Kaspersky Rescue Disk v18

A full review of Kaspersky Rescue Disk, a free bootable antivirus program

By
Tim Fisher
Photo of Tim Fisher, Lifewire GM and Writer
Tim Fisher
Senior Vice President & Group General Manager, Tech & Sustainability
  • Emporia State University

Tim Fisher has more than 30 years' of professional technology experience. He's been writing about tech for more than two decades and serves as the SVP and General Manager of Lifewire.

lifewire's editorial guidelines
Updated on March 8, 2023

Kaspersky Rescue Disk is a software suite with tools like a free bootable antivirus program, a web browser, and a Windows Registry editor.

The virus scanner lets you scan any file or folder on the computer without requiring you to scan the entire hard drive, which is a very useful feature.

Kaspersky Rescue Disk
What We Like

  • Has a friendly graphical user interface


  • Easy to run scans and updates


  • Lets you scan specific files/folders


  • Supports more advanced scan options


  • Includes other free tools


What We Don't Like

  • Download is over 600 MB

This review is of Kaspersky Rescue Disk version 18. Please let us know if there's a newer version we need to review.

Installing Kaspersky Rescue Disk

To install Kaspersky Rescue Disk, first download the ISO image file from the download page. Then, you can choose to create a bootable disc or a bootable USB device. Either one will work, but the latter is a bit more complex.

To put Kaspersky Rescue Disk on a disc, see How to Burn an ISO Image File to a DVD. If you're wanting to use a USB device instead, see our ISO to USB guide here, as well as Kaspersky's explanation of the specific settings you need to use.

Once the files have been copied over, you'll need to boot from the device instead of the operating system. If you need help doing this, see How to Boot From a CD/DVD/BD Disc or How to Boot From a USB Device.

How to Use Kaspersky Rescue Disk

Here's what to do to start using this tool:

  1. Press Enter to open the English version.

    Kaspersky Rescue Disk language selection

  2. Press Enter to accept the default option, Kaspersky Rescue Disk. Graphic mode.

    Kaspersky rescue disk graphic mode selection

  3. After several screens of code run through, the virus scanner will open automatically. Confirm that you agree with the license agreement and privacy policy by putting a check in those boxes, and then press Accept.

  4. Choose Start scan to begin checking for threats.

    Kaspersky Rescue Tool

    Select Change parameters to adjust the scope of the scanner so only certain folders are scanned, just the boot sectors are checked for viruses, etc.

Our Thoughts on Kaspersky Rescue Disk

We love that you can scan only part of the hard drive instead of the whole thing. This is very useful if you already know what you want to scan so you don't have to waste time checking the whole drive for malicious files.

There's a regular desktop within Kaspersky Rescue Disk that lets you edit the registry, browse the internet, and even explore the operating system like you would if you were logged into a user account, which is super helpful if the malware is preventing you from booting to the system.

The only thing we can find that we don't like about Kaspersky Rescue Disk is that it may take some time to download because the ISO image is rather large.

Was this page helpful?