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Repairing Windows XP – Part 4
The Recovery Console isn’t for the faint
hearted, warns Dave Cook. But in the right hands, it can do
magic.
 When
Windows fails to start a combination of Safe Mode and System
Restore can often get you out of trouble fast. Failing that,
you may be able to repair the operating system using the
Recovery Console.
Be warned, though, that the Recovery Console
is not for the faint hearted. For a start it operates in a
non-graphical, command-line environment. That won’t deter old
timers used to working with MS DOS, of course, but it’s
unlikely to appeal to the average Windows user.
So why bother learning how to use it? Because
in the right hands the Recovery Console can be used to
diagnose and repair some of Windows XP’s most troublesome
problems.
Advantages
The main advantage to using the Recovery
Console over Safe Mode, for example, is that the former will
work even when vital system files are corrupt. The Recovery
Console will let you perform many important tasks including
the ability to:
·
Copy, move, rename, or replace system files or
folders.
·
List, enable or disable Windows services or
devices.
·
Extract compressed .cab files from a local disk
or removable media.
·
Rebuild or repair the Windows boot menu (Boot.ini).
·
Repair the Master Boot Record.
·
Create and format primary partitions, volumes,
or logical drives.
Restrictions
The Recovery Console is not all sweetness and
light. Although the console prompt looks identical to the
familiar MS-DOS prompt and Windows XP’s own command
interpreter (Cmd.exe), it’s not quite the same. Indeed, the
default setup of the Recovery Console contains a number of
restrictions.
For example, you can access files only in the
following locations:
·
The partition’s root directory
·
The folders of removable disks such as floppy
disks, CDs, and Zip disks.
·
The %SystemRoot% folder and subfolders of a
Windows XP installation. Note that this is usually the
C:\Windows folder if the system has been upgraded from Windows
98/Me.
·
The Recovery Console Cmdcons folder.
These restrictions are necessary because the
alternative solution of providing unlimited file access could
pose a major security risk. This applies especially to users
of Windows Home Edition, where the Administrator account is
left blank by default.
Such limits can be frustrating when all you
want to do is repair the system. Or simply access a file
stored in one of the Program Files folders or Documents And
Settings folders.
Boot Menu Option
There are two ways to launch the Recovery
Console: from the Windows CD, or from a startup option on the
Windows boot menu. Note that the latter option requires the
console to be installed at a point in time before Windows
fails to start.
 Here’s
how it’s done: insert the Windows CD into your CD-ROM drive
and at the command prompt (where D:\ is your CD-ROM drive),
type D:\i386\winnt32.exe /cmdcons. You’ll see a message
describing the Recovery Console option. Click Yes to install
the console.
While this method makes the Recovery Console
far quicker to access when Windows fails to start, be warned
that it will present you with a boot menu each time you start
Windows XP.
You can configure the menu’s startup options
from Start, Control Panel, and System applet. Then from the
Advanced tab, click Startup And Recovery Settings. It’s
usually a good idea to reduce the time set to display the
various options from 30 seconds, by default, to around 5
seconds.
CD Option
If you wish to avoid a boot menu, you can
still launch the Recovery Console from the Windows CD. If
Windows fails to start, insert the Windows CD into your CD-ROM
drive and restart the computer. Note that for this to work you
may need to enable any BIOS settings that allow your computer
to boot from a CD.
Follow the onscreen prompts, including the
setup prompt to load the basic Windows startup files. Then at
the Welcome To Setup screen, press R to launch the Recovery
Console (for dual-boot systems, enter the number of the
Windows installation to be accessed via the console).
When prompted, type the Administrator
password. As we mentioned earlier, this is blank by default on
the Windows XP Home Edition. So if there is no Administrator
password, just hit ENTER to start the console.
Next Time
Sadly, we’ve run out of space. In part five,
we’ll show you how to use the Recovery Console to solve some
common startup problems.
Repairing XP - Part 3
Repairing XP - Part 5
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