What to Do When You Boot From Recovery Mode for Windows XP

Accessing the Recovery Tool

• The Windows XP Recovery Console program is located on original Windows XP set up disks. If you don't have an original set up disk, you can borrow a matching disk. Just be sure that if you are running the Windows XP Home version, for example, that you use a Home version disk--a Windows XP Professional disk won't work in this case. Place the set up disk in the DVD or CD drive and start your machine. In most cases, your computer will boot from this disk rather than the hard drive. If your computer repeatedly tries to boot from the hard drive, reboot and press "F1," "F2" or "Delete" as you boot. This will bring up your BIOS settings. Change your boot order so that the CD drive boots before the hard drive. Press "F10" to save this change, type "Exit" and reboot.
  
  

Starting the Recovery Console

• The set up disk will automatically detect the copy of Windows XP installed on your hard drive. It will offer the option of "recovering" your current installation of Windows in a repair operation. Choose this option by pressing "R." Sometimes you will be asked to type in an administrator password. Ignore this in most cases and just press "Enter."
  
  

Recovery Console Commands

• Recovery commands are different from DOS commands. Type the word "Help" and a menu of proper commands will appear. Two common commands that often fix Windows are "chkdsk" and "fixboot." "Chkdsk" will search your hard drive for errors and correct them. This test is conducted in the Console and by automatically rebooting your machine into the "chkdsk" mode. The "fixboot" command attempts to repair the problem by creating another boot file. Neither of these commands may fix your problem, however, and you may have to do research online at Microsoft Support or other tech support forums to find Recovery Console commands that do fix the particular problem you're experiencing. The Microsoft Support site also offers a listing and explanation of the various commands and how to use them. When you have completed working the Recovery Console, type "exit" to end the program and reboot the machine.
  
  

Recovery Failures

• Despite the helpfulness of the Windows Recovery Console, it will not always work to solve your problem, and a reinstallation of Windows will be necessary. In order to avoid losing your personal data, consider purchasing a new hard drive and installing Windows XP on this drive, rather than overwriting the data on your old drive. You can then access this old drive, and copy and move the data to your new hard drive using an external USB hard drive case or by installing the old hard drive as a secondary slave drive.