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To obtain direct, low-level access to a system's mass storage drives, SpinRite runs under a GRC-customized version of FreeDOS which has been modified to add compatibility with all file systems. In order to run SpinRite it must first be possible to boot FreeDOS.

This ZIP archive contains a BootAble Windows utility and also a BootAble file system image (bootable.img) to allow any Windows, Linux or Mac user to create BIOS-bootable media in order to workout and confirm the details of getting a machine to boot FreeDOS through a BIOS. Once the means of doing that has been determined, the media created by SpinRite can be booted and run in the same way.

• Windows users:
  You may run the enclosed bootable.exe Windows application to quickly and easily create a bootable USB thumb drive. Extremely old PCs may not be able to boot from USB drives but can boot from floppy diskettes or optical (CD or DVD) discs. The Windows BootAble application will accommodate any of those scenarios.
• Apple Mac users:
  If you do not have even brief access to a Windows machine which would allow you to use the Windows bootable application, the enclosed bootable.img file may be written to any USB drive and booted. The cleanest and easiest to use Mac-compatible software we've found for this is Etcher by Balena: https://etcher.balena.io/. The Apple Mac version may be freely downloaded, installed, run and used to safely copy the bootable.img file to the USB drive of your choice. Note that more advanced Mac users may, instead, use the Mac's built-in 'dd' command to perform this copy operation since the bootable.img file is simply being copied onto a USB drive. Doing this requires considerable care and caution to identify the proper destination drive device.
• Linux users:
  Ubuntu Linux has a built-in “Disk Image Writer” that may be used to write the bootable.img file to a USB thumb drive. Since a version of Etcher by Balena: https://etcher.balena.io/ is also available for Linux, it may be downloaded and installed for very simple and safe media creation. And since many Linux users will be comfortable with Linux's device naming, the Linux 'dd' command may also be used to directly copy the enclused bootable.img file to any USB thumb drive. Please be careful of you choose this minimal path since considerable care and caution must always be exercised to identify the proper destination drive device.

Microsoft created “Secure Boot” specifically to prevent unsigned operating systems (like DOS or FreeDOS) from booting on modern computers, and Intel has replaced the original BIOS startup firmware (which all DOS's require) with UEFI.

In order to boot FreeDOS – which BootAble and SpinRite require – “Secure Boot” must be temporarily turned off (if it's on), and a system's startup firmware must have Legacy, BIOS, or CSM boot mode enabled. (Do not turn off secure boot until you check for BitLocker. See below.) Some systems refer to “CSM” which stands for Compatibility Support Module – another name for BIOS – so that's what you want.

Therefore, to boot FreeDOS and run BootAble or SpinRite: If “Secure Boot” is ON it needs to be turned off (but see the important details below, first!) and if a system has UEFI firmware its ability to also boot Legacy, BIOS, or CSM must be enabled.

Although booting different operating systems was once straightforward, as the need to do so has diminished, the knowledge required to do so has become less available. After inserting a bootable USB thumb drive, CD or diskette, it's usually necessary to press some key on the keyboard to interrupt the normal, default, internal drive boot process; but is it DEL, ESC, F2, F10 or F12? There's no standard key. It depends upon the machine because different manufacturers do it differently. And when exactly during the boot process should the key be pressed? It may also be necessary to temporarily change a boot setting or two because Windows systems may employ a system known as “Secure Boot” which prevents malware from infecting the Windows boot process. On top of all that, it's possible for the newest computers to no longer have the capability to boot a BIOS-based operating system at all. The next version of SpinRite, v7, will be able to boot on BIOS or UEFI, but all previous versions of SpinRite including v6.1, depend upon FreeDOS, which needs a BIOS.

This sounds more complicated than it is. Very few people are unable to get their machines to boot FreeDOS – but since that number is not zero, we provide these free “bootability” testing tools to allow users to experiment with working out the details of booting BIOS and FreeDOS on whatever machines they might want to use with SpinRite.

Because booting into DOS may be more involved than it once was, GRC's web forums have a “Booting DOS for SpinRite” forum dedicated to sharing solutions for booting PCs into DOS.

In order to inspect and possibly alter a system's boot settings it's necessary to interrupt the machine's normal boot process:

• To interrupt a system's normal boot-up, a function key must usually be depressed to access the machine's firmware settings and intercept the machine's normal boot process. If you are fortunate, your system will briefly flash the instructions for doing this on the screen when it is first powered on or restarted. But most users are left to guess which function key to press. There is no industry standard but ESCape, DELete, F2, F9, F10 and F12 are common. The good news is, pressing the wrong key is never destructive it just doesn't work. Since this is a common problem, a bit of Internet searching may discover the BIOS/UEFI access key for any particular computer.
• Once you have accessed the machine's startup settings, take a look around. You'll be looking for terms like Secure Boot, Legacy booting, Enable BIOS, or CSM (Compatibility Support Module). As mentioned above, Secure Boot must be turned off and those older original booting modes must be turned on.

Window's “Secure Boot” must be disabled in the system's startup configuration in order to boot other operating systems (including SpinRite's FreeDOS). But if Microsoft's BitLocker drive encryption is in use and has not been suspended (see “Suspending BitLocker” below) when Secure Boot mode is disabled, BitLocker's encryption key will be deliberately erased. This is done to protect the contents of encrypted drives from other operating systems. In this case, BitLocker's “Recovery Key” will be required once Secure Boot is re-enabled and the system is rebooted into Windows.

• If Secure Boot is not currently enabled on a machine there's nothing further to consider and you may proceed to the “Changing Startup Settings” section below.
• If Secure Boot is currently enabled on a machine, you should return to Windows immediately to determine whether Secure Boot mode is protecting any BitLocker keys which might be endangered when Secure Boot mode is disabled (if BitLocker has not first been suspended). Do this by checking to see whether any of the system's drives are currently encrypted with BitLocker. Enter “Manage BitLocker” into Window's Search field and choose Manage BitLocker. You can also open the Control Panel and select “System and Security” then “BitLocker Drive Encryption”.
• BitLocker showing as “off” for every drive is normal, typical and expected, and means that BitLocker is not in use anywhere so Secure Boot may be safely disabled and later re-enabled.
• BitLocker showing as “on” for any drive means that BitLocker's recovery key should be backed up and that BitLocker's protection should be suspended before Secure Boot is disabled.

Even though protection can and should be suspended (see the next section below) before disabling Secure Boot mode, which will protect BitLocker's keys from deletion while Secure Mode is disabled, BitLocker Recovery Key(s) should always be on hand whether or not you ever disable Secure Boot mode. Now would be a good time to back them up:

• For any and all drives showing BitLocker “on”, click “Back up your recovery key” to record the key, print the key, or (preferably) save it to a removable USB drive. Microsoft's web page for this contains additional information, if needed.

To prevent Windows from over-protectively deleting any BitLocker keys, BitLocker's protection may and should be temporarily suspended before Secure Boot mode is disabled. It can and should later be re-enabled once Secure Boot mode has been re-enabled:

• If this is done, the BitLocker Recovery Key backup(s) you made, above, will not be needed and this “belt and suspenders” approach will only be providing a useful safety margin in the event of any trouble.
• Remember to “Un-Suspend” BitLocker's protection once Secure Boot is re-enabled and you have returned to Windows.

Once Secure Boot mode has been safely disabled, Legacy or BIOS or CSM (Compatibility Support Module) mode can be enabled and you can see whether you're able to get BootAble to successfully boot.

• With a BootAble-created USB thumb drive plugged into the machine when you press the required key to interrupt its normal booting process, the system's start up firmware should be able to “see” the USB drive and you may be able to it select it for booting. Or it may be possible to change the “boot priority” so that the USB thumb drive will be preferentially booted before the normal system mass storage drive. Or it may be possible to select the boot device from a list of available boot drives. The “F9” is commonly use to display a boot list at startup.
• Since every manufacturer take a different approach you'll need to examine the available options. There may also be extensive documentation available online depending upon the make and model of your system(s).

This is what success looks like:

In addition to this page, a great deal of additional help, suggestions and guidance can be found online in GRC's terrific web forums. You do not need to create an account or login to read everything that's available there. The forums have a section dedicated to solving boot mysteries.