windows xp - Can a (BOOT/BIOS) Virus affect a Linux LiveCD session?

07
2014-07
  • Sambuddha

    Question:

    Is it possible for a virus that infected a PC with Windows OS to show similar erroneous behaviour during a LiveCD session with Ubuntu?

    N.B. To clarify my question: Can the liveCD experience be ruined by a BIOS virus (Not the CD itself, I know it is readonly...)

    Background

    Speaking from a recent experience: A friend has an old XP PC that has suddenly started opening Outlook Express 6 everytime he logs in. Any non-IE browser (Chrome/Mozilla) crashes, and Kaspersky Antivirus also crashes within 2 minutes of starting a scan. I advised him not to use IE8 for browsing.

    When I tried booting into it with Ubuntu LiveCD, it kept opening Thunderbird (Default Email client in Ubuntu), and would not let me configure DSL (it cleared all settings after 15-20 seconds of typing in username/password etc). This happened to me for the 1st time with Linux live CDs, usually they're pretty solid.

    I am suspecting there is some BIOS virus which may be causing this, but is this a possibility with a Linux LiveCD too?

    [Edit] The CPU was sent to a mechanic who found many virii and was unable to clean it without formatting the drive (after taking data backup). Still not sure if a bios virus was there. Given the vulnerability of WinXP post support-end, AND the supremely careless browsing habits of my friend, I suspect there is still a chance of the virus being the root cause. He's getting a new Win7 PC now

    • Answers
  • ssmy

    Sounds like a broken keyboard. Is there an email shortcut key? Other keyboard malfunctions would account for the other issues.

    That or a novelty random keypress generator? Very unlikely to be a BIOS virus. Too hard to create to waste on stupid stuff like this.


    • Related Question

    Building a custom Linux LiveCD
  • hmp

    I need to create a small custom live system (for teaching a programming class). What would be the best way to do it?


    • Related Answers
  • Gren

    You can use Remastersys to build an Ubuntu or Debian distro of your own. For a fast live cd, I would install XUbuntu into a virtualbox vm and install the necessary programs and set it up to your liking. Then you can run remastersys backup and burn the resulting ISO to CDs for your students.

  • sudesh

    If you want to build your own distribution, Try Linux From Scratch (LFS). It is a project that provides you with step-by-step instructions for building your own custom Linux system, entirely from source code. http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/

    There are a lot of lightweight linux distributions available. Most of these can boot from LiveCD. http://lightlinux.blogspot.com/2008/06/top-10-of-lightweight-linux%5F24.html

  • emgee

    http://www.livecdlist.com/frontpage?order=value%5F1&sort=desc

    This website is a list of all the Live CD distros with a ranking given by the users

    I suggest you go with XUbuntu for programming purposes

    If you are looking to use it for server tests try open SUSE

  • Alon Swartz

    How about Morphix? http://www.morphix.org/ - includes a page on "Building a new LiveCD in two commands"!