How To Use Windows XP Recovery Console

XP Recovery Console

XP Recovery Console is a great feature that enables user to perform variety of tasks using a command line interface.  Its main function is to allow user to recover from situations from critical situation.  Instead of graphical user interface, it uses command line interface that provide user with more control.   Many Windows XP Recovery Console commands are available to user to perform specific actions.  You can also run chkdsk utility within Recovery Console.  I have also posted complete Chkdsk Commands, which can be used to other diagnosis purpose.

By itself, the XP Recovery Console can be installed to the hard disk and added to the NTLDR menu, which can be risky as in some occasion your computer might not be able to boot to the point where it loads NTLDR.  The safe option is to use Windows XP CD, and here is a detailed step-by-step tutorial on how to use Windows XP Recovery Console:

• Start your PC and insert Windows XP CD in the CD-ROM/DVD-ROM.

• Now go to the boot menu option, usually by pressing prompted key during startup.  For example, for a Dell PC, you press “F12” and for HP you press “F9″ to access the boot menu during startup.

• Once you are in the boot menu, choose “Boot into CD/DVD” Note: this message can be different depending on the PC manufacture, but the idea is to boot your computer into CD/DVD ROM instead of hard drive.

• Windows XP setup will then start loading it files and you will see a blue screen with bunch of messages at the bottom.  Don’t press any key and let the installer finish leading and preparing windows XP for install or re-install.

• After the setup is done loading all required files, you will see a new window asking you for an action.  Press “R” to access the “Recovery Console”.  After loading necessary files, you will notice a MS-DOS window pop up.  You will be asked “Which Windows installation would you like to log on” press 1 and hit Enter.

Note: If you have multiple operating systems installed in your PC, then you need to make sure which windows installation you need to choose.  It will list any other operating system if detected.

• The XP Recovery Console will then ask for the administrative password.  It will only prompt you for the password if you have one, else it will skip to the next step.  If you have an administrative password setup, then enter that password and press Enter.

The XP Recovery Console is all set and ready to go.  From this point, you can perform a lot of different stuff.

Abilities of XP Recovery Console

From the XP Recovery Console you can:

• create and delete directories.
• copy, display, rename, and erase files
• format volumes
• fix boot file, using the bootcfg CLI command in the console
• create a new Master Boot Record (MBR), using the fixmbr CLI command
• create a new volume boot record, using the fixboot CLI command
• expand compressed files
• run CHKDSK to fix corrupted files