We present here an analysis of the X-ray properties of a sample of LINER galaxies observed with the ROSAT PSPC and HRI instruments .
A spatial analysis shows that the bulk of the X-ray emission is consistent with arising from a point source ; some extended emission appears at weak emission levels .
The X-ray spectra are formally best described by a powerlaw with photon index \Gamma _ { x } \approx - 2 or thermal emission from a Raymond-Smith plasma with highly subsolar abundances ( Z \leq 0.1 ) .
Several emission mechanisms that might contribute to the observed X-ray spectra are discussed .
In particular , we take the very subsolar abundances derived from Raymond-Smith fits as an indication of a more complex emission mechanism , like the presence of a second hard component or plasma out of equilibrium .