How to bypass blocking software using the Ubuntu Live CD

Bennett Haselton, 3/27/2006. Thanks to Kevin Daniel Allen for the suggestion!

This page describes how you can bypass blocking software on a Windows machine by rebooting the computer from a Linux CD, so that you go outside of Windows entirely. When you're done, remove the Linux CD and the computer will be in the same state that it was before.

Limitations

Part 1: Make the CD

To make the CD, you must have a CD recording drive and a writeable CD. Follow these steps:
  1. Download ISO Recorder from this web site and install it. (Be sure to pick the right version depending on whether you have Windows XP Service Pack 1 or XP Service Pack 2. Most users have Service Pack 2. To find out what version you have, go to your Windows Desktop, right-click My Computer, and pick "Properties", and look at the "General" tab, under "System:".) The ISO Recorder software is necessary for copying an ISO image onto a CD.
  2. Download the Ubunti Live CD .iso file from this link. (About 650 megabytes.)
  3. Insert a recordable CD into your CD writing drive.
  4. Right-click the ISO file and pick "Copy image to CD". (That option should appear on the right-click menu if you have ISO Recorder installed.) Once the CD is burned, label it "Ubuntu Live CD".

If you run into problems making the CD yourself, you can order it free by mail from https://shipit.ubuntu.com/.

Part 2: Boot from the CD

To boot from the Ubuntu Live CD, insert the Ubuntu Live CD and reboot your computer.

Usually, this will boot you into Ubuntu. (When your computer detects a CD in the CD drive, it may display a message while it's starting up, like "Press ENTER to boot from the CD" -- in which case, do what it says.) You should see some text scrolling up the screen, followed by the "Ubuntu" logo instead of the usual Windows logo, and after about 5 minutes, you should see the Ubuntu desktop. Go to the "Internet" menu and pick "Firefox" to launch the Firefox browser and surf to any Web site you want.

If the computer boots into Windows, even with the CD in the drive, then your computer is currently not set to boot from the CD. To change this, you need to change some settings on your computer to make it boot from the CD drive. This is slightly advanced, and is different on almost every computer, but Kevin Daniel Allen has written a tutorial about how to do it.

Feedback

Please send questions or problem reports to bennett@peacefire.org.