Instructions to restore your computer using an Android device

Your computer's operating system is corrupted and the only way to recover is to use an ISO file flashed into a USB stick. But if you don't have a backup computer to create an installation media, you can use Android to restore your computer. This article will show you how to restore your computer using an Android phone or tablet.

How to install Windows 10 from USB with ISO file

Your computer could not load, perhaps because the operating system is infected with a virus or hard drive that needs to be replaced. You need to restore the data in the computer but there is no way to burn the recovered hard drive.

Many people think that a computer is the only device capable of downloading and burning ISO files (the hard drive image is saved as a file), however if there is an Android phone or tablet running Android 3.1 and above, It can support USB On-The-Go (OTG) so you can attach USB devices such as a mouse, keyboard or even a USB to your phone or tablet.

How to connect USB to Android Phone?

This is how you can use to restore your computer. You only need to download the ISO file, connect the USB device to the tablet or phone and burn the ISO file with the corresponding application.

Use Android as a computer

If there is an Android phone or tablet, OTG supported, you can use it to repair computers. Before performing a restore, use the search engine to see what causes the computer to not start. Think about the symptoms, what the computer did before it broke down and how long it took for the computer to get a problem, which will help you decide what to do after you write the ISO.

For example, you may need a hard drive to recover or simply an operating system version, but if you are unsure, select the recovery hard drive. Make sure your Android device has enough storage space to download the appropriate hard drive ISO image file, if not enough, try the Linux distribution.

One thing to note is that you should use the home network instead of the mobile network if you do not want to run out of mobile data because the operating system download will lose many GB of data.

Creating an ISO media can be booted using an ISO 2 USB application

After downloading the ISO you want to use, you need a tool to burn it. On the network there are many tools that can do this but the best tool is ISO 2 USB.

However to use this tool, you need an OTG adapter, this is an affordable cable that can be purchased from mobile retailers or purchased online. When connected to the phone, the OTG adapter cable will allow you to connect to the USB flash drive and burn your downloaded ISO here.

First, connect the USB drive via OTG cable, then touch the first Pick button to select the USB drive, then switch to the second Pick button to select the ISO file. You need to be sure to accept the request for access to media files and USB drives.

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You can then touch Start to start recording data. This process does not take a long time, after completion, remove the USB device and plug it into the computer and start recovering. Note, you need to change the boot order in the BIOS to boot from USB.

How to set up BIOS to boot from USB / CD / DVD, external hard drive

Turn your Android phone into a Linux bootable environment

If there is no USB flash drive or USB OTG cable but there is an Android device already rooted, you can take another alternative.

DriveDroid is a free or paid utility tool that allows users to boot the computer directly via a USB cable using an ISO or IMG file stored on the phone. You only need an Android phone or tablet and an appropriate cable to implement this method.

It is important to note that this method requires rooted Android device, which supports USB Mass Storage on the device. Although modern versions of Android do not support USB Mass Storage, the website of DriveDroid claims: 'DriveDroid has different methods to enable Mass Store'.

How to restore your PC using DriveDroid

After installing DriveDroid, download the ISO file you plan to use to restore. Run DriveDroid and select Grant to grant root access, then click the Download button and select the operating system to download to the phone. You have a lot of choices here, from Ubuntu to ZorinOS, Tiny Linux, Gentoo, Arch Linux and other top Linux distributions.

13 lightweight Linux distributions bring new life to old computers

However, if you want to restore your computer, the best option is boot-repair-disk or CloneZilla if you need to backup the contents of the HDD.

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When choosing an operating system, you must also select its version. This is usually a recent build with 32-bit or 64-bit versions. You need to make sure to select the operating system that matches the computer build you are about to restore.

After selecting the operating system, wait while downloading the Android device. The ISO file will be saved in the Downloads folder but also on the DriverDroid screen. Select ISO and wait for the options shown, you can choose standard USB storage, read-only USB storage or CD-ROM to determine how ISO is used when restarting the computer.

After connecting your Android device to the computer and restarting, you need to configure it to boot from the USB device, the loaded operating system will boot from the phone. You can then use it to restore your computer or even install a new operating system.

If the computer is not working, you can install a new operating system or restore it using an Android device. Two options to use are: