Creating an ERD Commander Bootable CD/DVD

If you have ever been locked out of your computer and you need to get back into your system, you will need a tool such as LockSmith.

Fortunately, that tool ships with the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack.  If you are a Microsoft Partner or Volume License customer, you should have access to download this through your MSDN Subscription Downloads.

Once you have downloaded and installed the latest version of the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack, you will need to proceed with installing it.

1. To get the functionality to create the ERD Commander media, you will need to install the Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset
2. Select the appropriate platform for the Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset that you wish to recover such as Windows XP, Windows Vista/Windows Server 2008 and Windows 7/Windows Server 2008 R2.  In addition, you will have to choose which processor specific platform you wish to utilize such as 32-bit or 64-bit.
3. Once you have installed the Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset, you will get a Programs menu option for ERD Commander Boot Media Wizard
4. Once you select that option, you will be prompted for a copy of the appropriate platform media.
5. Once you enter the path to the appropriate media, it will begin extracting the files to create the boot media.
6. On the following screen, it will ask for the program features that you wish to include in the bootable media.  
7. If you include the Crash Analyzer, you will additionally be prompted for the location of the Debugging Tools for Windows which can be obtained from the Windows SDK.  The home page for the Debugging Tools for Windows can be found here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/hardware/gg463009
8. If you do not wish to include the Crash Analyzer (for example, you are just using the LockSmith functionality), you can remove it and you will not be prompted for the location of the Debugging Tools for Windows.
9. It will then proceed to create the bootable media.
10. Once the bootable media is created, it will prompt for a location to store the ISO image.
11. Once the ISO image has been created, it will also provide you with the option to burn the ISO image to either CD or DVD media.
12. If you simply need to use the ERD Commander Boot Media for a virtual machine, you can skip this step.
13. After you Finish the wizard, the temporary files will be removed and you will be left with your ERD Commander Bootable media that you can then use for booting the target system!