How to Use a Kaspersky Rescue Disc to Clean an Infected PC
Kaspersky Rescue Disk
Several antivirus vendors have created a rescue system that users can take advantage of to clean up a PC that is highly infected with malware. Kaspersky is one of the antivirus vendors offering free a Kaspersky Rescue Disk which is designed for 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows. Kaspersky Rescue Disk can rescue a computer that cannot start using normal or safe mode boot options.
Creating Kaspersky Rescue Disc Using USB devices
One of the convenient methods to use Kaspersky Rescue Disk is not to burn the iso file in a blank DVD or CD, but by creating Kaspersky Rescue Disk on a USB device (flash or any removable device). To create a Kaspersky Rescue Disk for a USB device, download the following files:
Note: The links below provide a direct download of the files required to create a rescue disk by Kaspersky. The files are served or hosted by Kaspersky Labs themselves.
Save the files to your desktop, insert the USB or flash drive in your computer, and then start by executing rescue2usb.exe which is the utility to record the ISO file to the USB or flash drive:
Browse for the iso file and select the USB device in which the utility will record the required files to make a Kaspersky Rescue Disk. Click on the “Start” button and you should see the utility to start recording the ISO file and when done, you’ll see the dialogue box that the task is completed or successful:
You can now use the USB or flash drive to clean an infected or unbootable system.
Creating Kaspersky Rescue Disc in a DVD/CD media
Some users don’t have access to a USB or flash drive and their PC won’t boot to a removable device which means the only option is to create a Kaspersky Rescue disc is by inserting a blank CD or DVD in the computer. Below are the steps to use in creating a rescue disc by Kaspersky:
- Download the iso file using a clean computer: https://rescuedisk.kaspersky-labs.com/rescuedisk/updatable and save it on your desktop.
- Download a program that can burn an ISO file to a blank CD or DVD e.g. ImgBurn or other tools to create bootable DVD or CD.
- Use the program to burn the ISO file to record or burn.
- When you’re done, use the bootable DVD/CD to start using Kaspersky Rescue Disc to clean-up the infected system.
Using Kaspersky Rescue Disc Without Burning the ISO file
If the infected computer is able to boot to normal mode but the antivirus program can’t remove the infection, you can also use a Kaspersky Rescue disc without having to burn to a USB drive or a blank DVD/CD media.
Virtual CloneDrive - This program lets you use any ISO file without having to burn the file to any removable media. Simply install the program and load the Kaspersky rescue ISO file and then use it to scan the computer for viruses and other types of malware that another antivirus program couldn’t remove before.
If the operating system that you are going to scan using Kaspersky Rescue disc is in a virtual machine e.g. Virtual PC 2007, you don’t have to burn the ISO file of Kaspersky to use the Kaspersky rescue system. Simply capture the ISO file from the VPC 2007’s CD menu:
Next, restart the system that is in virtual machine to start using Kaspersky rescue system to clean-up the infected virtual operating system. It will mount and swap the needed files and also configure the network:
Note that you can always update the Kaspersky Rescue CD without having to download the iso file:
Image credit: Screenshots taken by the author.
