FOR~GO
(For Geeks Only)
By Joe Callison
27 May 2024
Hiren’s BootCD Updated!
Much more than a decade ago, a favorite software tool of mine was Hiren’s BootCD. It was a bootable CD full of the most popular software utilities, some of which were pirated. The last official update was in 2012. Fans of Hiren’s BootCD have updated it, with only legal software utilities included, to a Windows 11 PE (preinstallation environment) for booting on modern UEFI computers. I have tried it out and was pleasantly surprised by the huge assortment of software utilities available. The only issue I have found is when using it on a computer with a high screen resolution (3K horizontal or higher), the icons and text can be quite small. Unfortunately, I could not find any method to change the display settings with the installed display driver, though you can add other drivers. I did find that the Accessibility settings in Windows PE could still be used to enlarge the icons on the desktop and the Taskbar settings could enlarge the icons on the Taskbar, which helped.
The download and instructions for preparing a bootable CD or USB can be found at Hiren’s BootCD PE
I used my trusty free utility Rufus to create the bootable USB. Be sure to use the UEFI and not MBR setting and the NTFS format in Rufus for booting only on a modern computer system. The dual boot MBR/UEFI method for compatibility with older computers is much more complicated to create if not needed. Windows Home computers should be able to boot from a boot selection menu without getting into BIOS/UEFI settings to turn off Secure Boot or adding the USB drive as a trusted device in the Windows Boot Manager as may be required on computers initially set for Windows Professional. The keyboard key used to get the boot menu varies by manufacturer but is often briefly displayed on the screen during the boot process. You can also look it up for your computer or refer to articles such as Boot Menu Option Keys For All Computers and Laptops | [Updated List 2021] | Techofide
