Scan and resolve threats using Norton Rescue Disk

Norton Rescue Disk is a recovery tool that helps remove malware from infected computers. It scans your computer in the Windows Preinstallation Environment (WinPE) and helps detect files infected with malware. You can use this tool to restore your computer to normal working mode when it is infected so deeply that it will not start.

If you suspect your computer is infected with malware and all other Norton scans are unable to resolve the issue, you can use Norton Rescue Disk. This method significantly increases your chances of detecting and removing malware because the malware cannot counteract.

Norton Rescue Disk can also be used to scan and remediate threats should you face difficulty in installing or running Norton products due to a virus infection in your computer.

You can create Norton Rescue Disk on a bootable USB recovery media or a bootable DVD recovery media. Follow the instructions in this article to learn how to create and use Norton Rescue Disk. We highly recommend that you create the Norton Rescue Disk tool and safe keep the media device.

STEP 1

Create the Norton Rescue Disk recovery media

Create Norton Rescue Disk on USB drive

Open your Norton device security product.
On the left pane, click Security.
In the Security dashboard, in the Scans tile, click Open.
In the Scans window, click the Rescue Disk tab.
In the Use UEFI boot file row, do one of the following:
- If the infected computer uses UEFI, enable Use UEFI boot file.
- If the infected computer uses BIOS, disable Use UEFI boot file.
Refer to the manufacturer's support documentation to determine whether the infected computer uses the UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) or BIOS (Basic Input Output System). Most modern computers use UEFI. If you cannot find out this information, create both Rescue Disk variants and try to boot up the computer with each of them until it successfully starts the Norton Rescue Disk window.
In the Create on USB drive row, click Create.
Select the USB drive.

The USB device must have a minimum free space of 1 GB to create the rescue media.

Important: Before you proceed, make sure you have a backup of your data in the USB drive. All data in the USB drive gets erased to create your Rescue Disk. You cannot recover the lost data again.
Click Continue.
After the Rescue Disk is created, click Done.

After you create Norton Rescue Disk on the USB drive, go to Step 2 to boot up the infected computer using the USB drive.

Create Norton Rescue Disk ISO file on DVD

Open your Norton device security product.
On the left pane, click Security.
In the Security dashboard, in the Scans tile, click Open.
In the Scans window, click the Rescue Disk tab.
In the Use UEFI boot file row, do one of the following:
- If the infected computer uses UEFI, enable Use UEFI boot file.
- If the infected computer uses BIOS, disable Use UEFI boot file.
Refer to the manufacturer's support documentation to determine whether the infected computer uses the UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) or BIOS (Basic Input Output System). Most modern computers use UEFI. If you cannot find out this information, create both Rescue Disk variants and try to boot up the computer with each of them until it successfully starts the Norton Rescue Disk window.
In the Create disc image (ISO file) row, click Create.
Browse and select the folder where you want to save the ISO file, and then click Open.
After the Rescue Disk ISO file is created, click Done.
On the same computer, insert a blank recordable DVD into the DVD-writer.
Right-click the created ISO file, and select Burn disc image or Show more options > Burn disc image.
Ensure the DVD-writer with inserted DVD is selected next to Disc burner, then click Burn. A progress screen appears as the DVD is recorded with the ISO file.
When the recording process finishes, click Close.

After you create Norton Rescue Disk on a DVD, go to Step 2 to boot up the infected computer using the ISO file.

STEP 2

Boot up your computer using Norton Rescue Disk recovery media

Do one of the following:
- Insert the DVD containing Norton Rescue Disk into the DVD drive of your computer.
- Insert the USB drive containing Norton Rescue Disk into the USB port.
Restart your computer.
As your computer starts up, press the appropriate key to enter the Boot menu.

Look for text on the computer's BIOS boot splash screen (usually the computer manufacturer's logo and/or hardware initialization details that are shown for a few seconds before Windows starts), which tells you how to access the Boot menu.
Because of the wide variety of computer and BIOS manufacturers, there are numerous ways to access the Boot menu. The keys that are commonly used are Esc, F12, or F11. Some computer models or manufacturers also use other keys such as F10, F9, F8, or F5. Once you determine the proper key to access the Boot menu, restart the computer again and immediately start tapping that key.
If you cannot access the Boot menu, refer to your computer's documentation on the relevant manufacturer's website, or try to contact the manufacturer's support.
When the Boot menu appears, select the USB/DVD drive containing Norton Rescue Disk. It may be listed as Removable Devices, USB Flash Drive, USB Storage Device, or CD-ROM Drive, CDROM, CD/DVD/CD-RW... (sometimes it is listed on a sub-menu with other storage drives).
Follow the on-screen instructions to boot from USB/DVD drive and start Norton Rescue Disk.

STEP 3

Scan and resolve security threats

When Norton Rescue Disk starts on your computer, you can begin to scan for malware:

In the Norton Rescue Disk window, click Antivirus Scan.
If your computer is connected to the Internet, click Update VPS to ensure that Norton Rescue Disk uses the latest virus definitions.
Under Where to scan, select one of the following:
- All hard disks: scans the entire computer.
- Selected folders/disks: scans only specific folders or disks on the computer.
  
  If you choose this option, you must select the folders or disks to scan.
Check Scan all archives to include all compressed files in the scan.
Click Next and wait for scan to complete.

When the scan is finished, review the scan results screen. Norton Rescue Disk identifies and lists all the security threats.
If threats are found, select one of the following:
- Fix automatically: Norton Rescue Disk attempts to remove the malicious code from all infected files, while keeping the rest of each file intact. If it fails to repair any files, the files get automatically deleted from your computer.
- Fix manually: Norton Rescue Disk lets you manually select and act on the infected items.
When the selected action is completed, click Finish.
In the Norton Rescue Disk window, on the File menu, click Restart.

When your computer restarts, you can remove the USB drive/DVD containing Norton Rescue Disk.

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