The Recovery Console in Windows XP.

The Recovery Console in Windows XP.
Submitted By : Gigacore.
Most of us, myself not excluded, immediately think of a fresh installation if something fails and the thought of the Recovery Console doesnt even cross our minds! Please keep in mind its one of the most useful tool to recover from the error without any data loss! Whenever you get a error message stating you to fix it in Recovery Console, please don’t neglect it… Go for it… its easy and faster than install the OS again. The Recovery Console Provides access to your system’s files systems on your HDD (FAT, FAT32 and NTFS). With this level of access, the System Administrator, can access files and dir’s. More importantly, the Admin has the capability to start and stop services and therefore repair the system.
Starting the Recovery Console (RC)
The Recovery Console can be accessed from the Windows XP Professional installation CD-ROM or from your Windows XP Professional Setup floppy disks. It can also be installed to the local hard disk by typing the following command at a command prompt:
Code:
D:\I386\WINNT32.EXE /cmdcons In this prompt, D: represents the CD-ROM drive where the Windows XP Pro installation CD-ROM is located.
Type and press enter the command in MS DOS and after few seconds its appears as shown below.
Then It promPts you to select Yes or No...., Click On yes....
Quote:
Note: You cannot install RC on a mirrored disk. You need to break the mirror and install it.To start the Recovery Console using the installation disk, follow these steps:1. Boot the computer from the Windows XP Professional installation CD-ROM or from the Windows XP Pro Setup floppy disks. At the Setup Notification screen, press Enter.2. On the Welcome To Setup screen, press R to repair a Windows installation.
The Setup Screen with the Repair option.3. Select the Windows XP Professional installation you want to repair, and press Enter.4. Enter the password for the local administrator account.
To start the Recovery Console that was installed to the local hard disk, take these steps:1. Boot the computer. At the Operating System selection screen, select Microsoft Windows Recovery Console.
2. Select the Windows XP Professional installation you want to repair, and press Enter.3. Enter the password for the local administrator account.
Using the Recovery ConsoleThe Recovery Console is a command-line interface. Most of the commands are derived from MS-DOS commands, so, if you are familiar with MS-DOS, you can figure out what a command does. If you are not sure what a command does, help can be obtained by typing the command followed by /?.Table 14.1 lists the commands supported by the Recovery Console.Recovery Console commands.Attrib - Changes attributes on one file or directoryBatch - Executes commands specified in a text fileBootcfg - Boots configuration and recoveryCd/chdir - Displays the name of the current directory or switches to a new directoryChkdsk - Checks a disk and displays a status reportCls- Clears the screenCopy - Copies a single file to another locationDel/delete - Deletes one fileDir - Displays a list of files and subdirectories in a directoryDisable - Disables a Windows system service or driverDiskpart - Manages the partitions on your hard disk volumesEnable - Enables a Windows system service or driverExit - Exits the Recovery Console and restarts the computerExpand - Expands a compressed fileFixboot- Writes a new boot sector onto the system partitionFixmbr - Repairs the master boot code of the boot partitionFormat - Formats a disk for use with WindowsHelp - Displays information about commands supported by the Recovery ConsoleListsvc - Lists all available services and drivers on the computerLogon - Lists the detected installations of Windows and requests the local administrator password for those installationsMap - Lists the drive letter to physical device mappings that are currently activeMd/mkdir - Creates a directoryMore/type - Displays a text file to the screenNet Use Maps a network share to a drive letterRd/rmdir - Removes (deletes) a directoryRen/rename - Renames a single fileSet - Displays and sets Recovery Console environment variablesSystemroot - Sets the current directory to %systemroot%[/code]By default, the Recovery Console only permits access to the following directories:> %systemroot%> Root directory of local disks> cmdcons and any subdirectories> Directories on floppy disks and CD-ROMsAccess can be gained to other directories by changing the local Group Policy settings as described in the following steps:1. Select Start Run, and enter "MMC"2. Click the Console drop-down menu, and select Add/Remove Snap-In.3. Click Add.4. From the list of snap-ins, select Group Policy, and click Add.5. The Select Group Policy Object dialog box will be displayed. Verify that Local Computer is listed, and click Finish.6. Click Close on the Add Stand-Alone Snap-In dialog box.7. Click OK to close the Add/Remove Snap-In dialog box.8. Double-click Local Computer Policy.9. Double-click Computer Configuration.10. Double-click Windows Settings.11. Double-click Security Settings.12. Double-click Local Policies.13. Select Security Options.14. Double-click Recovery Console: Allow floppy copy and access to all drives and all folders.15. The Local Security Policy Setting dialog box will be displayed. Select Enabled, and click OK.The set command is disabled by default. Once this access has been granted via Group Policy, the set command is enabled. The following set command can provide several functions:Set [variable - value]In the preceding command line, variable can be the following:>AllowWildCards—Enables wild-card support for some commands, such as copy.>AllowAllPaths—Provides access to all files and folders on the system.>AllRemovableMedia—Allows files to be copied to removable media, such as floppies.>NoCopyPrompt—Causes the confirmation prompt during overwrites to be disabled.Recovering the Boot Configuration by Using the Recovery ConsoleProblems with the boot configuration found in the Boot.ini file can be remedied by using the Recovery Console. The boot configuration can be recovered by using the BOOTCFG command, which contains several parameters to assist you in recovering from a boot configuration failure. The Table below lists and describes the BOOTCFG parameters.
Quote:
Warning: When using BOOTCFG /rebuild, always make a backup copy of your Boot.ini file. You can accomplish this from the Recovery Console by using the copy command.
Replacing the Registry by Using the Recovery ConsoleProblems with the Registry can be remedied by using the Recovery Console. Registry files can be replaced by using the copy command. Backup copies of the Registry files are kept in either the %systemroot%\repair folder or the %systemroot%\repair\regback folder.To replace the Registry using the Recovery Console, follow these steps:1. Start the Recovery Console, and enter the local administrator password.BOOTCFG parameters.
Quote:
Command DescriptionBootcfg /add Adds a Windows OS to the boot listBootcfg /default Sets the default boot entryBootcfg /disableredirect Disables redirection of the boot loaderBootcfg /list Lists all current entries for the boot listBootcfg /rebuild Searches through all Windows installations and prompts for which to addBootcfg /redirect [PortBaudRate] [useBiosSettlngs] Enables the redirection of the boot loader to the specified locationBootcfg /scan
Scans all disks for all Windows installations and displays the results2. You will start in the %systemroot% directory (for example, C:\WINDOWS). Enter the following commands:
Code:
cd repair\regback
copy filename C:\WIND0WS\SYSTEM32\C0NFIG
Here, filename is the name of the Registry file to be copied.You should rename the current Registry files before replacing them. In case a problem occurs, this gives you the opportunity to return to the systems original condition.
Quote:
Warning: Files located in %systemroot%\repair\regback represent the Registry state the last time that the System State was backed up. Any changes made to the Registry files since then will be lost.