How to discover PCs on the network from USB stick connected to PC with unbootable HDD

[bp2017]

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.

[spork]

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.

Remove the hdd ...use a usb dock with a working system to read files off the drive