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BOOT CAMP 337 (03/08/04)
WHEN XP GOES WRONG... part 4
Over the past three
weeks we’ve looked at some of the tools included with Windows XP Home and Pro
that can help you to restore an ailing PC. System Restore, msconfig and Repair
Install (Boot Camps 344, 345 & 346) are all reasonably simple and safe to
use and can fix many common problems, however, the subject of this week’s Boot
Camp is in an entirely different league.
Recovery Console is a
powerful utility used by experts to revive a totally unresponsive XP computer by
replacing or repairing damaged system files, disc partitions and so on. This
sort of advanced Windows brain surgery and is definitely not for novices but it
does have one rather useful facility that’s worth getting to know. In an
emergency you can use it to copy an important file or document from a dead PC’s
hard drive to a floppy. This feature is included in XP Pro but is not enabled by
default but we’ll come to that in a moment. I must stress that Recovery Console
is a last resort when all else has failed, so use it at your own risk! Consider
yourselves warned!
The way Recovery Console
works is broadly similar to the Startup disc used to boot a fatally crashed
Windows 9x computer into DOS mode. Unfortunately a 9x Startup disc won’t work on
an XP PCs as it uses a completely different filing system. Nevertheless, those
used to DOS will feel immediately at home with it as it looks very similar and
uses many of the same command-line instructions to manipulate files.
There are several ways
to get into Recovery Console using the Windows XP CD-ROM or a set of floppy
discs (see Tip of the Week) but the quickest method is to install it on your PC
whilst it is working normally, so that you can access it directly if ever
Windows XP absolutely refuses to boot. This will take up around 7Mb of disc
space and once loaded the option to use it appears briefly during XP start up.
To install the Recovery
Console load your XP CD-ROM disc and click Exit if it runs automatically. If
your PC didn’t come with a XP disc you may be able to install it from the
Recovery Discs or the XP files on your PC, consult your dealer or manufacturer,
see also Tip of the Week. Next go to Run on the Start menu and type:
‘d:\i386\winnt32.exe
/cmdcons’
Do
not include the quotes, don’t forget the space between .exe and /, and ‘d’ is
the drive letter for your CD-ROM drive.
A
dialogue box appears, click Yes to confirm installation. Restart the PC and you
will see the Recovery Console listed below Windows XP then after a few seconds
Windows will start. You can reduce this delay by going to System in Control
Panel, select the Advanced tab then under Startup and Recovery click the
Settings button and change ‘Time to display operating Systems’ to 5 seconds,
say.
This next step switches
on the feature that allows files to be copied from the hard drive to a floppy or
removable drive. Go to Run on the Start menu and type ‘mmc’ (without the quotes)
and on the dialogue box that appears go to the File menu select Add/Remove
Snap-in. In the next dialogue click the Add button and on the list select Group
Policy then Add. Yet another box appears, select Finish then Close and OK to get
back to the first Console box. Now click the plus signs next to Local Computer
Policy > Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Security Settings
> Local Policies and double-click Security Options. In the right hand window
scroll down the list and double-click ‘Recovery Console: Allow Floppy Copy...’,
select Enabled then OK and it’s done. Phew!
Now you are ready to use
Recovery Console in anger. In the following example we’ll show how to copy a
word document called ‘bank.doc’ from a folder or sub folder called ‘Letters’ on
your C: drive to a blank floppy in drive A.
Should the worst happen,
you cannot boot Windows and you need to get at a file in a hurry select Recovery
Console from the list when you first switch on. You will be asked to enter your
Administrator password (if you haven’t set one just press Enter) then choose
your Windows XP drive (1 for usually C:) and after a few moments you will see a
DOS-like prompt displaying ‘C:\Windows >’. This next step is crucial, type
the following three lines (pressing Return after each
line):
set AllowAllPaths = TRUE
set AllRemovableMedia = TRUE
set AllowWildCards = TRUE
(N.B. there are spaces
either side of the equals signs).
At the C:\Windows prompt
in Recovery Console type the following line:
copy c:\letters\bank.doc a:\
(substituting the path,
folder and file names for the data on your hard drive.), then hit Return. All
being well you should see a message ‘1 file copied’. To get out of Recovery Console type ‘exit’,
for a full list of available commands type ‘help’.
That is just a very
small taste of what Recovery Console can do. If you are an experienced Windows
user or you would like to learn more then have a look at Microsoft Knowledgebase
articles 307654 and 314058 at:
http://support.microsoft.com/
default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307654
and
http://support.microsoft.com/
default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;314058
There’s also a useful
feature on using it to restore a corrupt Registry at:
http://support.microsoft.com/
default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q307545
Next week – XP Event Log
JARGON FILTER
COMMAND
LINE
A
typed instruction, to tell a PC to do something, as opposed to clicking on a
menu or icon
DOS
Disc
Operating System, program responsible for controlling disc drives, organising
data and memory resources.
WINDOWS 9x
Shorthand for pre XP versions of Windows i.e. Windows 95, 98,
SE & ME
TIP OF THE WEEK
If you haven’t installed Recovery Console on your computer
you can start it using your Windows XP installation disc, however you first have
to change the PC’s ‘boot order’. To do that you need to enter the BIOS program
(see your PC or motherboard manual) and set the PC to boot from your CD-ROM
drive. Load the XP disc, restart the PC and after Windows Setup has finished you
will see a menu screen. Choose the second option ‘To Repair a Windows XP
installation using Recovery Console press R’. If you don’t have an XP disc you
can download a set of XP start up files from Microsoft, which you copy on to 6
floppy discs. For more details go to:
http://support.microsoft.com/
default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;310994
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