Recovery Console

Windows XP includes the Recovery Console that was first introduced in Windows 2000. The Recovery Console allows access to XP installations on FAT, FAT32 and NTFS volumes which are inaccessible via safe mode. The console may be used in two ways. It can be installed to a hard disk as a boot menu option or started from the Windows XP CD used for setup. The Administrator password is required to access the installation. Three incorrect password entries forces a reboot.

Installing the Recovery Console

As discussed above, the Recovery Console may be installed to hard disk or started from the XP Installation CD. The procedure below illustrates installing the console as a boot menu option. This will require ~7MB of disk space. I feel this is the preferred option as immediate access to the Recovery Console is available, eliminating the need for access to the Windows XP Setup CD.

Step by Step Recovery Console Installation

Insert the Windows Setup CD. If AutoRun is enabled, close the XP Setup screen that appears after inserting the CD.

Click [Start] [Run] and type in G:\i386\winnt32.exe /cmdcons. In this example, G:/ is the CD Drive. Click [OK] to continue. The Windows Setup message box will open.

In the Windows Setup message box, click [Yes] to confirm Recovery Console installation.

Recovery Console setup will next attempt to acess the Internet and perform a Dynamic Update to the installation files. If you don’t wish to perform the update, press [Esc] to interrupt the Dynamic Update process and use the existing setup files.

Once the Dynamic Update is completed, the Microsoft Windows XP Professional Setup screen shown above will track the installation progress of Recovery Console as the files are copied and system files updated to place the Recovery Console on the Boot Menu.

Upon completion of the Recovery Console install, the dialog box above is displayed to confirm a successful installation. Click [OK] and restart the computer. Note the instruction regarding HELP availability for the Recovery Console at the command prompt.

Removing the Recovery Console

• Restart your computer, click Start, click My Computer, and then double-click the hard disk on which you installed the Recovery Console.
• On the Tools menu, click Folder Options, and then click the View tab.
• Click Show hidden files and folders, click to clear the Hide protected operating system files check box, and then click OK.
• At the root folder, delete the Cmdcons folder and the Cmldr file.
• At the root folder, right-click the Boot.ini file, and then click Properties.
• Click to clear the Read-only check box, and then click OK.
• WARNING: Modifying the Boot.ini file incorrectly may prevent your computer from restarting. Be sure to delete only the entry for the Recovery Console. Also, it is recommended that you change the attribute for the Boot.ini file back to a read-only state after you complete this procedure. Open the Boot.ini file in Microsoft Windows Notepad, and remove the entry for the Recovery Console. It looks similar to this:

C:\cmdcons\bootsect.dat="Microsoft Windows Recovery Console" /cmdcons

• Save the file and close it.
   

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Recovery Console Password

On many XP installations you can't start the Recovery Console because it won't recognize your password. This registry edit causes the Recovery Console not to ask for a password. This works for both XP Home and XP Professional.

Start | Run | Regedit
Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Setup\RecoveryConsole
Set the DWORD SecurityLevel value to 1
Exit Registry and Reboot

Thanks to Bob W for sending me this registry edit.

Recovery Console Commands
Commands with descriptions available at the command prompt for use with the Recovery Console.