Hello everyone.
I'm looking into using Knoppix as a file recovery solution.
I have an unbootable Windows (8.1) laptop on a HomeGroup network (that connects PCs using password; it's a LAN network connecting PCs over router). For some reason OS DVD doesn't boot on that system either (the startup process halts, DVD drive stops, and the screen goes dark).
I decided to make a bootable USB stick with a live OS (may be Knoppix) and connect it to this unbootable laptop for transferring files to another PC or even trying to format one of its logical drives in order to try reinstall the OS but I don't know what steps should be taken to discover the laptop (to copy the files to) on the network. I'm not sure whether Knoppix (or other similar OS) would discover the network computers automatically (like Windows) or not. Also, I suspect it takes some knowledge to copy files from an NTFS HDD (or formatting it) using Linux-like OS (from a USB stick) unlike clicking on a drive and copying files directly to a public folder of another computer on the network (like in Windows) or I might be wrong (this is why I need your help).
I will appreciate your help clarifying how exactly aforementioned procedures can be done using Knoppix.
Dell PowerEdge R630 Server 2x E5-2680 V4 = 28 Cores S130 32GB RAM NEW 480GB SSD
$197.99
DELL PowerEdge R430 8SFF 2x E5-2680v4 2.4GHz =28 Cores 32GB H730 4xRJ45
$226.00
Dell Poweredge R630 Server 2x E5-2620 V4 =16 Cores | S130 | 32GB RAM | 2x trays
$159.99
Cisco UCS C240 M4 2U Server w/ 2x E5-2680v4, NO RAM
$49.99
Dell PowerEdge R630 Server 2x E5-2640v3 2.60Ghz 16-Core 64GB H330
$182.65
Lenovo ThinkServer TS140 Xeon E3-1225v3 3.20GHz 16GB RAM Tower Server Needs HDD
$99.99
Dell PowerEdge R730 16-Bay 2.5” 2xE5-2695 v3 2.3Ghz 64GB iDRAC8 Ent H730 2x750W
$250.00
Dell PowerEdge R720xd 26HDD 300gb 2.5-inch E5-2697 X 2CPU 384RAM 7.2 Tb HDD 
$180.00
Dell Poweredge R730xd LFF 14-Bay 2U Server | Choose Your CPU & RAM Config
$489.99
1U Supermicro Server 10 Bay 2x Intel Xeon 3.3Ghz 8C 128GB RAM 240GB SSD 2x 10GBE
$259.00