From 1994 through late 2008, almost all of my computer experience was with Windows. I used Windows 3.1 all the way through college in the 90s and Windows XP while teaching in Brazil and then later back in the States. During all those years I never got the dreaded "Blue Screen of Death" ("BSoD") on any of my computers. I have seen it, of course, but always on other people's computers. If you are reading this because you got the BSoD on your computer and are afraid you've lost your files, you are in the right place. I can't help you get Windows set back up, but let's take care of salvaging your data before you move on.First, download and burn an .iso image of a Linux distribution (click here to get an idea of how to do this). Alternatively, go to a local bookstore or newsstand and find a magazine on Linux that has a free CD included. Please buy the magazine rather than steal the CD. I strongly recommend either Ubuntu or Linux Mint.
Second, put the live CD in your computer's CD tray and reboot. The computer should boot up from the CD rather than the hard disk, so you'll eventually see a Linux environment before you. Don't panic. This is a live CD, meaning that you are only working off of the CD at this point, and none of your valuable data has been overwritten by the Linux distro. Unless, of course, you told it to "install." Even then you would have to go through quite a few screens before losing anything. If for some reason you were brought back to the BSoD, meaning that you weren't able to boot from the CD, click here for instructions on how to correct this issue.
Third, look for a "Computer" icon. You can see an example in the screenshot below (click image to see larger) from a running Linux Mint CD. Click into this icon.
Fourth, in the screenshot below you can see a "152.6 GB Media" icon. In my case that is the hard disk memory. Even though Linux Mint is not installed on my computer, I am able to access everything in the memory.
Fifth, plug in your USB flash drive (aka "thumb drive") and start dragging and dropping the folders and files you want to save.
Sixth, once you have copied everything you want to save over to your flash drive, remove it and either find out how to reinstall Windows (hopefully you have the install CDs that came with the system when you bought it) or really give Linux a try. If you want to try Linux out fully installed on your computer, click on the "Install" icon on the desktop and follow the steps. Give it a chance. If you decide you don't like it, you can always go back to Windows (again, assuming you have the CDs). In any case, it has to be better than the BSoD!
UPDATE: A reader in Denmark tried out these steps and had a problem using Linux Mint 7 (Gloria). When he navigated to the hard drive the file browser window shut down abruptly. He tried it with Ubuntu and experienced no problem, successfully retrieving his files. So, use Ubuntu!
That's a hoot.
ReplyDeleteHe may not have lost data, but Data looks like he may have lost his temper.
Let's hope he knows Linux.