How to install the Recovery Console
You can install the Recovery Console on your computer to make it available in case that you cannot restart Windows. You can then select the Recovery Console option from the list of available operating systems during startup. The Recovery Console is recommended to be installed on important servers and on the workstations of IT personnel. This article describes how to install the Recovery Console to the Windows XP-based computer. To install the Recovery Console, you must be logged on as an administrator.Although you can run the Recovery Console by starting directly from the Windows XP CD, generally, it is more convenient to set it up as a startup option on your startup menu. To run the Recover Console directly from the CD, see the "How to use the Recovery Console" section.
To install the Recovery Console, follow these steps:
- Insert the Windows XP CD into the CD drive.
- Click Start, and then click Run.
- In the Open box, type d:\i386\winnt32.exe /cmdcons where d is the drive letter for the CD drive. For Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, type d:\amd64\winnt32.exe /cmdcons where d is the drive letter for the CD drive.
- A Windows Setup Dialog Box appears. The Windows Setup
Dialog Box describes the Recovery Console option. To confirm the installation,
click Yes.
- Restart the computer. The next time that you start your
computer, "Microsoft Windows Recovery Console" appears on the startup
menu.
Note You may receive an error message that is similar the following:
Setup cannot continue because the version of
Windows on your computer is newer than the version on the CD.
898594
You receive an error message if you try to install the Recovery Console on a Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2-based computer
Back to the topHow to use the Recovery Console
You can enable and disable services, format drives, read and write data on a local drive (including drives that are formatted to use the NTFS file system), and perform many other administrative tasks. The Recovery Console is very useful if you have to repair your computer by copying a file from a disk or CD-ROM to your hard disk, or if you have to reconfigure a service that is preventing your computer from starting correctly.If you cannot start your Windows, you can run the Recovery Console from the Windows XP startup disks or the Windows XP CD-ROM.
After Windows XP is installed on your computer, to start the computer and use the Recovery Console. The Windows XP startup disks or the Windows XP CD-ROM are required.
For more information about how to create Startup disks for Windows XP (they are not included with Windows XP), click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
310994
Obtaining Windows XP Setup boot disks
Note To start the computer from the Windows XP CD-ROM, you
must configure the basic input/output system (BIOS) of the computer to
start from your CD-ROM. To run the Recovery Console from the Windows XP startup disks or the Windows XP CD-ROM, follow these steps:
- Insert the Windows XP startup disk into the floppy disk
drive, or insert the Windows XP CD-ROM into the CD drive, and then
restart the computer.
Click to select any options that are required to start the computer from the CD drive if you are prompted. - When the "Welcome to Setup" screen appears, press R to start the Recovery Console.
- If you have a dual-boot or multiple-boot computer, select the installation that you must access from the Recovery Console.
- When you are prompted, type the Administrator password. If the administrator password is blank, just press ENTER.
- At the command prompt, type the appropriate commands to
diagnose and repair your Windows XP installation.
For a list of commands that are available in Recovery Console, type recovery console commands or help at the command prompt, and then press ENTER.
For information about a specific command, type help commandname at the command prompt, and then press ENTER. - To exit the Recovery Console and restart the computer, type exit at the command prompt, and then press ENTER.
How to use the Recovery Console command prompt
When you use the Recovery Console, you are working at a special command prompt instead of the ordinary Windows command prompt. The Recovery Console has its own command interpreter. To enter this command interpreter, you are prompted by Recovery Console to type the local Administrator password.When the Recovery Console starts, you can press F6 to install a third-party SCSI or RAID driver, in case that you need such a driver to access the hard disk. This prompt works the same as it does during installation of the operating system.
The Recovery Console takes several seconds to start. When the Recovery Console menu appears, a numbered list of the Windows installations on the computer appears. (Generally, only c:\Windows exists.) Press a number before you press ENTER, even when only one entry appears. If you press ENTER without selecting a number, the computer restarts and starts the process again.
When you see the prompt for %SystemRoot% (generally C:\Windows), you can start to use the available commands for the Recovery Console.
10 things you can do when Windows XP won't boot
When your computer hardware appears to power upokay, but the Windows XP operating system won't boot properly, you have tobegin a troubleshooting expedition that includes getting into the operatingsystem, determining the problem, and then fixing it. To help you getstarted on this expedition, here are 10 things you can do when Windows XP won'tboot.
#1: Use a Windows startup disk
One of the first things you should reach for whentroubleshooting a Windows XP boot problem is a Windows startup disk. This floppydisk can come in handy if the problem is being caused when either the startuprecord for the active partition or the files that the operating system uses tostart Windows have become corrupted.To create a Windows startup disk, insert a floppy disk intothe drive of a similarly configured, working Windows XP system, launch MyComputer, right-click the floppy disk icon, and select the Format command fromthe context menu. When you see the Format dialog box, leave all the defaultsettings as they are and click the Start button. Once the format operation iscomplete, close the Format dialog box to return to My Computer, double-clickthe drive C icon to access the root directory, and copy the following threefiles to the floppy disk:
- Boot.ini
- NTLDR
- Ntdetect.com
#2: Use Last Known Good Configuration
You can also try to boot the operating system with the LastKnown Good Configuration feature. This feature will allow you to undo anychanges that caused problems in the CurrentControlSet registry key, whichdefines hardware and driver settings. The Last Known Good Configuration featurereplaces the contents of the CurrentControlSet registry key with a backup copythat was last used to successfully start up the operating system.To use the Last Known Good Configuration feature, first restart the computer by pressing [Ctrl][Alt][Delete]. When you see the message Please select the operating system to start or hear the single beep, press [F8] to display the Windows Advanced Options menu. Select the Last Known Good Configuration item from the menu and press [Enter].
Keep in mind that you get only one shot with the Last KnownGood Configuration feature. In other words, if it fails to revive your WindowsXP on the first attempt, the backup copy is also corrupt.
#3: Use System Restore
Another tool that might be helpful when Windows XP won'tboot is System Restore. System Restore runs in the background as a service andcontinually monitors system-critical components for changes. When it detects animpending change, System Restore immediately makes backup copies, calledrestore points, of these critical components before the change occurs. Inaddition, System Restore is configured by default to create restore points every24 hours.To use System Restore, first restart the computer by pressing[Ctrl][Alt][Delete]. When you see the message Please select the operating system to start or hear the singlebeep, press [F8] to display the Windows Advanced Options menu. Now, select theSafe Mode item from the menu and press [Enter].
Once Windows XP boots into Safe mode, click the Startbutton, access the All Programs | Accessories | System Tools menu, and selectSystem Restore. Because you're running in Safe mode, the only option on theopening screen of the System Restore wizard is Restore My Computer To AnEarlier Time, and it's selected by default, so just click Next. Then, followalong with the wizard to select a restore point and begin the restorationprocedure.
#4: Use Recovery Console
When a Windows XP boot problem is severe, you'll need to usea more drastic approach. The Windows XP CD is bootable and will provide youwith access to a tool called Recovery Console.To boot from the Windows XP CD, insert it into the CD-ROMdrive on the problem system and press [Ctrl][Alt][Delete] to reboot thecomputer. Once the system begins booting from the CD, simply follow the promptsthat will allow the loading of the basic files needed to run Setup. When yousee the Welcome To Setup screen, shown in FigureA, press R to start the Recovery Console.
| Figure A |
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| Figure B |
 |
#5: Fix a corrupt Boot.ini
As the Windows XP operating system begins to load, the Ntldrprogram refers to the Boot.ini file to determine where the operating systemfiles reside and which options to enable as the operating system continues toload. So if there's a problem rooted in the Boot.ini file, it can render WindowsXP incapable of booting correctly.If you suspect that Windows XP won't boot because Boot.inihas been corrupted, you can use the special Recovery Console version of theBootcfg tool to fix it. Of course, you must first boot the system with theWindows XP CD and access the Recovery Console as described in #4.
To use the Bootcfg tool, from the Recovery Console commandprompt, type
Bootcfg /parameter
Where /parameteris one of these required parameters:
- /Add--Scans the disk for all Windowsinstallations and allows you to add any new ones to the Boot.ini file.
- /Scan--Scans the disk for all Windowsinstallations.
- /List--Lists each entry in the Boot.ini file.
- /Default--Sets the default operating system as themain boot entry.
- /Rebuild--Completely re-creates the Boot.inifile. The user must confirm each step.
- /Redirect--Allows the boot operation to beredirected to a specific port when using the Headless Administration feature.The Redirect parameter takes two parameters of its own, [Port Baudrate ] | [UseBiosSettings].
- /Disableredirect--Disables the redirection.
#6: Fix a corrupt partition boot sector
The partition boot sector is a small section of the harddisk partition that contains information about the operating system's filesystem (NTFS or FAT32), as well as a very small machine language program thatis crucial in assisting the operating system as it loads.If you suspect that Windows XP won't boot because thepartition boot sector has been corrupted, you can use a special RecoveryConsole tool called Fixboot to fix it. Start by booting the system with theWindows XP CD and accessing the Recovery Console as described in #4.
To use the Fixboot tool, from the Recovery Console commandprompt, type
Fixboot [drive]:
Where [drive] is the letter of the drive towhich you want to write a new partition boot sector.
#7: Fix a corrupt master boot record
The master boot record occupies the first sector on the harddisk and is responsible for initiating the Windows boot procedure. The masterboot record contains the partition table for the disk as well as a smallprogram called the master boot code,which is responsible for locating the active, or bootable, partition, in thepartition table. Once this occurs, the partition boot sector takes over andbegins loading Windows. If the master boot record is corrupt, the partitionboot sector can't do its job and Windows won't boot.If you suspect Windows XP won't boot because the master bootrecord has been corrupted, you can use the Recovery Console tool Fixmbr to fixit. First, boot the system with the Windows XP CD and access the RecoveryConsole as described in #4.
To use the Fixmbr tool, from the Recovery Console commandprompt, type
Fixmbr [device_name]
Where [device_name] is the devicepathname of the drive to which you want to write a new master boot record. Forexample, the device pathname format for a standard bootable drive Cconfiguration would look like this:
\Device\HardDisk0
#8: Disable automatic restart
When Windows XP encounters a fatal error, the defaultsetting for handling such an error is to automatically reboot the system. Ifthe error occurs while Windows XP is booting, the operating system will becomestuck in a reboot cycle--rebooting over and over instead of starting upnormally. In that case, you'll need to disable the option for automaticallyrestarting on system failure.When Windows XP begins to boot up and you see the message Please select the operating system to startor hear the single beep, press [F8] to display the Windows Advanced OptionsMenu. Then, select the Disable The Automatic Restart On System Failure item andpress [Enter]. Now, Windows XP will hang up when it encounters the error and withany luck, it will display a stop message you can use to diagnose the problem.
#9: Restore from a backup
If you can't seem to repair a Windows XP system that won'tboot and you have a recent backup, you can restore the system from the backupmedia. The method you use to restore the system will depend on what backuputility you used, so you'll need to follow the utility's instructions on how toperform a restore operation.#10: Perform an in-place upgrade
If you can't repair a Windows XP system that won't boot andyou don't have a recent backup, you can perform an in-place upgrade. Doing soreinstalls the operating system into the same folder, just as if you wereupgrading from one version of Windows to another. An in-place upgrade willusually solve most, if not all, Windows boot problems.Performing a Windows XP in-place upgrade is prettystraightforward. To begin, insert the Windows XP CD into the drive, restartyour system, and boot from the CD. Once the initial preparation is complete,you'll see the Windows XP Setup screen (shown earlier in Figure A). Press[Enter] to launch the Windows XP Setup procedure. In a moment, you'll see theLicense Agreement page and will need to press [F8] to acknowledge that youagree. Setup will then search the hard disk looking for a previous installationof Windows XP. When it finds the previous installation, you'll see a secondWindows XP Setup screen, as shown in FigureC.
| Figure C |
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Keep in mind that after you perform an in-place upgrade orrepair installation, you must reinstall all updates to Windows.
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