut out the crap you don't need from Win2000 and WinXP (language files etc) you might be able to combine both those into a massive everything-in-1 CD.
Oh yes, Knoppix and TOMSRTBT are a must have for any software survival kit. In case you arent familiar, Knoppix is Debian Linux installed ONTO a CD, so you can run it straight from the CD. TOMSRTBT is a very small linux distro on a single floppy diskette with a good number of recovery tools.
The best toolkits are self-designed. Find yourself the tools to make a bootable CD with menu system, then dump install files for every Windows you can cram on there-- at the very least, 95, 98, and 98SE.
You want NTFS DOS Pro to clean up NTFS partitions from a plain DOS disk, Knoppix for working with systems you're really having problems with (and emergency internet access), a memory tester utility, diagnostics to test hardware, and Partition Magic never hurt...
Oh yeah, and a few tools to grab Windows install keys from the registry. Be sure you grab one that supports XP; you'll probably end up working on at least one install when you can't find the keycode.
On the hardware side, pick up an extra PS/2 keyboard and mouse to keep around for testing purposes. Also an old style DIN keyboard and serial mouse, if you can find any. You can't underestimate the value of having replacement hardware for two of the most common pieces of broken kit.
Well, that about covers the setup I've been carrying with me for my repair jobs.
Interestingly enough, I once saw a pirated XP setup disc called "8-in-1" at my local college; by extremely careful use of deliberate crosslinked sectors, they were able to get eight different installs of XP onto a single CD, plus a copy of Partition Magic, and NTFS DOS Pro-- plus the disc was still bootable (it had all of the original boot sectors from the original CDs) and had a nice menu for which section to boot.
I'm not advocating piracy here, but that's the kind of tools you want-- extremely compact and workable.
Survival Gear for Macheads:
.TXT.
System Software:
MacOS X Jaguar install disks
MacOS 9.2 install disk.
MacOS 8.1 install disk (for Oooold hardware)
System 7.1 boot floppy (for really, really old hardware.)
Software Utilities:
Alsoft DiskWarrior
Norton Utilities for Mac
Norton Antivirus
Retrospect
Hardware:
Apple-branded Firewire emergency backup and restore device (Or as we like to call it when not adding it to our equipment req: the iPod.) Go for the big one, you'll be glad you had it when you need to rescue your data from a flaky powerbook. Use Retrospect to make sure you get everything backed up proper.
Firewire to SCSI adapter (for getting data to and from older Macs.)
If you're going to dealing with real old Macs: AAUI dongle, phone-net adapters, Mini DIN 8 to DB24 and DB9 serial cables.
Unix Survival Kit:
Hardware:
Powerbook or iBook, with aforementioned Firewire SCSI adapter, USB serial adapter and a nice terminal emu program.
SCSI external HDD
Bunch 'o SCSI adapters/cables/testers
A SCSI CDROM... if you deal with Sun equipment, make sure it's able to boot a SPARC box.
Software:
Install CDs for your Unix flavors of choice.
CDs with the most current OS patch levels on it, one per OS.
Another CD with your customized dot files, shell scripts and all the useful stuff you really wished came with your vendor's Unix, but didn't (GNU).
NetBSD install CDs "for when all else fails." Comes in handy when you need to repurpose an old Motorola VME system previously installed with telco switching software to interface with lab monitoring hardware with shell scripts, a serial port and a prayer.
Documentation:
Unix System Administrator's Handbook on CD.
A copy of the "Fixing Solaris" howto in
Linux Kit:
Mac Powerbook or iBook, haughty sneer.
Software:
Slackware to inspire feeling of inadequacy in self proclaimed Linux gurus. Gentoo Level 3 on a USB keychain drive... especially usefull if you're stuck with a 2400 baud modem in a jungle where the pbone only works for three hours alternating tuesdays. (Ah, sarcasm!)
Copy of NetBSD or OpenBSD install disks to get real work done.
Windows Survival Kit:
Hardware:
Powerbook or iBook
Software:
Condescending sneer.
SoupIsGood Food
1). tomsrtbt Linux on a floppy - essential!
2). Windows 98SE boot floppy
3). Knoppix 3.2 bottable Linux on a CD.
4). Memtest86 bootable CD for testing RAM - excellent!
5). DOS freeware F-Prot and recent virus definitions
6). Norton's DOS utilities
7). Various HD setup utilities (eg: Western Digital, Seagate boot floppies)
8). Freesco Linux router/webserver on a floppy
9). Sample linux config files (eg: XFConfig-4, fstab, etc)
10). Frozen-Bubble bootable CD for times of stress
You may have to trim Knoppix down to 650Mb, as older CD readers may not be able to deal with the extended length CDs
**TODO** Steal someone elses sig.
If you're really hardcore you can probably get by with a good leatherman tool and a Nnoppix CD, however...... for software Knoppix is great or GNUWin as it contains an OS, a number of apps and a lot of tools/utilities that can be used for diagnostics and fixing. I highly reccoment Knoppix, as all you need is a bootable CD drive and RAM to run it. Plus it's Linux based ($0.25 for a CDR) and even has some games. On the hardware side, i always have a pair of needlenose pliers, a screwdriver with multiple bits for different sized screws, a can of air (I once saved a computer that wouldn't start solely becuase of the amount of dust buildup) and i like to have my own NIC and drivers should a network conection prove available. The vid card drivers would be good but you would have to know specifics and its far easier just to work with minimal graphics for repair/maintainence. That's the bare minimum. If you have the space, i would also tack on bootable floppies (win98 boot disk is decent enough);2-3 blank floppies for random file movement (you never know what you may have to back up from a machine); a 56K modem + working drivers in case a network connection should be unavailable; I also reccoment some high-explosives or a big hammer, because some machines just can't be saved and after hoursr of frustrating trying, sometimes it's better to put them down in a fitting manner.
SuperUTL is a damn useful CD. It features: bootable DOS with NTFS support, boot to partition magic, drive image, ERD commander (reset a lost password), Ghost, Norton SystemWorks, SpinRite, tomsrtbt, ...
On the CD, you can also find the Winternals Administrator's pack, recoverNT/98, tweakUI, 4dos, and MANY other small useful apps.
The author of that disc, Michael K.H. Au-Yeung has plenty of details on his site about the way to create such many-boot CDs. Definitely worth a look.
Note that the CD image is not available on his website, only the way to build it from YOUR version of the applications. Of course, I'm sure it's crawling around the P2P networks. And no, I don't have it.
Of course, Knoppix is your other best friend as it'll bring you your beloved Linux system in no time.
It sounds like what you're going to be taking with you is a CD holder that holds about a dozen CDs, and maybe a few floppy disks. A little bit of hardware won't hurt either, but I'll try to keep it to fitting in a medium sized pocket.
You're going to want:
Windows 95c
This is a good version of Windows 95.
Windows 98se
This is the OS that most people in small business are still using. It's the best of the Windows 9x series. You'll find that it could come in right handy.
Windows NT
You never know when you'll come across it.
Windows 2000
A lot of people are using this product. It's not bad, and the repair utility can be nice.
NOT Windows XP
No real reason to carry this around. Most people who have their XP machines should still have their restore disks.
Office 97 Pro
Most small business are still using this
Office 2000 Pro
This is a better product that Office 97 Pro. Sometimes comes in handy when you just cannot fix Office 97 Pro
Norton Ghost
When a small business buys PCs, they tend to buy two or three at once. This means that you can just drop a copy of a good build onto a bad build. It saves a lot of time.
Norton Antivirus
It's a good thing to have. You can use it as a bootable CDROM to search for viruses on a PC.
Partition Magic
It's also a good thing to have. It can save you work when someone has set up a PC foolishly.
Your own utilities disk
You're going to want to get a CDR and put the following on it: WinZip, Novell Client, Adobe Reader, Various Microsoft Office Readers, Possibly AOL, Sun's Java, Microsoft's VM, WinAmp, Possibly RealPlayer, Quicktime. Recent versions of MDAC. You get the idea.
You're also going to want four or five 3.5" floppies.
Windows 98 bootable disk.
This comes in very handy.
Dos 6.22 Utilities Bootable Disk
Not quite as handy as the 98 disk, as it doesn't handle FAT32
Two Blank Diskettes
For Ghost to use during TCP/IP operations
As for hardware, we'll make it easy. You'll want 2 older Intel Pro/100 NICs. These things are beautiful.
You'll also want a cross over CAT-5 cable to make ghosting easier.
A good leatherman wouldn't hurt either, but a small toolkit would be best. Those leathermens just aren't very good screwdrivers.
Hoist Number One and Number Six.
Now I agree with including Regmon and Filemon from this great company, but also I would include Process Explorer (Gives you access to process like the Task Manager for Win2K for non NT machines), Portmon (Allows the monitoring of the serial and parallel ports, which can be useful to debug printers and the like), and PsTools (remote administrating through the command line).
As far as a bootable OS to put in the kit, I would recommend Knoppix since it has several utilities built in just for data/computer recovery.
--If only there was a license required to use a computer.
note: i compiled this list with the fact that a computer would die and needs to get up and running as soon as possible, but a better part/solution could be attained at a later date 30 days.
:)
hardware
1. floppy drive (a must, if old it probably dead or needs a good cleaning)
2. cd-rom (nice to have but less likely, if the cd-rom is dead and all you brought are cds your fubar)
3. hard drive (unlikely, but nice in a pinch) a small old hd filled with sware and drivers would work great if no cd or cd is bad
4. cables (unlikely, but they are small) if person was farking around and the cables are old they may have pulled the ends off the ribbon cables, since they take almost no space, better safe than sorry
5. cheap, crappy video card (not a bad choice) if a card is gonna go, it will probably be this one, and it would take the computer out. people can live without modems/network for a while, but not without video. single point failure so a cheap/crappy pci video would eb a good bet, isa wouldn't be bad either if computers really old.
6. screwdriver (phillips) a must, electric would be nice
7. tweaker (small flat bladed screwdriver) good for flipping dip switches and straitening bent pins
8. tweasers or chip puller - if like me with bear claws for hands the stupid jumpers are a pain to get off, these come in handy here
9. jumpers - in case you drop the stupid thing you dont have to spend hours looking for the lost bugger, just grab a new one
10, flashlight - cases are dark and if old dusty, a nice flashlight or lantern that can shine light where its needed is a must
11. mouse w/serial converter - small and easily farked so a spare is nice
12. keyboard w/din converter - like mouse except less likely to be ruined and larger, however single point failure if one dies your farked until you get a spare
13. spare muffin fans - 40, 60 and possibly 80mm, quite likely a problem may be that the cpu fan has died and causing problems with machines this old. spare muffin fans are small and can save the day.
software
1. os of targets, most likely windows (95/98 most likely)
2. disk utils (norton util, spinaker)
3. virus utils (mcafee, norton, fprotect (a must 1 boot floppy) )
4. boot disk, with a spare or 2 (fdisk, format, etc)
5. compression tools (zip, arj, ace, tar, etc)
6. ms office cd (most likely windows, if target is linux, then freeoffice or staroffice)
less important
1. drivers - nice but most items will function with a generic driver until a better one comes along, and there are so many choices for hardware i deem it an optional item
2. linux/tools - most likely the user will be using a wndows system, nice to have handy but probably wont use. redhat seems to be the most popular so probably go with that
avoid
1. usb items - older computers may not have a usb port so any usb item brought would likely do you no good
2. agp - if stuff is old as say then they prob dont have it anyway, and they can suffer with pci card until replacement comes
3. dvd - useless, unless you put your sware on dvds and brought a drive (not a bad idea)
personal savers (not required, but could make your life a lot easier)
1. cd burner w/sware - make backups of data if have to format
Since you don't seem to have a limit on space, I'd bring a CD filled with Linux/MS/Mac FAQs and HowTos in text format to be safe :P
I'd say the 911 Rescue CD.
It contains more than 50 DOS-based diag tools collected from all over the internet and integerated in one compact and very easy to use interface, with help screens and features not found elsewhere.
I've tried it and I can't live without it, it's with me 24x7 for any problem.
Ah, I forgot to say it also includes a Windows 2000/XP installation right in the same CD, so it is very easy to setup Windows without even replacing the CD.