The Recovery Console

Windows 2000 provides a new feature called the Recovery Console that essentially gives you a bootable command console environment for restoring files, modifying the registry, troubleshooting, and other testing and repair operations. The Recovery Console enables you to read NTFS volumes, a major advantage and important reason for installing the console. A bootable DOS or Windows 9x diskette wouldn’t give you that capability.

A common use for the Recovery Console is to make system changes that are preventing you from booting the system. For example, you might have installed an application that installed a buggy or incompatible driver, and the driver is preventing the system from booting. You can boot the Recovery Console, disable the driver, then reboot normally to fix the problem. You can also treat the Recovery Console as a sort of quick command console that lets you access your Windows 2000 system without booting the full GUI. On a dual-boot system, for example, you might use the Recovery Console to quickly copy a file from an NTFS volume to a FAT volume for access by Windows 9x. Whatever the need, the Recovery Console gives you a quick way to boot the system without the GUI and perform a variety of tasks, including system troubleshooting and repair.

Installing and using the Recovery Console

When you install the Recovery Console it is added to the boot menu and the corresponding files are copied to the hard disk. This enables you to access the Recovery Console directly from the system without the Windows 2000 Setup disks (assuming the hard disk hasn’t failed or become inaccessible). Follow these steps to install the Recovery Console:

  1. Insert the Windows 2000 CD in the system and select No if prompted to upgrade to Windows 2000 (or hold down the Shift key when inserting the CD to bypass autorun).

  2. Open a command console and change to the \i386 folder on the CD.

  3. Execute the following command to install the Recovery Console:

                         winnt32.exe /cmdcons
  4. Follow the prompts to complete the installation.

Running the Recovery Console from the Setup disks

You can run the Recovery Console from the Setup disks if you can’t access the CD-ROM drive or boot the system from the hard disk. Follow these steps to run the Recovery Console from the Setup disks:

  1. Insert the Windows 2000 Setup boot disk in the floppy drive and restart the system.

  2. Provide the other Setup disks when prompted by Setup.

  3. When prompted to install or repair Windows 2000, select the repair option.

  4. Windows 2000 Setup gives you two repair options: use the Recovery Console or use the emergency repair process. Press C to use the Recovery Console.

Using the Recovery Console

When you start the Recovery Console it prompts you to select which Windows 2000 installation you want to access. Only one will be listed if you have only one installation of Windows 2000 on the system. Enter the number of the installation to use. The Recovery Console then prompts you for the Administrator password. Once you’re logged in you’ll see a familiar console prompt. Enter help to view a list of commands you can use in the console, or enter help command, where command is the name of the command for which you need syntax and description. For example, help fixboot displays information about the fixboot command, which you can use to repair the boot sector.

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