On Tue, 22 Mar 2005 22:13:03 -0800, "mraetrudeaujr"
If I had the recovery console in place, I think that I could have saved my
wife's computer (setup) by running the "rstrui.exe" utility.
Recovery Console is a useful maintenance tool, but it is not an OS.
So it cannot run arbitrary programs - all it has is its inbuilt tools.
Here are some more crucials about Recovery Console:
1) Some things it can't fix from HD
Install RC to HD by all means, but you will still need it in
CD-bootable form as well. Some of the crises that RC is effective at
fixing will prevent you from running RC from the HD; bad Master Boot
Record code (FixMBR) and bad partition boot record code (FixBoot).
2) Beware Service Packs
Upgrading to a higher Service Pack level is likely to invalidate RC,
such that it will not run at all. Expect this when applying SP2 to
older versions of XP. SP2 will also invalidate the ability of your
pre-SP2 installation CD to do a repair install, and it provides no
facilities to fix these issues. After installing SP2, pre-SP2 RC
won't install to HD, and won't operate on the installation if a
pre-existing RC is booted off HD or CD.
3) Beware OEM installation CDs
OEM installation CDs may lack the ability to run RC, install RC, or do
a repair install. In addition, some OEM build practices may inflict a
user-unknown password such that RC can't access the HD's installation,
because that password is not known to the user. This can be fixed in
various ways, such as a registry setting that allows you to log RC
into the HD installation without a password.
4) Enable the Set commands
If you try to use RC to recover data, you're in for a nasty shock - it
won't copy files off C:, and it won't access anything other than C:.
So if you followed best-practice by keeping crucial data off C: (say,
on a logical volume on the same HD called D
RC can't save it. There
are some Set commands that can...
- enable copying files off C:
- enable accessing files on drive letters other than C:
- enable wildcards (useless, as RC's Copy doesn't support them)
....but these first have to be enabled via a registry setting, before
the need to work from RC arises. Apply that setting!
5) The HD installation must live
As the previous points suggest, RC can't operate if it can't find
(recognise) a valid XP installation on the HD, and access that
installation's registry to query settings, passwords etc.
With the above in mind, it's clear that RC is not the fully-effective
mOS (maintenance OS) XP needs, and needs paerticularly badly when NTFS
and/or hardware compatibility excludes the use of DOS mode tools.
See
http://cquirke.mvps.org/whatmos.htm on that, and I'd make myself a
Bart PE CDR for those rainy days, myself.
However, I'm trying to be more proactive by configuring the recovery
console for the boot menu.
See (1), (2) and (4) in particular
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