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A LiveCD is one which to run the operating system from the CD-ROM or DVD without having to install it on the computer's hard drive. The term "live" derives from the fact that it does not reside on a hard drive. Rather, it is "brought to life" upon boot without having to being physically installed onto a hard drive.
Live CDs are commonly used to distribute Linux based operating systems, though there are some Microsoft Windows based Live CDs also which is the focus of this post. These are as follows :
1. Bart PE is a liveCD version of MS Windows XP. It is made using a program called PEBuilder.
2. Windows Preinstallation Environment (WinPE).
3. MiniPE and its variants like MiniPE XT and ReatogoXPE.
4. XP LiveCD.
5. Win XPE.
6. Super WinPE Plus.
7. Avast Bart CD.
5. Multiboot DVD (DUBCD and WUBCD).
6. TinyXP O2.
7. ERD Commander.
8. Hiren Boot CD. The latest version has option to boot into Win95.
9. Ultimate Boot CD 3.3
10. UBCD4Win.
11. XP Recovery CD.
12. React OS.
13. 911Rescue CD.
The advantage of using these CDs becomes apparent when ypur computer refuses to boot. They differ from bootable floppies in that they boot into a GUI environment enabling you to diagnose and repair PCs or extract data from crashed disks. This means that the user can, for instance, recover data from a failed operating system installation, or reset a lost administrator password. It does not matter what OS is installed on the hard drive. Also they do not require you to install anything on the hard drive. They usually work by creating a RAM drive where the necessary files are copied from the CD.
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