by Leola Washington

Created on: August 01, 2008

How to Get a Free Operating System for Your Broken Computer and Boot Up Easily
Without Installing Anything

So you've gotten the dreaded Blue Screen of Death and don't want to pay $200 dollars for a Windows operating system? Here's how you can reboot your beloved computer for free, and maybe retrieve a few lost files.

OBJECTIVE
To create a Linux Live CD and boot into the KDE desktop.This is a graphically pleasing interface which functions most similarly to Windows. The average layperson can easily use a computer running in Knoppix once following the steps in this article.

YOU WILL NEED: A brand new blank cdr with 700mb of space ( the standard size) and a
working computer to download and burn the file

HOW TO:

1) Download and install Deep Burner Pro - a free .iso burning program. ( You must have an .iso burning program to do this and if you try using Nero or some other program it might not work). An .iso file is basically a carbon copy of an entire cd and it functions like any software installation cd that you could buy in a store. It's designed to start running immediately and be self sufficient

2) Go to http://www.knoppix.net and download the free Knoppix operating system. ( It will not harm your working computer because you are just saving it and not installing it on this computer).I recommend saving this file to your desktop so that you can easily find it and delete it after burning your cd.

3) After the file has downloaded, save it to your desktop. Check and make sure it is in .iso format and is about 600 mb. It should take about ten or fifteen minutes depending on your internet speed. You can go make a snack or watch Judge Judy while it downloads.

4) Open Deep Burner Pro and select "Burn .ISO image" as the project type. Click next. In the "Image file" area click on the box with the "..." symbol and select your Knoppix iso file from the desktop. Select 4x as the write speed ( you want it to be low to ensure quality).

5) Click the Burn ISO box at the bottom of the window. It should take about 20-30 minutes to burn depending on the speed of your computer, so this time you might want to catch up on your magazines or go to McDonald's while it's burning.

6) After the cd is finished, make sure your broken computer is configured to boot from the cd:
-Turn it on and immediately press F2 or whatever button takes you into the BIOS menu.
-Once in the BIOS Menu use the arrow keys on your keyboard to change the boot order so that the CD drive is listed first. ( This menu is text only

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