I actually have an 8gb USB drive with LinuxMint that I use on my brother-in-law's laptop, to save his important files when he inevitably gets the latest/greatest porn virus :lol:

It's pretty simple, but, of course, you'll need to use a friend's working system to generate it.

 

The website is a little hard to follow, but once you download the program, download whichever Linux flavor you want, and it should recognize it :yesway:

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal-usb-installer-easy-as-1-2-3/

 

How difficult of a process is all of that.? I know nothing about linux.

 

Ugh now it's even skipping the option to load the bios menu

 

Load the program from the (fixed) link above lol.

Ubuntu is pretty popular for it's windows-like interface, and I personally think LinuxMint is very easy to navigate:
Linux Mint 12 "Lisa" - CD no codecs (32-bit) - Linux Mint

Install it to a USB.

Find a way to access your BIOS lol, set your USB drive to the first bootable, and restart.

 

Wirelessly posted

Do you have a physical cd? You could always try using the repair function. That has saved me a few times.

 

Sadly, most new computers including mine, don't come with a windows boot cd anymore. I could order one from toshiba for 20 bucks and wait for it to arrive.

Next question: I got all of my data off the computer using the portable USB linux boot. Is there a way to access the windows restore stuff through LinuxMint, rather than restoring windows through a disk or something?

 

No idea. My brother-in-law has his own windows disk that we re-install from every few months or so :lol:

My next suggestion? Try a few Linux flavors out before you shell out cash for more windows software :wub:

 

Also, you were able to get to the BIOS menu?

 

Yup. The portable linux mint worked beautifully. I made a windows disk on another computer, but things must be way messed up because even that wouldn't work.

I can always buy a new disk for like 20 bucks from toshiba, but until I decide to do so, what are your linux suggestions? Like I said, I'm a complete linux virgin so be gentle lol.

 

Well, when my PC crashed, I was using my LinuxMint live USB as my main system, overriding XP on my work laptop. I liked that it was pretty simple, and had all the media codecs and whatnot pre-installed.

It's a derivative of Ubuntu, which seems to be the most popular variant out there. Ubuntu is a derivative of Debian, which I liked a lot back before my PC died. But, it's very power-user, I think.

I've been out of the Linux game for a while, since I bought my Mac back in 2010. They're pretty easy to try out, though, as you've witnessed. I think there's a way to put multiple OS's on your USB drive, but I'm not sure how. Do you have another stick to try this-and-that on?

 

Hey, just for future reference, this is by far the EASIEST way to create a bootable Linux key (they actually offer Hiren's Boot CD as well on the list of downloads)

http://www.linuxliveusb.com/

 

Recovering the Windows Bootloader from the DVD - EasyBCD - NeoSmart Technologies Wiki