Lately, my USB thumbdrive was infected with a trojan virus, Boot.exe. Most probably, the virus was written onto my thumbdrive from one public computers that I usually frequent. I was notified by the existence of the virus when my anti-virus started complaining that it found a Trojan in my thumbdrive. Since the virus is a high level threat, the anti-virus did a viral quarantine and deletion. That was when the real ordeal started.
After deletion, the USB thumbdrive is unable to be “left-double-clicked”. When double-clicked, Windows will launch a windows complaining that Boot.exe cannot be found. Thus, I began my forensic work. What I found was that my Autorun.inf file (the file that is used to Autorun specified programs) has commands to launch Boot.exe. Apparently, the virus overwrites the old Autorun.inf to an infected one which launches the virus everytime the thumbdrive is placed into a PC. Thus, this is the solution that you should do if you are facing the same problem. I’m using a Sandisk Cruzer micro. It should work with other USB thumbdrives.
The first option is to reformat all the data in the thumbdrive. This is the easiest option but it’s not the most sophisticated one.
What I’m suggesting is to first; do a virus scan (after updating your virus database) on your thumbdrive. Next, backup your data (just to be safe) to a hard disk. Lastly, change your Autorun.inf like so:
1. Go to tools -> folder options -> view tab: check show hidden files and folders and click OK.
2. Go to My Computer -> Right-click your thumbdrive -> explore.
3. In your Windows explorer, double click Autorun.inf (which is by default in your thumbdrive’s root directory)
4. Delete all the contents inside the file, and replace the contents with:[Autorun]
shell=Open
Well, if you can’t find the autorun.inf, download the file here (right-click and save as) and save it in your USB thumbdrive root directory. Unmount your thumbdrive (remove it the correct way) and re-insert it back again. Now you should be able to Double-click it without any problems! Cheers!
9 responses so far ↓
1 Fixing 'Missing boot.exe' of your thumbdrive // Oct 5, 2007 at 9:28 am
[…] taken from techie-talks […]
2 amber // Oct 7, 2007 at 10:01 am
sweet! I finally found the solution to solve the problem of my stupid pendrive!
Great article! Thanks!!
3 t e c h i e - t a l k s ::: technology at its best » Fixing the “Windows cannot find Boot.exe” part II // Oct 31, 2007 at 5:07 pm
[…] publishing “USB thumbdrive error: Windows cannot find Boot.exe” article the last time, I had several e-mails concerning the same problem but on a different […]
4 Vengu // Dec 10, 2007 at 3:06 pm
I have a problem with a thumb drive.I can’t save mp3 files into thumb drive.It appear error copying file cannot create something like that even the space in thumb drive lot.Can you help me?
5 firdooze // Dec 11, 2007 at 10:38 am
Vengu:
Try reformatting your thumbdrive. FAT32 format is fine. Try mounting it again and then copy your MP3 files into your thumbdrive.
If it doesn’t solve the problem, try different USB ports (make sure you are not using those shared USB adapter) and USB ports on different computers.
If it still doesn’t work, it could be a hardware problem. Send it back for RMA.
6 Venda // Dec 20, 2007 at 12:53 pm
thanks for your article! It works!! Good solution!
7 thumbdrive boot.exe solution « :: superwoman :: // Jan 15, 2008 at 12:37 am
[…] the “boot.exe” problem when double-clicking the thumbdrive, i managed to find it. click here if you’re infected […]
8 haziqarif // Apr 8, 2008 at 1:24 pm
my pendrive cannot be read in any computer after i had face all the problem above…
how should i fixed it..!!!
9 Kailun // Aug 27, 2008 at 11:31 pm
thanks for the advice your comments helped me overcome this stupid boot.exe ordeal!!! thanks alot pal!!
Leave a Comment