DaRT 7.0 Installation Step by Step Guide

Step by Step Guide to Install and Run DaRT

We’re going to install DaRT on an administrator’s workstation running Windows 7 x 86 Enterprise edition and then use it to troubleshoot computers running Windows 7 that fail to boot properly. Begin by copying DaRT installer files on Windows 7 Machine.

Installing DaRT 7.0 and Windows Debugging Tools

Clicking on DaRT 7.0 (32-bit) installer launches the Setup wizard shown next. Click Next.

Click I Agree to accept the license agreement.

Click Next on the Microsoft Update screen.

Select the installation path and Click Next.

Proceed through the wizard, performing the type of install you choose.

Select the tools you want to install and Click Next.

Click Install to begin the installation.

Click Finish.

After DaRT is installed on your workstation, you should install the Windows Debugging Tools so you can access these tools when using DaRT to troubleshoot Windows 7 x86 Enterprise edition computers that won’t boot. Select the suitable download file for windows software development kit. After Clicking the Download button on the above page, the Windows SDK Setup Wizard begins.

Only select Debugging Tools for Windows and Click Next.

After installation of the Debugging Tools is finished, the All Programs group of your Start menu should look something like this.

At this point you’re now ready to create bootable DaRT media you can use to start an unbootable Windows-based computer to attempt to repair the computer.

Creating Boot Media

We’ll create a bootable DaRT CD we will use later for troubleshooting computers running Windows 7 x86 Enterprise edition that won’t start properly. Begin by launching the DaRD Recovery Image Wizard from your Start menu.

Click Next when the wizard appears.

Insert your Windows 7 x86 Enterprise product media in your DVD drive. Then on the Select Boot Image wizard page, click Browse and select your DVD drive.

On the Preparing Files wizard page, click Next.

The wizard will now expand the boot image from your Windows 7 product media.

On the Tool Selection page, you can select which tools are enabled for your local user from your bootable DaRT CD.

Here you can specify the Remote Connection Port, if any.

On the Crash Analyzer Wizard page, the wizard should have automatically found the Debugging Tools you installed previously on your workstation, so simply click Next on this page.

On the Standalone System Sweeper Definition Download page, we’ll leave the Yes option selected since we want the latest malware signature file on our DaRT CD.

On the Additional Drivers page, you can select .inf files for any drives you want to include on your DaRT CD. In most cases you won’t need to do this, but if you plan on using DaRT to troubleshoot Windows servers you may need to add mass storage drivers here. Also you may need to include network drivers for network boot. We’ll just leave this blank and click Next.

The Additional Files page lets you add files to your DaRT CD such as specialized troubleshooting utilities if you have any you want to include.

The next page shows the path to where the .iso file for your DaRT CD will be placed once it has been generated by the wizard. The default location is the desktop of the current user.

At this point, the DaRT boot image is created.

Once the .iso file has been created, the next page lets you burn the image to recordable CD media. This particular workstation I’m using doesn’t have a writable CD drive, which is why the option to burn the image is grayed out below.

The wizard now finishes.

DaRT70.iso Created on Desktop.

At this point you can copy DaRT70.iso file to another computer that had a writeable CD drive and burn the image to writable CD media. Now you are ready to use bootable DaRT CD to try and repair a Windows 7 computer that won’t boot properly.