All in One - System Rescue Toolkit

All in One - System Rescue Toolkit desktop

The All in One - System Rescue Toolkit (AiO-SRT) is a free Linux operating system with a set of recovery and rescue tools, created by Paul Bryan Vreeland, a computer repair technician. Based on Lubuntu, it can be run from a CD, DVD or USB device to recover lost data and fix broken Windows software.

AiO-SRT is Linux-based, and can be used to remove malware, blank hard drives, recover lost files and rescue data, even from a computer that will not boot to Windows. You can boot to AiO-SRT or, if used in a computer running Windows, it will auto-run and load utilities to fix the PC. It is free software, issued under free licenses.

AiO-SRT also comes with the Midori web browser, text editor, calculator and many other applications that are useful in fixing a computer.

Uses

AiO-SRT can be used for several purposes:

• For recovering data, by booting to AiO-SRT and clicking on the icon for the hard drive and then copying documents onto an external device, such as a USB drive. Data recovery tools are also provided.
• For removing malware (with Clam Tk)
• For testing hardware
• For blanking hard drives (with Nwipe), prior to disposing of them or the whole computer, or to blank them prior to installing a new operating system

AiO-SRT has two modes, as a bootable disk and as a Windows auto-run program. Each mode provides different tools to help you troubleshoot your computer. A complete list of the programs can be found on the AiO-SRT official website under "Utilities".

Getting AiO-SRT

If your computer has a DVD drive, you can download the ISO file from the AiO-SRT official website and burn it to a DVD yourself with an ISO writer. If your computer does not have an optical drive, you can run it from a USB drive, as described below.

AiO-SRT actually is not "installed" like a traditional operating system, instead it is run it from a DVD or a USB device as a "live session". That means, you can run it on a Windows computer, without changing the Windows installation on the hard drive.

Minimum System Requirements

AiO-SRT used in bootable mode will only run on 64-bit systems, but in Windows auto-run mode it will operate on both 32-bit and 64-bit systems.

Using AiO-SRT

This explains how to get and use AiO-SRT from a Windows PC:

Run AiO-SRT in bootable mode (if you have a DVD already)

1. Boot to AiO-SRT (many computers require entering the computer set-up on boot to allow it to boot to a DVD before the hard drive)
2. You can access your existing documents from the hard drive, by clicking on the file folder icon on the bottom of the desktop.
3. Run any utilities you need to fix your computer, erase your hard drive, etc.

Run AiO-SRT in auto-run mode (if you have a DVD already)

1. With the computer on and running Windows, insert the DVD and AiO-SRT should run.
2. If it does not run, open the DVD folder and click on the AiO-SRT.exe file.

Run AiO-SRT from your own DVD using Windows

1. Download the AiO-SRT ISO file from the AiO-SRT official website
2. Download the Null River WinMD5Sum checker from http://www.nullriver.com/downloads/Install-winMd5Sum.exe
3. Download the ISO recorder at http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com/#/
4. Launch the WinMD5Sum checker and test the downloaded AiO-SRT ISO file against the MD5SUM for the specific release in the same repository file. (This ensures that the ISO has not been compromised or corrupted)
5. Launch the ISO recorder and use it to burn the ISO image to your DVD
6. Boot to AiO-SRT (many computers require entering the computer set-up on boot to allow it to boot to a DVD before the hard drive)
7. You can access your existing documents from the hard drive, by clicking on the file folder icon on the bottom of the desktop.
8. Run any utilities you need to fix your computer, erase your hard drive, etc.

AiO-SRT installation (with your own USB)

To run AiO-SRT from a USB drive from Windows use WinCDEmu and follow the instructions in Paul Vreeland's video.

You can also create an AiO-SRT bootable USB drive from Windows, using the Universal USB Installer (UUI) in version Universal-USB-Installer-1.9.8.0.exe – January 14, 2018 or later.

You can use the UNetBootIn ISO USB recorder to write the ISO file to a USB or even copy the contents of a written DVD to the stick, but in either case it will not be bootable, although the aio-srt.exe file can be clicked on to run and will then provide the tools to fix any Windows installation.

See also

• https://www.system-rescue.org/ offers a very similar set of tools with a 2024 version compared to AIO SRT last edition in 2018.
• Best Of Free Windows Software
• Lubuntu
• Ubuntu
• Xubuntu

External links

• All in One - System Rescue Toolkit Official website
• Paul Vreeland's videos, including how to use AiO-SRT
• NCF Free Software Discussion Group