Command line in the recovery console. Windows Recovery, Windows XP Recovery Console

If you are experiencing a significant number of system problems in Windows XP, you can use the System Rollback feature to restore one of its previous states. But the function becomes available only after loading the operating system. What to do when a message appears indicating that the registry, bootloader or one of the critical system components is missing or damaged, especially when the OS cannot be loaded even with the last successful attempt or in safe mode?

Most users prefer to reinstall the operating system due to the lack of knowledge about the existence of a tool called the recovery console. It will allow Windows XP to resume functioning in a matter of seconds, thus avoiding re-installing the OS with all the software and device drivers.

Recovery Console is a classic command line that supports most of the system commands designed to solve problems related to the functioning of the computer when Windows XP cannot be loaded. It allows you to do the following:

• work with objects of the file system as in the standard command line;
• fix the boot sector and master boot record;
• activate or deactivate services the next time the OS boots;
• perform splitting, creating and formatting partitions.

Start System Resume

In order to run the recovery console, you must have an installation disc or a bootable USB flash drive with the distribution kit installed on your Windows XP PC. In view of the exit from the circulation of CD-ROMs, bootable USB-media with OS installation files are becoming more and more popular. Such a flash drive is created in a few minutes using, for example, the Rufus utility.

• We insert the disk into a floppy drive or a USB flash drive into a USB port (the main thing is that the BIOS supports booting from removable media).
• We reboot or turn on the computer.
• We call the boot menu using the function key (it is indicated during BIOS boot).
• We choose a USB device or CD-ROM.

• When a black screen appears with an inscription as below, press any button to boot the computer from removable media.

• On the screen for preparing the installation of Windows XP, we are waiting for the installation files to load.

• In the next dialog, click "R" in order to launch the recovery console.

• Enter the number corresponding to the required copy of Windows XP to restore it.

As a rule, it is installed on the computer alone, so we enter "1". If you have a password for the administrator account, you will have to specify the password for it. If it is not there - press "Enter" in order to start the recovery console.

• A black window called the Recovery Console will open. In its text line, you can enter system commands that are not available for typing in Windows XP. Their entire list with brief explanations is called by entering the command "help".
• This way, you can restore the master boot record of the system partition by typing "fixmbr". If there is no parameter pointing to a partition letter label, the MBR will move to the current partition.

• In order to confirm the execution of the command entered into the console, the Latin letter "y" and click on the "Enter" key are used.

• After entering the "fixboot" command, a new Windows XP boot record will be written to the system disk. These commands should be used in case of errors with the text "NTLDR is missing", indicating that the bootloader is damaged or missing.
• After finishing work, enter the command "exit", which allows you to close the console and restart the computer.

Most used console commands

To see information about all commands supported by the Windows XP Recovery Console, you must enter the code "help" in its text line. After that, a long list of commands will appear with an explanation of their meanings, use cases and keys that expand the capabilities of this command.

A list of commonly used commands that any user might find useful.

• Bootcfg is a utility command for editing a Windows XP configuration text file called boot.ini.
• Bootcfg / default will automatically detect and select one of the installed operating systems as the default OS.
• Bootcfg / add will start the process of scanning disk drives for copies of Windows XP on them to add to the boot menu.
• Bootcfg / list - displays a list of operating system versions installed on the computer with identifiers for installing one of them as the main one.
• Chkdsk - check the specified partition for hardware damage and, when specifying the appropriate keys, will try to reassign bad sectors (/ r) or restore them (/ p).
• Diskpart - launches a Windows-integrated utility for managing partitions of a magnetic hard disk.
• Help - when you enter a command without keys, a list of commands that are supported by the Recovery Console will be displayed.
• Command_help - displays a list of available parameters for the specified command with a brief explanation of their functions and use cases.

The operating system in the eyes of the user is everything that can be seen on the monitor screen, all the programs in which it is so familiar and convenient to work, games and music players. However, sometimes it happens that instead of the usual welcome screen, we see a more than dull situation: the computer is constantly rebooting, incomprehensible inscriptions appear, or a completely incomprehensible blue screen with a bunch of incomprehensible numbers and letters is displayed. All this means only one thing - yours is out of order.
This can happen for a number of reasons - power surges while working with a computer, the action of malicious viruses, a conflict between devices or programs installed by you. For an avid user, this will not cause either surprise or annoyance, since reinstalling the operating system is not difficult.
However, there are times when time is money, and the installation will take more than one hour of work, or some information is saved directly on the desktop and a simple installation of Windows from scratch can damage them. What to do in this situation, you ask? We will come to the aid of several built-in functions prepared in advance by Microsoft.

Safe mode

It provides for work in several modes. One of them, and perhaps the most important in case of problems, is Safe Mode. It, unlike the usual one, does not start all system services and does not "load" all drivers at boot time. Safe Mode works to a minimum, loading only what is necessary for the system itself to work. MirSovetov recommends using it to "evacuate" your data from the "Desktop" or from "My Documents". After that, it will be possible to reinstall the OS (operating system) without fear of losing them.
To enter Safe Mode, you need to press the F8 key immediately after turning it on, as soon as information about BIOS and found devices disappears from the monitor. You will be presented with a dialog box with several boot options such as Boot VGA Mode, Normal Boot, Last Known Good Configuration, Safe Mode, and so on. because there are malfunctions that are "treated" in this way. If it does not help, you will still have to resort to the help of Safe Mode.
We choose what interests us and wait for the full load. Do not be alarmed if the icons on your "Desktop" have become gigantic - the system simply did not load the video driver for greater reliability.
Now, having entered the almost familiar Windows, we copy all the necessary information to any of the disk partitions and reinstall the OS.

Council from MirSovetov! It is advisable to store all important information not on the main drive with the operating system (usually C :), since in the event of a malfunction it can be lost during the reinstallation of Windows.

If "Safe Mode" did not help, or you have installed programs that you do not want to lose, the disk from which you installed your Windows will come to the rescue. Insert it into the CD / DVD-ROM, after setting in Bios'e boot from it (this action has already been described in detail on MirSovetov in the article ""). Then wait for the first dialog box and press "Enter". Read the license agreement and agree to it by pressing "F8". Now the installer will check if the operating system is installed on your PC and, if you have Windows installed, it will offer to restore it. Agree with this by pressing the "R" KEY.

The following procedure resembles a typical system installation. Also enter the license key, select the region and time zone. The installer will do everything for you! All files necessary for work will be restored and no data and programs will be affected. The Windows recovery process takes 20 to 50 minutes, depending on the speed of your computer. At the end of the installation, your native OS will boot - you can continue to work.

If time is short and there is a lot of work, you can try to restore Windows using the built-in utility called the Recovery Console. To enter it, you need, as in the previous example, to insert a bootable disk, configure the BIOS and wait for the first dialog box.

Attention! Do not rush to press "Enter", we are interested in the recovery console, so press "R" and wait until the list of operating systems installed on your PC appears on the screen. Most likely, you have one Windows, so press "1" and "Enter".
Next, you will be asked to enter the computer administrator name and password. If you haven't changed them, leave these two fields as they are and press Enter twice.
So, if you see this text on the screen: "C: Windows" - we have reached the destination. Now let's take a look at the list of commands that we may need to restore Windows.

Fixboot

This command fixes the boot sector of the hard disk, that is, it provides the computer with the necessary information to boot the operating system. With the help of it, it is possible to eliminate a rather frequent malfunction, when instead of the expected "windows" we see the inscription "NTLDR is missing" on a black background. Among the most probable reasons for this malfunction, MirSovetov can single out an incorrect shutdown of the PC or a power surge. To fix it, we type "fixboot" in the command line, we agree that we really want to overwrite the boot sector by pressing "Y".

Next, we exit the console using the "Exit" command and check the result.

Fixmbr

Performs the same actions as the previous one, with the only difference that in this case the entire boot sector is overwritten.

Chkdsk

Scans the hard drive for OS errors. If you run this command with the "r" key ("chkdsk / r"), it automatically fixes these errors. Quite often, it helps to restore Windows and save all the data on your partition.
For more detailed instructions, you can refer to the documentation file by typing “HELP” or “/?” In the Console command line. Also, to describe each of the commands, you can add the key "/?" (for example, "chkdsk /?" or "HELP chkdsk").

All of the above options do not guarantee 100% recovery of your Windows operating system, since everything directly depends on the cause of the malfunction, however, in most cases, they help to resume normal operation quickly and without loss.

Recovery Console is designed to recover an operating system that boots incorrectly or does not load at all. Using Windows Recovery Console, you can gain limited access to volumes without launching the graphical interface. Using the Recovery Console, you can copy, rename, replace files and folders of the operating system, allow or deny starting services or devices at the next computer boot, fix the boot sector or master boot record (MBR), create and format partitions on disks.
Only administrators who are authorized by means of Windows have access to the Recovery Console. Thus, in some, especially severe cases of OS destruction, it is not possible to use the recovery console. But when solving problems with loading the OS that arise when installing new drivers or software, as well as problems with the boot record, the Recovery Console will be an indispensable and convenient tool that allows you to solve the problem in a matter of minutes.

How do I start the Recovery Console?

You can start the Recovery Console in the following way:

In this way, you can start the recovery console, but after exiting it and rebooting, if you need to get access to the console again, you will have to repeat all the steps again, because the console will not install on the hard drive.

How do I install the Recovery Console?

If there is a need for frequent use of the Recovery Console, it is easier to install it on a disc than to run it from a CD every time. To install the console on a disk, while in Windows, from the Windows 2000 installation disk, run the command

D: I386winnt32 / cmdcons

Replace D in the command with the letter of your CD-ROM drive. After that, the screen will display the message shown in Figure 5.

Rice. 5. Installing the Recovery Console.

After an affirmative answer to the question about installing the Recovery Console on the hard drive, the console will be installed completely automatically and after the installation is complete, a message will be displayed on the screen, which is shown in Figure 6.

Rice. 6. The Recovery Console is installed on the disk.

Now, to start the console, just select the appropriate item in the boot menu when the operating system starts. An example of a boot menu after installing the Recovery Console is shown in Figure 7.

Rice. 7. Selecting the recovery console in the boot menu.

Communication with a personal computer does not always consist of only joys and pleasures. Sometimes there are troubles, problems and "troubles". It happens, it happens that Windows cannot boot, and instead of the usual welcome screen, we observe a more than dull situation: the computer hangs tightly and does not respond to anything, or goes into a constant reboot, without even having time to open a single window. It happens that the start of the computer is interrupted, and several white lines of English text on a black background appear on the monitor, or a completely incomprehensible blue screen appears with a bunch of incomprehensible numbers and letters ( BSOD, IT specialists called this screen for a good reason " blue screen of death No matter how it looks, only one thing is clear - the operating system is out of order.

There can be a lot of reasons for this situation - power surges while working with a computer, harmful effects of viruses, conflicts of devices or programs, or simply "crooked" hands of the user or something else. A sufficiently experienced person will not be surprised by such a situation, unless it can cause annoyance if, for example, there is a lot of things to do and messing around with recovery is completely inappropriate.

All these problems can be easily solved by a complete reinstallation of the operating system - in skilled hands, it takes less than an hour and does not present any difficulties. But in addition to Windows itself, many third-party programs can be installed in the operating system, which then have to be reinstalled and re-configured. It also happens that some important data is saved directly to Desktop or on the system partition (which experienced users do not allow) and, of course, will be destroyed during reinstallation. Or just in any situation, time is money. What to do in this case, you ask?

You can try to restore Windows XP to work using several built-in functions prepared by Microsoft in advance.

Load Last Known Good Configuration

Press when the system starts, as soon as information about BIOS and found devices disappears from the monitor, the key F8 on the keyboard (on some computers you will not only have to press and hold, but press this key several times at a fast pace) and wait for the safe mode menu to load.

This menu lists Windows emergency boot options with white lines on a black background. The very first thing we need to try is the " Load Last Known Good Configuration (with healthy parameters) ". If the failure is not of a global nature, the selection of this item quite often helps to start the system in normal mode. Did it not help? Read on.

Safe mode

We go to the safe mode menu in the same way as described above, and select the top line - " Safe mode". This type of Windows boot is, perhaps, the most important in case of any malfunctions in the operation of the sestem. It, unlike the usual one, does not start all system services at boot time and does not load all drivers - it works at the" very minimum ". and only the most necessary for the system to work is loaded. Desktop, do not be alarmed that everything looks unusual - it is just that video drivers are not loaded in this mode. You can try on your own to find out the cause of the problem and fix it (if you have enough knowledge and experience for this). Or, as a last resort, "evacuate" important data (save toys, for example, or important program settings) from the system partition to a safe place so that you can safely reinstall the operating system without fear of losing it.

If you know for sure that a program caused the failure, you can try to uninstall it in safe mode (although it is not always possible to start the Windows installer in this mode), and then try to reboot.

You can try running System Restore (unless, of course, you have disabled it, as many "would-be optimizers" advise) and roll back Windows to another checkpoint - very often this solves all problems. To launch it, go Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools and choose System Restore... Unfortunately, sometimes this service fails to start in Safe Mode.

In general, if you are not a computer "super-pro", I do not recommend disabling this service - quite often it saves the system from reinstalling (although not always), and its operation with the power of modern computers is practically invisible. It is only important to correct the default settings to more reasonable ones. This is done like this: Start -> Right Click on My Computer -> Properties and select the tab System Restore... Here, in a small window, select each section in turn and by clicking Parameters, set separate settings for it. Personally, I set it like this: For the partition where the operating system is installed, using the slider I set the size limit to about 1 GB, and on all other disks I completely disable recovery so as not to waste space on the hard drive. You will set it up as it seems optimal to you.

Recover Windows from a boot disk

If the cause of the failure could not be eliminated, or, at least Safe mode and it worked, but reinstalling Windows is highly undesirable because of fear of losing important programs, or simply sorry to waste time, you will have to use the Windows XP boot disk from which you installed the operating system.

Note. Some homemade Windows disks sometimes lack the necessary tools.

Insert the disk into the drive and boot from it, setting the BIOS to "do not boot from the drive first."

How to enable priority boot from the floppy in the BIOS. At the very beginning of the computer boot, as soon as the BIOS information passes, we hold down and hold (or often press) the key Delete(Del) until the BIOS setup menu appears. We are looking for a section in it where the order of boot devices is indicated (we move with the arrow keys, and select with the key Enter, back - Esc). In Award BIOS, this is the section Advanced, in AMI BIOS - section BOOT... In other options, you will have to find these options yourself - look for everything related to boot(loading). After the partition is found, you need to change the settings so that your floppy drive becomes the very first boot device (or the topmost one in the list of boot devices). Have you changed? Save changes by clicking F10, and answer the next question by clicking " Y"(" yes "). The computer will reboot and the next time it starts it will boot first from the disk in the drive. Do not forget later, when you fix everything, return the settings back, because this boot order is not very convenient in everyday use of the computer.

By the way, some laptop models allow for a short time, at one time change the boot order without going into the BIOS settings. To do this, at startup, press several times F12 and in the small menu that appears, select your drive. You don't need to return anything later - on the next boot everything will be as usual.

The entry into the settings of some BIOS versions is not carried out by the key Delete, and, for example, by F2 or other. You can accurately determine this by the BIOS information at the beginning of the boot - carefully look at the very bottom of the screen, an indication of the desired key will slip in the left corner.

So, we reboot from the disk in the floppy drive. As soon as the inscription appears Press any key ...(or similar), you only have 5 seconds to start booting from disk by pressing ANY key on your keyboard. If you did not have time, the computer will start booting from the hard drive, and you will have to reboot again.

Did you press everything on time? Wait for the first dialog box to appear:

Click on Enter... The installation will begin (Windows is installed in the same partition, the file system is left unchanged). After you have read and agree to the license agreement by clicking F8, the installer will check your hard drive for installed versions of Windows XP. Having found one, he will offer to restore it. Agree with this by pressing the key R .

The further procedure resembles the usual installation of the system - the license key is also entered, the region and time zone are selected, etc. At the end of the process, which lasts approximately the same as the usual installation of Windows XP, all files necessary for work will be restored and no data and programs will be affected - everything will remain in its place. You may just need to update the drivers, but it may not always be necessary to do so. And all programs with all data and settings will remain intact.

NOTE. If you have Windows Vista installed on the same hard disk in parallel with XP, most likely this method will not work for you - Vista, as a rule, overwrites all boot records and files and replaces them with its own, registering one single operating system on the hard drive - self-beloved, and only then includes recordings in its files for loading other operating systems. As a result, the Windows XP installer, of course, simply does not find any system for recovery. In such a situation, you can try to first overwrite the boot sector using the Recovery Console using the commands fixboot or fixmbr(read below), and then, having completely restored Windows XP, restore the Vista bootloader from under it. This process is described in sufficient detail.

Recovery Console

Sometimes such a global Windows recovery is not required and you can try using the built-in utility called Recovery Console .

In situations where the boot record or boot files are corrupted, the Recovery Console is the easiest and fastest way to solve the problem.

To enter it, just like in the previous example, insert a bootable disk and wait for the first dialog box to appear (see the second screenshot). Only now we shouldn't click on Enter- we are interested in exactly Recovery Console so we press R and wait until the list of operating systems installed on the computer appears on the screen.

If you only have one Windows (like most users), just click first 1 , and then Enter... If several operating systems are installed, select the one you need.

Next, you will be asked to enter an administrator name and password. If you have not changed them, then leave these two fields as they are and press twice Enter... Now you will see the following text on the screen: " C: \ Windows"- you have reached your destination.

Within the framework of this article, we will describe only a few commands that we need. If you want to use all the possibilities that the Recovery Console can provide in the future, you will have to independently search the Internet for a list of all the commands and tips on how to use them. You can also get some information from the built-in documentation by typing at the Console command line HELP or /? ... To get a description of each of the commands, you can add the key /? (For example, chkdsk /? or HELP chkdsk ).

Fixboot command

This command fixes the boot sector of the hard disk, that is, it provides the computer with the necessary information to boot the operating system. With its help, you can eliminate a fairly frequent malfunction, when instead of the expected "windows" we see an inscription on a black background " NTLDR is missing".

The appearance of such a window clearly indicates a damaged boot record. Among the most likely causes of this error are problems with the power supply, improper shutdown of the computer, or "experiments" with installing different operating systems other than Windows on the same hard disk.

With the help of this command, the problem is solved in an elementary way. We type in the command line that appears fixboot, agree that we really want to overwrite the boot sector by pressing Y .

Fixmbr command

Performs the same actions as the previous one, with the only difference that in this case the entire boot sector is overwritten.

Chkdsk command

Scans the hard drive for errors. If you run this command with the key r (chkdsk / r), all found errors will be automatically corrected. Quite often, this command helps to restore Windows and save all data on the system partition.

All the options we have considered do not guarantee 100% recovery of the Windows operating system, since everything directly depends on the cause of the malfunction. However, in most cases, these methods help to restore normal performance quickly and without loss.

Last tip... Take care not to store any important data on the system partition of the hard disk. Otherwise, in the event of an unexpected Windows crash and its unplanned reinstallation, this data may be irretrievably lost. Think over a convenient file storage system by creating various folders on other partitions of the hard drive. And in the future, save the data to these folders. also remember that Desktop- this is also a special folder on the system partition, as well as My documents, in which all pictures, music, etc. are saved by default. By the way, you can change the location My documents by moving them to another section. This is done like this: Start -> right mouse button on My Documents -> Properties... In the window that opens, select the tab Destination folder and by clicking Move ..., indicate the place.

That's all for today. Good luck!

Introduction

Microsoft recommends using the Recovery Console only if you cannot boot your computer in Safe Mode or any other available means. The Recovery Console is intended only for advanced users who are familiar with the basic commands for identifying problematic drivers and files. In addition, to work with the Recovery Console, you must have administrator rights.

Installing Recovery Console

If the Recovery Console is installed, in case of problems starting Windows, the computer can be booted using this console by selecting the appropriate item in the boot options menu. Install Recovery Console on critical IT professional servers and workstations. To install the Recovery Console, you must be logged in with administrator rights. Although the Recovery Console can be launched directly from the Windows XP CD, it is more convenient to configure it to be used as a boot menu item. See below for information on starting the Recovery Console from CD. Follow these steps to install the Recovery Console.

1. Insert the Windows XP CD.
2. Click the button Start and select the command Execute.
3. In the window Open enter command

   where d is the letter of your CD-ROM drive.

4. The Windows Setup dialog box appears with a brief description of the Recovery Console. Press the button to confirm the installation. Yes.
5. Reboot your computer. The next time you start the computer, the Microsoft Windows Recovery Console item will be present in the boot menu.

Alternatively, you can install the Recovery Console from a shared network folder by specifying a path in UNC (Universal Naming Convention) format.

Note... You may receive the following error message:

The installation cannot proceed because the computer is running a newer version of Windows than the CD.

If you experience this problem, see the Microsoft Knowledge Base article: You receive an error message when you try to install the Recovery Console on a computer that is running Microsoft Windows XP SP2 (This link may point to all or part of English content)

Using the Recovery Console

The Recovery Console allows you to enable or disable services, format drives, read and write data to a local drive (including NTFS drives), and many other administrative tasks. It is especially useful in cases where you need to restore the system to work by copying a specific file to your hard drive from a floppy disk or CD, or changing the settings of a service that prevents the computer from starting correctly.

If you cannot boot your computer, you can start the Recovery Console using a set of installation floppies or the Windows XP CD.

After Windows XP is installed, a set of installation floppies or a Windows XP CD is required to start the computer and use the Recovery Console.

Note... To start the computer from the Windows XP CD, you must set the BIOS to boot from the CD-ROM drive.

To start the Recovery Console using a set of bootable floppies or a Windows XP CD-ROM, follow these steps.

1. Insert the Windows XP CD or Windows XP boot floppy disk and restart your computer. When prompted, confirm the boot from the CD.
2. When the “Welcome to the setup wizard” message appears, press the R key to launch the Recovery Console.
3. If your computer has multiple operating systems, select the instance of Windows that you want to access from the Recovery Console.
4. When prompted, enter the administrator password. If you have not assigned a password for the administrator account, just press Enter.
5. At the command prompt, enter the required commands to diagnose and fix problems with your instance of Windows XP. To display a list of Recovery Console commands, type recovery console commands or help at a command prompt and press Enter. For information about a specific command, at a command prompt, type help the name of the command, and then press Enter.
6. To exit the Recovery Console and restart your computer, type exit at a command prompt, and then press Enter.

Using the Recovery Console command line

The command line of the Recovery Console is different from that used in Windows. The Recovery Console has its own command interpreter. To enter it, you must provide an administrator password.

While the Recovery Console is starting up, you can press F6 and install a third-party SCSI or RAID driver (if such a driver is required to access the hard drive). The driver is installed in the same way as during the installation of the operating system.

The Recovery Console takes a few seconds to start. Then a list of the Windows operating systems installed on this computer appears (usually the list contains only the C: \ Windows entry). Before pressing the ENTER key, press the key with the number of the desired entry (even if there is only one entry). If you press Enter without specifying a number, the computer will restart and the process will start over.

When the% SystemRoot% prompt appears on the screen (usually C: \ Windows), you can run Recovery Console commands

Commands

Below is a list of commands available from the Recovery Console:

• Attrib Change attributes of a file or subdirectory
• Batch Execute the commands contained in the text file (Inputfile). The Outputfile parameter specifies the file to display the results of command execution. If the Outputfile parameter is omitted, the output is performed on the monitor screen.
• Bootcfg Modify the Boot.ini file to customize the boot and recovery process
• CD (Chdir) Valid only within the system directories of the current Windows instance, removable media, the root directory of any hard disk partition, or local installation folders
• Chkdsk Using a parameter / p causes Chkdsk to run even if there is no damage mark on the disk. Parameter / r serves to search for bad sectors and restore that part of the data that can be read (it is assumed that the parameter / p). Chkdsk requires Autochk. It automatically looks for the Autochk.exe file in the startup folder. If this file is not in the startup folder, Chkdsk tries to access the Windows XP CD. If the installation CD is not in the drive, the user will be prompted to specify the location of the Autochk.exe file.
• Cls Clear screen
• Copy Copy the file to the specified folder. By default, copying is not done to removable media and you cannot use wildcards. When ripping from a Windows XP CD, the compressed file is automatically decompressed
• Del (Delete) Delete a file. Valid within the system directories of the current Windows instance, removable media, the root directory of any hard disk partition, and local installation folders. By default, wildcards cannot be used.
• Dir Display a list of all files, including hidden and system files
• Disable Disable system service or Windows driver. The service_or_driver variable is the name of the service or driver to disconnect. If you disable a service, the original startup type of the service is displayed before changing the startup type to SERVICE_DISABLED. (write it down so that you can later restart the service using the command enable).
• Diskpart Managing partitions in hard disk volumes. Parameter / add is used to create a new section and / delete- to delete an existing one. The variable device is the device name for the new partition (for example, \ device \ harddisk0). The variable drive is the letter assigned to the partition being deleted (for example, D). The variable partition is the name of the partition to be deleted corresponding to the partition naming rules (for example, \ device \ harddisk0 \ partition1); it can be used in place of the drive variable. The size variable is used to indicate the size of the new partition (in megabytes
• Enable Enable a Windows system service or driver. The variable service_or_driver is the name of the service or driver to include, and start_type is the startup type of the service to include. Startup type can be one of the following values.

  SERVICE_BOOT_START
  SERVICE_SYSTEM_START
  SERVICE_AUTO_START
  SERVICE_DEMAND_START

• Exit Close Recovery Console and restart your computer
• Expand Unpack the compressed file. The source variable is the name of the compressed file. By default, wildcards cannot be used. The variable destination is the directory for the unpacked file. By default, this directory cannot be located on removable media or be read-only. To remove the read-only attribute from the folder, use the command attrib... Parameter / f: filespec used when the source contains more than one file. This option allows wildcard characters. Parameter / y serves to cancel the display of a request for confirmation of file deletion. Parameter / d indicates that files should not be unpacked; displays the contents of the source folder
• Fixboot Write a new boot sector to the system partition
• Fixmbr Restore the master boot record in the boot partition. The optional device variable is used to specify the name of the device on which to create a new MBR. This variable is not used if the target is the boot device.
• Format Format disk. Parameter / q is used to perform quick formatting, and the parameter / fs- to indicate the file system.
• Help Running command help without specifying a specific command name as an argument causes all commands available from the Recovery Console to be displayed
• Listsvc List all services and drivers available on this computer
• Logon Display a list of detected Windows instances, prompting for the local administrator password for those instances. This command is used to navigate to another instance of Windows or another subdirectory.
• Map Show current device mappings. To use Advanced RISC Computing (ARC, Boot.ini) paths instead of Windows device paths, specify arc
• MD (Mkdir)
• More / Type Display the contents of the specified text file
• Rd (Rmdir) Valid only within the system directories of the current Windows instance, removable media, the root directory of any hard disk partition, and local installation folders
• Ren (Rename) Valid only within the system directories of the current Windows instance, removable media, the root directory of any hard disk partition, and local installation folders. A new drive or path cannot be specified as the target
• Set Serves to display and set environment variables of the Recovery Console
• Systemroot Change the current directory to% SystemRoot%.

Recovery Console Rules

Several environment rules apply when working in the Recovery Console. Enter the set command to display the current environment. By default, the following rules apply

• AllowAllPaths = FALSE Deny access to directories that are not related to the operating system that was selected when entering the recovery console.
• AllowRemovableMedia = FALSE Prevent copying files to removable media
• AllowWildCards = FALSE Disallow the use of wildcards (including for commands copy and del).
• NoCopyPrompt = FALSE Display a confirmation prompt to overwrite an existing file

Removing the Recovery Console

To uninstall Recovery Console, follow these steps

1. Restart your computer, select from the menu Start paragraph My computer, and then double-click the icon of the hard drive where the Recovery Console is installed
2. On the menu Service select team Folder properties and go to the tab View.
3. Select option Show hidden files and folders, uncheck the box Hide protected system files and press the button OK
4. In the root folder of the drive, delete the folder Cmdcons and the file Cmldr
5. In the root folder of the drive, right click on the file Boot.ini and select the item Properties
6. Uncheck the attribute Only reading and press the button Ok
   Warning! Modifying the Boot.ini file incorrectly can cause problems with starting your computer. Delete only the entry for the Recovery Console. Then set the Boot.ini file to read-only again. Open the Boot.ini file with Notepad and delete the entry for the Recovery Console. This entry looks something like this:

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

7. Save and close the file

Installing Recovery Console in Silent Mode

To install the Recovery Console during an unattended installation of the Windows operating system, you must use the unattend.txt section of the file.

Command1 = "path \ winnt32 / cmdcons / unattend"

For more information on using the Unattend.txt file, see the manual Deployment Planning Guide(Planning the Operating System Deployment Process), which is included in the Windows 2000 Server Resource Kit

Additional information: