SystemRescue 13.02
A bootable Arch-based rescue system carrying the tools for repairing unbootable machines: partition editors, filesystem utilities, data recovery, and a full shell environment.
Download ISO Project website ↗Download Mirrors
SystemRescue exists for the day a machine will not boot. It is a live environment, not an installable distribution, carrying the toolkit you need when the installed system is broken: GParted for partitions, filesystem repair utilities for ext4, XFS, Btrfs, and NTFS, ddrescue for failing disks, and a complete shell with networking.
What is in the 13.x series
Version 13 moved to the Linux 6.18 LTS kernel, with 13.02 tracking 6.18.41. It ships GParted 1.8.1, updated bcachefs tools and kernel module, better HiDPI display handling, and the age file encryption tool with post-quantum support.
The repairs it is built for
Boot the ISO from USB and the installed system’s disks are visible but unmounted, which is exactly the state you want. From there you can run fsck against an unmounted filesystem (never do this on a mounted one), reinstall a bootloader, reset a forgotten password, or copy data off a dying drive with ddrescue before attempting any repair. Pair it with the chroot procedure and most software-level failures are recoverable without reinstalling.
# Write the ISO to USB
sudo dd if=systemrescue-13.02-amd64.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=4M status=progress oflag=syncRescue disk vs installer ISO
Any distribution’s installer ISO includes a live shell and can do much of this. SystemRescue’s advantage is that the tools are already installed and current: no hunting for a package manager on a live image with no persistent storage, and no discovering that the recovery utility you need was not shipped.
Verify Your Download
SHA256 checksums and GPG signatures are published on the SystemRescue download page.