MediCat DVD: bootable toolkit with Windows 10 WinPE

Martin Brinkmann
Jan 19, 2017
Updated • Aug 19, 2019
Software, Windows 10
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31

MediCat DVD is a bootable troubleshooting environment that ships with Linux and Windows boot environments, and troubleshooting tools.

The author of MediCat DVD designed the bootable toolkit as an unofficial successor to the popular Hiren's Boot CD boot environment.

Hiren's Boot Cd has last been updated in 2012, and while it works in many cases, at least some of the software it ships with is outdated and may not work properly anymore on newer versions of Windows.

It is still mighty useful, as it allows you to edit the Windows Registry without booting the system, reset Windows passwords, and do other things without booting into the operating system.

MediCat DVD

MediCat DVD comes in four different flavors; that's confusing at first, especially since you don't get good descriptions of the four options.

  1. MediCat DVD -- This is the name giving distribution. It includes the PortableApps Suite, Linux boot environments and a full working mini Windows 10 WinPE Boot Environment.
  2. MediaCat DVD Naked -- Like MediCat DVD, but without the PortableApps Suite.
  3. Mini Windows 10 x64 -- Windows 10 WinPE Boot Environment, and PortableApps Suite.
  4. Mini Windows 10 x64 Naked -- Like the one above, but without the PortableApps Suite.

The main distribution, MediCat DVD as a size of 7.5 Gigabytes currently. The naked variant a size of 5.05 GB, the Windows 10 x64 distribution one of 3.94 GB, and the naked Windows 10 distribution one of 1.47 Gigabyte.

Downloads are provided as multiple archive files. You need to extract the files once you have downloaded them all using 7-Zip or a compatible archiving program. This places an ISO image on your disk that you can burn, copy to USB to create a bootable USB drive, or boot using a virtual environment.

The main menu displays various options to you. You can start one of the bootable operating systems included with the distribution, or access diagnostic, repair and troubleshooting tools instead that MediCat ships with.

The menu lists the following options in this regard:

  1. 64-Bit windows Recovery: Choice of Microsoft or Easy Recovery options for Windows 10, Windows 8.1 and Windows 7.
  2. Hard Disk Tools: includes currently Acronis TrueImage 2017, GParted, Norton Ghost 11.5, Paragon Hard Disk Manager, PloP Boot Manager, SpinRite, SuperGrubDisk, Darik's Boot and Nuke.
  3. Diagnostic Utilities: includes currently Hardware Detection Tool Memtest86+, TestDisk / PhotoRec / LiliPad, Ultimate Boot Cd.
  4. Scan for Viruses: this launches Comodo Rescue Disk currently only.
  5. Remove User Account Passwords: Active Password Changer, Daossoft Windows Password Rescuer, Offline NT Password & Registry Editor, PCUnlocker, Boot Kon-Boot CD.

You may boot in any of the available operating systems. If you pick Windows 10 for instance, you get the following screen once the operating system is booted.

windows 10 environment

You get to access all sorts of programs right there, and even more if you are using a version of the toolkit that came with PortableApps included. This include many tools that help you troubleshoot issues on a PC; to name a few: EaseUS Partition Master, HDDExpert, NTFS Permissions Tool, backup tools, Dead Pixel tester, CPU-Z, RegAlyzer, Dr.Web CureIt, Kaspersky TDSSKiller, Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, and Autoruns.

The author updates the ISO images every six months following new releases of Lubuntu. If you copy the bootable toolkit to USB, you may update PortableApps manually, and even add other tools that you require to it.

Closing Words

MediCat DVD has a lot to offer. You get four different versions and can pick the one that you want to use. If you are unsure, I suggest you pick one that includes the PortableApps suite, as it adds several tools to the troubleshooting environment that you can make good use of.

The downside is the fairly large download, and that you have to use a program like Rufus to create a bootable USB drive.

Summary
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Author Rating
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4 based on 49 votes
Software Name
MediCat DVD
Operating System
Windows, Linux
Software Category
Administration
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Comments

  1. johnhedgecoe said on November 13, 2021 at 6:01 am
    Reply

    No links to download MediCat DVD. Why?

  2. Anonymous said on February 19, 2021 at 9:18 pm
    Reply

    too many antivirus wornings (trojans!!!)

  3. Ryan said on April 13, 2020 at 3:20 pm
    Reply

    The Win 10 recovery and mini windows 10 doesn’t work. Win10 recovery says its missing \Windows\system32\winload.exe.

  4. angel said on August 19, 2019 at 6:33 pm
    Reply

    como se descarga medicat ,no lo veo

    1. Martin Brinkmann said on August 19, 2019 at 6:47 pm
      Reply

      Download link is in the summary box below the article.

  5. paul said on June 1, 2019 at 9:13 pm
    Reply

    My virusscanner, Avast, give me some warnings about some exe files while making a bootable usb with medicat.
    Is there a reason why Avast sees this as infected files?
    Uploaded all 4 files to totalvirus.com with the results in the urls

    Detected with Avast antivirus

    PartAssist.exe Infected with Win32:Malware-gen
    uploaded to totalvirus results here
    https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/9fafa2777150fa93c521b8b2287d5efc3f459f953f79bbac74a900596f3d58da/detection

    AuslogicsDDPortable.exe Infected with win32:trojan-gen
    uploaded to totalvirus results here
    https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/188f0ed93884a6204b96c9d5ae4f4d31fbe6266d05715d4425aab70a9af0d906/detection

    Driver Talent.exe Infected with Win32:malware-gen
    uploaded to totalvirus results here
    https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/27a514f979e417760241ecf13f79959fb0ab41893798bec757e03fa691874167/detection

    WPS Office.dat Infected with Win32:Evo-gen [Susp]
    uploaded to totalvirus results here
    https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/8de17a1324ba0897c6171584176060f1f6494cbf6aba16cdf154a002d1ce01ca/detection

  6. Antonio said on February 19, 2019 at 9:51 pm
    Reply

    Alguien tiene la facilidad de explicarme un poco mas de MediCat 18.10, soy nuevo y casi no entiendo como se usa……
    hay muchas cosas q quisiera preguntar pero no logro enteder lo que ya escribieron..

  7. Anonymous said on October 24, 2018 at 5:37 pm
    Reply

    Why don’t you folks make a link to download – or at least make it easier to find on this page. Grrr

    1. Martin Brinkmann said on October 24, 2018 at 6:00 pm
      Reply

      Project pages are always linked in the summary box below the review.

  8. amir said on July 6, 2018 at 11:27 pm
    Reply

    dlc boot 2017 is only 2.3gb and in my opinion is an overall better one.it even has option to install as another boot option during windows boot which is great.

  9. Bubba Redding said on April 4, 2018 at 5:14 am
    Reply

    Windows defender is a just as big waste of time as windows 10, it finds things that aren’t there and the real threats still get through…

  10. Verbal said on February 5, 2018 at 1:58 pm
    Reply

    Virus detection

    Windows Defender (pr january 2018) detects some of the password tools as serious threats – in my opinion Windows Defender detects these tools as threats/possibly unwanted programs (PUP) due to the nature of the tools (they can reveal/decrypt passwords from the registry/files on the harddrive), not because they contain vira.. But I may be wrong. I recommend that the creator double checks the affected tools.

  11. elen said on January 15, 2018 at 8:59 am
    Reply

    Medicat 17.0.2 has virus infections – Avoid ?

    Is it true ?

  12. riky said on January 7, 2018 at 7:49 pm
    Reply

    Medicat has virus infections – Avoid

    1. Martin Brinkmann said on January 7, 2018 at 8:28 pm
      Reply

      Can you please be more precise? Which security software did you use to check, what was found?

  13. illskills007 said on October 26, 2017 at 4:05 am
    Reply

    Bob.Omb’s Modified Win10PEx64 http://vault.theworkpc.com

  14. Leland said on January 24, 2017 at 1:52 am
    Reply
  15. Samuel said on January 20, 2017 at 2:29 am
    Reply

    Great! I want to know if the built-in tool PCUnlocker is a licensed copy or not. Do I still need to purchase a license from http://www.top-password.com? Thanks!

  16. Flyer said on January 20, 2017 at 12:31 am
    Reply

    Bud, I am afraid it is not 100% legal. Some programs are commercial to name a few: SpinRite, Boot Kon-Boot CD, Acronis TrueImage 2017, Norton Ghost 11.5, Paragon Hard Disk Manager, etc.
    Just my cents :)
    Anyway nice finding.

    1. Passion said on September 9, 2018 at 12:00 pm
      Reply

      Some products start as free for non commercial use. So if you use and older version, then you can get full capabilities for free. Old version is not always bad, updates mostly add more functions. Minitool Power Data Recovery as example. I have version 6.5 that is still free for non commercial use, if you use version 8, then it says only paid version. So by using an older version with less functions, you can still use products that have commercial versions. :)

      Question for Medicat:
      [Q]The author updates the ISO images every six months following new releases of Lubuntu. If you copy the bootable toolkit to USB, you may update PortableApps manually, and even add other tools that you require to it.[/Q]

      How can we add own portable apps to the Medicat releases ?

      I put it on USB by use of Multiboot YUMI, and indeed see a folder portable apps on the data. Can i simply put an extra folder in that portable apps folder to add own tools ? Or will i need to edit an index then as well ? For the new portable app to be placed in a certain catagory, as in hard disc tools or recovery ? Believe your release has mini tools 7, and that wont do more recovery then 1 gb. Version 6.5 does as many gb as you need for non commercial users ;)

  17. nonqu said on January 19, 2017 at 11:14 pm
    Reply

    Is it not akin to piracy? Is Windows 10 WinPE free? If not then one could probably risk getting sued for piracy after a police raid (raids focused on piracy are surprisingly popular in my country).

    1. Passion said on September 9, 2018 at 12:04 pm
      Reply

      AND about it being legal: How to Create Windows 10 WinPE Boot Disk

      INTRO READ:

      A lot of you wanted to know how to make your own WinPE disc for Windows 10,
      so I made a video to show you how easy it is to create your own bootable Windows 10 PE disk.
      These are great for computer techs or I.T. Administrators.

      You will need to download “Windows ADK” then run Deployment and Imaging Tools Environment

      1. copype amd64 C:\WinPEx64
      2. MakeWinPEMedia /ISO C:\WinPEx64 C:\WinPEx64\WinPE10.iso
      3. Create Windows 10 PE USB or ISO or CD

      Need help with computer problems? why not join our forum
      http://www.briteccomputers.co.uk/forum

      VIDEO TUTOR:

      How to Create Windows 10 WinPE Boot Disk
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zDFhSuBWaM

      DOWNLOAD:

      Windows ADK

      Download the latest Windows ADK
      https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/get-started/adk-install

      Download the Windows ADK for Windows 10, version 1803
      https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=873065

      You download a smal 1.8 mb file that you need to start.
      Then the real download starts as shown on video
      Keep standard settings and next, next ,then download starts.

      This will take 6.8 GB of your disc space, but you can uninstall after creation.
      This tool is only used to create your sheet to work on further, the engine.
      Next parts we are going to customize the basic engine that we are creating here.

      CREATION:

      A) After download, Windows Programs ,Windows Kits ,
      Right click ,Deployment and Imaging Tools ,Run as Administrator

      In the command box now type, or copy-paste, by copy-ctrl v

      copype amd64 C:\WinPEx64
      copy PE->64 bit->to location, is command explained.

      Result
      C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\Assessment and Deployment Kit\Deployment Tools>copype amd64 C:\WinPEx64
      Click enter and let the tool copy its needed data to your drive.

      B) Now we are going to make an ISO of these extracted data files

      In the command box now type, or copy-paste, by copy-ctrl v

      MakeWinPEMedia /ISO C:\WinPEx64 C:\WinPEx64\WinPE10.iso
      Create command->Type->Where->Where\File Name plus extention [.iso], is command explained.

      Result
      C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\Assessment and Deployment Kit\Deployment Tools>MakeWinPEMedia /ISO C:\WinPEx64 C:\WinPEx64\WinPE10.iso
      Click enter and the command will create the iso

      READY you have your clear sheet to work on further ,284 mb ,so engine is build.

      Type exit, and click enter to close the command tool.

      Result
      C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\Assessment and Deployment Kit\Deployment Tools>exit
      =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
      Adding your own portable tools:

      I have been fiddling around with these tools last week and found that you can also simply,
      1. Create a folder on your hard disc
      2. Put the “Portable” programs in the folder that you want to work with for repairs
      3. After creating your WinPE boot disc, just copy that folder on your USB Stick

      Ones you have boot up with WinPE, then you can go to my computer, browse to the stick.
      And simply run your needed portable program from that folder.
      Easy if you find new tools or updates, then you do not have to keep making a new boot disc.

      1. Lisa said on June 1, 2020 at 4:39 am
        Reply

        Thank you. I have been wanting to try this but kept making excuses. There are none left now so Im gonna go learn how to do this

    2. Bob said on January 22, 2017 at 6:10 pm
      Reply

      Win 10 WinPE is free its part of the ADK tool kit from M$ but its a huge 4GB download from M$ mostly packed with tools for IT deployment and the like WinPE is just a small part of it so no worries :)

  18. Jimmy James said on January 19, 2017 at 10:48 pm
    Reply

    Thanks for this, still using Hiren’s and also Ultimate Boot CD. This is a nice edition to the list.

    1. Edi said on January 2, 2020 at 4:24 am
      Reply

      use my project bro, its complete IT Tools and easy to use : IT Tools Pack Solution Rescue Hybrid Technology
      http://www.ittoolspack.com/p/hybrid-tech.html

      1. Anonymous said on November 3, 2020 at 5:33 pm
        Reply

        Where can I download “your tool” for free? NO Way would I pay for something that is out here for free with better options and isn’t trying to rip others off….

      2. Anonymous said on March 4, 2020 at 8:19 am
        Reply

        Edi’s “ittoolspack” is full of pirated software, and he wants money for it. I checked the mentioned website. NOPE. We don’t do that here.

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