Windows 10: UEFI Rescue USB Sticks - Hirens, Kaspersky, et al

Yes, you can install Linux on the USB stick. A full install of Linux Mint on a hard disk only takes about 5gb of disk space, although it also needs swap space equal to the amount of ram in your system. A 16gb USB would probably be the minimum for a proper install on a stick. There is even a Windows emulator called "Wine" that you can install to run some Windows programs. In Linux Mint, check out the Software Manager program. From it you can access and install many Linux software programs.

 

Thanks Halasz. I've got a couple WinPE sticks.

 

Thanks again Antilope. I'll give it a try on my remaining 16gb stick.

 

@Antilope

Ok I got one for you on Linux Mint, I made the recovery disk, like you showed the other user, booted to Linux, looked around at some of the features, then logged off, it took me to a locked screen, and if I tried to re-enter back to the desktop, it asked me for my password??? I never set one up, just made this usb disk. I did see under accounts that their was a place to enter info for a user, everything was blank, no name, no pic, BUT under password, their were 5 ***** <--- what the heck is that?? Finally found a way to boot back to my Windows 10 ......So now how do I fix this password issue??? *Smile

 

According to documentation, a Live CD (or USB) default user and password should be...
mint (for user)
leave blank and just press Enter (for password)

That didn't work for me, either. Maybe a bug.

If you pressed the Logout button and pressed the Switch User button, you are in limbo.
I was able to get out of it with these keystrokes.

To get out of the Login Screen and reboot:

Press CTRL-ALT-F1 to go to a terminal window.
Now Press CTRL-ALT-DELETE to reboot.

 

The password looks like it is 6 figures, tried a few already. I doubt "mint" will work either. Linux should not be setting its own PW, that just don't make sense. Read lots of posts on this very same problem, so far, no real good answer that I have found, but lots of folks are asking what is this password that Linux put in.
I found a way to get out........but I am writing down your way too......

 

Even tho' I dual boot anyway I tried the live USB of Cinnamon Mint, logged out and after a while it timed out on the Lock screen and went back into Mint by itself. Also very top right is a small icon from where you can reboot, shutdown etc.

Can be configured to your own taste. Here's mine.

 

That's great, but the question was about the default password put in by Linux Mint. Which if you don't know it, you can't log back in, when Linux asks for this password. or add an account, or change the PW, I can't even add myself. Sure if I wait a while it will log me back in.....I saw that....but that's not my question....

 

I misspoke about the Logout screen. That does timeout and log you back in after 30 seconds (timer in upper right corner of screen).

But if you press the Switch User key instead in the Live session, you are stuck on the Logon screen and there is no timer to log you back in. You are stuck without a working login or password and no obvious way to exit the screen. I asked this question on the Linux Mint forum and so far no answer. Someone there did comment, the same thing happened to them.

The only way out is to press CTRL-ALT-F1 to exit to a terminal screen and then press CTRL-ALT-DELETE to reboot the system. CTRL-ALT-DELETE does not work on the Login screen.

P.S.

Okay, someone on the Linux Mint forum posted a keystroke solution to get back into the Linux Live session.

Press CTRL-ALT-F8 from the Logon screen. That will pop you back into the Live session. Still no password and this keystroke solution is not well documented, but it works.

 

Hi,

In the meantime is there a way to create new user accounts so that this situation can be circumvented?
I did look around (it's actually pretty much like Windows and very fast too) but did not find an obvious way to do this.
I'm sure I must have overlooked the obvious but still.

As a further thought, not that I tried to mess about with my own Windows install, but booting into Linux from this stick gives anyone access to the entire computer it is used on. No passwords, no nothing needed.
While you probably won't be able to actually open most files, it does seem to allow for copying, deleting, moving them etc. So much for security...... *Rolleyes

TIA, *Wink

 

On a Linux Live CD session, there isn't suppose to be a password or login. Pressing the Switch Users button and it requiring a password and login, is probably a bug or fluke. Pressing CTRL-ALT-F8 will place you back on the Linux desktop in the Live session.

If you are using Windows Professional, it comes with the BitLocker program that will encrypt the hard drive. Linux shouldn't be able to make sense of anything on an encrypted drive. Of course, then if you have a problem, you need rescue software that can accept a password and decrypt your data to make your data visible. That potentially could be a worse problem.

 

Hi,

Thanks for your reply.
I found my way out of it but trying to login with a username/password unknown to the system isn't working naturally.
So I tried to figure out how to create a new user but to no avail.
All it does is bring me back to the current default user which apparently is password protected.

Other than that I quite like it but as it stands its use is just too limited for what I had in mind. I'm sure this will get fixed soon enough.

Yeah..... I could encrypt my drives but I never felt the need. it just struck me how easily mint gave access to the Win 10 systems, all versions really.


Anyhow, thx for the help. *Wink

 

I had no luck installing Mint on a 16gb stick. It failed with one error or another. So I gave a 60gb partition on a HD to it and can boot it using bios. It was a something of a PITA compared to Win. I might experiment with it a bit, but frankly I see no advantage to using it over the live stick, except to play around. And play around I will.

 

When you boot up Linux Mint from a bootable USB. Everything is loaded into RAM and run from it. Since it is a live Linux, there's limitation of what you can do until you actually install it then you'll be able to create your own user and password.

Yes. The default user for live CD is: mint and password is blank. The user/passwd information is stored in the file: /etc/passwd. Right click on the desktop->Open in terminal then type: cat /etc/passwd , you'll see the format of the password file, all fields separated by a ":". the second field in the file is an "x" which indicates that the encrypted password is stored in another file: /etc/shadow.

Here's an explanation of the fields in the /etc/passwd file:
Understanding /etc/passwd File Format

All that said. Yes, you can change the password for mint user. Right click on desktop->Open in terminal:

• type: passwd
• when prompt for current password, just hit <RETURN>
• will be prompted for a new password, for testing, just type: abc12345
• repeat step 3.

Now you can logout and log back in using: mint and password is: abc12345.
NOTE: In Linux, case is sensitive.

However, since everything is run from RAM and will be erased in the next boot from Live Linux. The password will be defaulted back to blank.





Hope this helps !!!

 

This does NOT work on the Linux Mint USB version, the password shows 6 stars, typing using blank, or mint, does not work. also user name is blank, shows no name. no fields are shown except where the password field is, that shows 6 stars. Log off and you go to the Linux screen saver, try to log right back and it asks for your password. Wait about 30 sec's and Linux will put you back on its desktop.