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From: karthikbalaguru on 27 Dec 2009 16:01 On Dec 27, 11:59 pm, Aragorn <arag...(a)chatfactory.invalid> wrote: > On Sunday 27 December 2009 14:34 in comp.os.linux.setup, somebody > > identifying as karthikbalaguru wrote... > > I am looking for a Linux-based application that could scan > > computers by accessing them via network. (Especially the > > systems(windows based systems) that cannot be booted). > > How on earth are you going to access a computer _which_ _cannot_ _be_ > _booted_ over the network? A network connection which shares > filesystems over the network for scanning requires at least a minimal > running operating system on the target machine. > Yes, it is a valid question. I am exploring various ways. The problem is, one of the infected windows machine's CD/DVD drive does not work . So, i was exploring alternate ways like using rescue CD remotely/remote techniques from a remote machine that has a CD/DVD drive (though i was aware of the chances of its availability was very less). Any ideas ? For example, in linux there is a 'kickstart installation' technique that will enable automated installation of Red Hat Linux on indivdual computers based on the answers in the file in the server. Similarly, is it not possible to boot windows remotely so that rescue CD can be used on similar lines to recover it ? One thought is to dis-connect the non-working CD/DVD drive and connect a working CD/DVD drive temporarily to fix this issue. But, that is ruled out due to various reasons. Is there no other way except for replacing the CD/DVD drive in that windows machine and trying with the rescue CD ? No way to avoid the replacement of CD/DVD drive ? > > But, the below link seems to suggests a linux-based application > > that allows accessing computers that cannot be booted anymore. > >http://majorgeeks.com/Avira_AntiVir_Rescue_System_d6005.html > > Though it is not via network, I think, this will serve the purpose for > > the time being. Lemme know incase if there is a tool(Freeware) that > > has a feature of performing it via network. > > The first requirement is that you can get the infected computer to boot. > That means that if the machine is unbootable of itself due to a totally > corrupted bootsector, master boot record or Windows installation, you > will need to boot the machine off of a rescue system on a CD or DVD. > > Getting the infected machine to boot from a rescue CD (or DVD) means > that you are physically in the vicinity of the infected computer and > sitting at its local console, so what would be the point in then > scanning it from somewhere else on the network? The machine would only > be temporarily running off of a CD-based system anyway and would either > way need to be rebooted after the scan/repair is complete, so you might > as well stay sitting there at the machine's local console until after > the clean-up and repair have been completed and the machine is ready > for reboot into its native operating system. > > If on the other hand you are talking about scanning Windows partitions > on *running* Windows machines over the network as some sort of > preemptive scan, then you'd need to export *all* of their files over > the network, including the Windows "C:" drive and all system files > thereon, which is not exactly the safest way of setting up a network > share, and which will in addition not scan the *RAM* of the Windows > computers, where a virus might be hiding. True ! > > The only possible way of performing a virus scan without any viruses > hiding in the Windows machine's RAM is to boot the Windows machine from > such a rescue CD, which - as explained higher up - and this requires > local access to the machine in question. > Okay. Thx in advans, Karthik Balaguru
From: Aragorn on 27 Dec 2009 18:00 On Sunday 27 December 2009 22:01 in comp.os.linux.setup, somebody identifying as karthikbalaguru wrote... > On Dec 27, 11:59 pm, Aragorn <arag...(a)chatfactory.invalid> wrote: > >> On Sunday 27 December 2009 14:34 in comp.os.linux.setup, somebody >> identifying as karthikbalaguru wrote... >> > I am looking for a Linux-based application that could scan >> > computers by accessing them via network. (Especially the >> > systems(windows based systems) that cannot be booted). >> >> How on earth are you going to access a computer _which_ _cannot_ _be_ >> _booted_ over the network? A network connection which shares >> filesystems over the network for scanning requires at least a minimal >> running operating system on the target machine. > > Yes, it is a valid question. I am exploring various ways. > > The problem is, one of the infected windows machine's CD/DVD > drive does not work . So, i was exploring alternate ways like > using rescue CD remotely/remote techniques from a remote machine > that has a CD/DVD drive (though i was aware of the chances > of its availability was very less). > Any ideas ? > For example, in linux there is a 'kickstart installation' technique > that will enable automated installation of Red Hat Linux on > indivdual computers based on the answers in the file in the > server. Similarly, is it not possible to boot windows remotely > so that rescue CD can be used on similar lines to recover it ? I suppose you could try a PXE boot, but the BIOS has to support it, and Windows has to support it as well. On the latter, I have no knowledge - I don't do Windows, sorry - so you would have to ask about that in a Windows group, or via the Microsoft Knowledge Base. > One thought is to dis-connect the non-working CD/DVD drive > and connect a working CD/DVD drive temporarily to fix this > issue. But, that is ruled out due to various reasons. At the moment it seems like you have no alternative. > Is there no other way except for replacing the CD/DVD > drive in that windows machine and trying with the rescue CD ? > No way to avoid the replacement of CD/DVD drive ? Not that I can think of, unless you've got some external USB storage device that the system can boot from - again, this is BIOS-dependent. If USB boot is supported on the target machine, then there are various tools in various distributions for making a bootable USB stick from which you could then scan the system, but none of those USB-based distributions would then be designated virus scanners, so you would probably have to add the antivirus software to the USB stick manually. It can be done, but it's quite a bit of work. On the other hand, you should be able to pick up a cheap second-hand internal CD or DVD drive somewhere and mount it in the machine with the broken CD player. -- *Aragorn* (registered GNU/Linux user #223157)
From: karthikbalaguru on 27 Dec 2009 23:20 On Dec 28, 4:00 am, Aragorn <arag...(a)chatfactory.invalid> wrote: > On Sunday 27 December 2009 22:01 in comp.os.linux.setup, somebody > > > > > > identifying as karthikbalaguru wrote... > > On Dec 27, 11:59 pm, Aragorn <arag...(a)chatfactory.invalid> wrote: > > >> On Sunday 27 December 2009 14:34 in comp.os.linux.setup, somebody > >> identifying as karthikbalaguru wrote... > >> > I am looking for a Linux-based application that could scan > >> > computers by accessing them via network. (Especially the > >> > systems(windows based systems) that cannot be booted). > > >> How on earth are you going to access a computer _which_ _cannot_ _be_ > >> _booted_ over the network? A network connection which shares > >> filesystems over the network for scanning requires at least a minimal > >> running operating system on the target machine. > > > Yes, it is a valid question. I am exploring various ways. > > > The problem is, one of the infected windows machine's CD/DVD > > drive does not work . So, i was exploring alternate ways like > > using rescue CD remotely/remote techniques from a remote machine > > that has a CD/DVD drive (though i was aware of the chances > > of its availability was very less). > > Any ideas ? > > For example, in linux there is a 'kickstart installation' technique > > that will enable automated installation of Red Hat Linux on > > indivdual computers based on the answers in the file in the > > server. Similarly, is it not possible to boot windows remotely > > so that rescue CD can be used on similar lines to recover it ? > > I suppose you could try a PXE boot, but the BIOS has to support it, and > Windows has to support it as well. On the latter, I have no > knowledge - I don't do Windows, sorry - so you would have to ask about > that in a Windows group, or via the Microsoft Knowledge Base. > > > One thought is to dis-connect the non-working CD/DVD drive > > and connect a working CD/DVD drive temporarily to fix this > > issue. But, that is ruled out due to various reasons. > > At the moment it seems like you have no alternative. > > > Is there no other way except for replacing the CD/DVD > > drive in that windows machine and trying with the rescue CD ? > > No way to avoid the replacement of CD/DVD drive ? > > Not that I can think of, unless you've got some external USB storage > device that the system can boot from - again, this is BIOS-dependent. > > If USB boot is supported on the target machine, then there are various > tools in various distributions for making a bootable USB stick from > which you could then scan the system, but none of those USB-based > distributions would then be designated virus scanners, so you would > probably have to add the antivirus software to the USB stick manually. > It can be done, but it's quite a bit of work. > This sounds great . This will surely be helpful :-) :-) I think, this approach can be tried out. I need to check for the USB- based Free distributions and need to check for the method to add the Free antivirus software to the USB stick. Can you lemme know the steps/links that talk in detail about this ? > On the other hand, you should be able to pick up a cheap second-hand > internal CD or DVD drive somewhere and mount it in the machine with the > broken CD player. > Yeah, this is another good idea, but in the current scenario, this is ruled out due to various reasons. Thx in advans, Karthik Balaguru
From: Aragorn on 27 Dec 2009 23:35 On Monday 28 December 2009 05:20 in comp.os.linux.setup, somebody identifying as karthikbalaguru wrote... > On Dec 28, 4:00 am, Aragorn <arag...(a)chatfactory.invalid> wrote: > >> If USB boot is supported on the target machine, then there are >> various tools in various distributions for making a bootable USB >> stick from which you could then scan the system, but none of those >> USB-based distributions would then be designated virus scanners, so >> you would probably have to add the antivirus software to the USB >> stick manually. It can be done, but it's quite a bit of work. >> > > This sounds great . This will surely be helpful :-) :-) > I think, this approach can be tried out. I need to check for the USB- > based Free distributions and need to check for the method to add the > Free antivirus software to the USB stick. Mandriva is a distribution which is available on a USB stick, and there are some others as well. As I gather, the cost is not too high, but alternatively, you can do it yourself using a freely downloadable distribution and a USB memory stick you already own. There are HowTos about it on the web. ;-) > Can you lemme know the steps/links that talk in detail about this ? Google is your friend. ;-) >> On the other hand, you should be able to pick up a cheap second-hand >> internal CD or DVD drive somewhere and mount it in the machine with >> the broken CD player. >> > Yeah, this is another good idea, but in the current scenario, this is > ruled out due to various reasons. I don't see why it would be a problem, if you have a non-booting machine, and thus a machine that is currently useless. Surely adding an old CD player to it - you might even find one for free - to remedy the problem would not be a big issue? -- *Aragorn* (registered GNU/Linux user #223157)
From: karthikbalaguru on 28 Dec 2009 13:09
On Dec 28, 9:35 am, Aragorn <arag...(a)chatfactory.invalid> wrote: > On Monday 28 December 2009 05:20 in comp.os.linux.setup, somebody > > identifying as karthikbalaguru wrote... > > On Dec 28, 4:00 am, Aragorn <arag...(a)chatfactory.invalid> wrote: > > >> If USB boot is supported on the target machine, then there are > >> various tools in various distributions for making a bootable USB > >> stick from which you could then scan the system, but none of those > >> USB-based distributions would then be designated virus scanners, so > >> you would probably have to add the antivirus software to the USB > >> stick manually. It can be done, but it's quite a bit of work. > > > This sounds great . This will surely be helpful :-) :-) > > I think, this approach can be tried out. I need to check for the USB- > > based Free distributions and need to check for the method to add the > > Free antivirus software to the USB stick. > > Mandriva is a distribution which is available on a USB stick, and there > are some others as well. I checked Mandriva website, yeah they are providing on USB stick based linux, and since it is a full fledged linux, i think the virus scanners might be supported without much hassles ! But it is not free :-( Lemme know if there is any other USB Stick based linux flavour that is available for Free ? Also, lemme know if there is a USB stick based linux flavour that would support virus scanners ? No clear info from internet so far. > As I gather, the cost is not too high, but > alternatively, you can do it yourself using a freely downloadable > distribution and a USB memory stick you already own. There are HowTos > about it on the web. ;-) > Thinking on similar lines, i got an idea to try a Floppy based linux instead of USB. I know of MiniRTL(based on busybox) that did not have dependency on HDD except for the RAM (Even the RAM requirement is very minimal). Other than that, there are other flavours like 'Tomsrtbt', Asmutils based 'a-Linux' and various other Busybox based flavours. But,they are all Floppy based. But, floppy drive is not available in that machine :-( Does tomsrtbt support USB stick based boot up ? I may check with the tomsrtbt user list regd this. Incase you have any information w.r.t tomsrtbt you can lemme know. Another query that pops in my mind is that these minimal versions/flavours of linux might not have lot of features. They might be greatly stripped and hence not sure if they would be able to provide all required support for virus scanner or similar tools !! Any thoughts on this ? Incase these minimal versions are not suitable for existing along with virus scanning utility in the USB stick, do lemme know. > > Can you lemme know the steptrs/links that talk in detail about this ? > > Google is your friend. ;-) > Yeah, need to search/check the HOWTos in the internet to setup my own USB Stick based Linux so that it is Free . After that, the method to have the virus scanner on it should be tried out. I think this should be just straight forward just like having any other application on embedded linux. > >> On the other hand, you should be able to pick up a cheap second-hand > >> internal CD or DVD drive somewhere and mount it in the machine with > >> the broken CD player. > > > Yeah, this is another good idea, but in the current scenario, this is > > ruled out due to various reasons. > PS - Have looped in comp.os.linux.embedded to get their thoughts also as it is going towards that direction also interms of footprints,utilities in FD based linux, USB stick based linux , Tiny linux flavours having support for virus scanner etc. Thx in advans, Karthik Balaguru |