Automatic Repair

• Restart the computer with the Windows XP disk inside the cd-rom/dvd-rom driver for the PC to boot from. It must be the default D: drive, unless you have a few partitions on your hard-disk, in which case it will have to be the next one up, ie Hard-drive partitions: C: & D:, then your cd-rom/dvd-rom will need to be the F:.  go into BIOS settings and change the booting sequence or boot devices to your CD-ROM drive.
• Once Windows XP Setup is loading files, a screen will prompt you with 3 options, ie Setup, Repair, Quit.DO NOT choose Repair at this stage, choose Setup instead and accept the licencing agreement (F8).
• Another screen will show the partitions already existing and you'll be asked if you wish to create a partition.  DO NOT create a partition unless you wish to loose all your data.  Accept what the Setup utility finds and a screen will then prompt you to Repair.  This is the time to select the Repair option to initiate Windows XP Automatic Repair.  The automatic repair will take a few minutes, so be ready to put wait a good 10 minutes or more before the computer will re-starts.
• N.B.  Do not be tempted to turn off the PC after re-starting or Windows XP will definitely crash, most often than not, beyond repair :-(

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Installation

1. Insert the Windows XP CD into the CD-ROM drive.

2. Click Start, and then click Run.

3. In the Open box, type d:\i386\winnt32.exe /cmdcons where d is the drive letter for the CD-ROM drive.

4. A Setup Dialog BoxWindows appears. Click Yesto confirm the installation,.

5. Restart the computer and the "Microsoft Windows Recovery Console" will appear on the startup menu.

N.B One can also use a Universal Naming Convention (UNC)-established connection to install the Recovery Console from a network share point. Commands

• Attrib  changes attributes on one file or subdirectory.
• Batch  executes commands that one specifies in the text file, Inputfile. Likewise, Outputfile holds the output of the commands, thus omitting the Outputfile parameter, output appears on the screen.
• Bootcfg  modifies the Boot.ini file for configuration and recovery of the boot process .
• CD (Chdir)  that is change directory, it operates only in the system directories of the current Windows installation, removable media, the root directory of any hard disk partition, or the local installation sources, ie CD E: means change to E: drive, and so forth.
• Chkdsk  this is the well known Check Disk utility and can be run with switches:
  /p switch runs Chkdsk even if the drive is not flagged as dirty.
  /r switch locates bad sectors and recovers readable information. This switch implies /p. N.B.Chkdsk requires Autochk. Chkdsk automatically looks for Autochk.exe in the startup folder. If Chkdsk cannot find the file in the startup folder, it looks for the Windows Setup CD-ROM. If Chkdsk cannot find the installation CD-ROM, Chkdsk prompts the user for the location of Autochk.exe.
• Cls
  this is the good old DOS command that simply clears the screen.
• Copy
  copies one file to a target location. By default, the target cannot be removable media, and you cannot use wildcard characters. Copying a compressed file from the Windows Setup CD-ROM automatically decompresses the file.
• Del (Delete)
  deletes one file. Operates within the system directories of the current Windows installation, removable media, the root directory of any hard disk partition, or the local installation sources. By default, you cannot use wildcard characters.
• Dir
  displays a list of all files, including hidden and system files.
• Disable
  disables a Windows system service or driver. The variable service_or_driver is the name of the service or driver that you want to disable. When you use this command to disable a service, the command displays the service's original startup type before it changes the type to SERVICE_DISABLED. Note the original startup type so that you can use the enable command to restart the service.
• Diskpart
  manages partitions on hard disk volumes. The /add option creates a new partition. The /delete option deletes an existing partition. The variable device is the device name for a new partition (such as \device\harddisk0). The variable drive is the drive letter for a partition that you are deleting (for example, D). Partition is the partition-based name for a partition that you are deleting, (for example: \device\harddisk0\partition1) and can be used instead of the drive variable. The variable size is the size, in megabytes, of a new partition.
• Enable
  enables a Windows system service or driver. The variable service_or_driver is the name of the service or driver that you want to enable, and start_type is the startup type for an enabled service. The startup type uses one of the following formats: SERVICE_BOOT_START
SERVICE_SYSTEM_START
SERVICE_AUTO_START
SERVICE_DEMAND_START

• Exit
  quits the Recovery Console, and then restarts the computer.
• Expand
  expands a compressed file. The variable source is the file that you want to expand. By default, you cannot use wildcard characters. The variable destination is the directory for the new file. By default, the destination cannot be removable media and cannot be read-only. You can use the attrib command to remove the read-only attribute from the destination directory. The option /f:filespec is required if the source contains more than one file. This option permits wildcard characters. The /y switch disables the overwrite confirmation prompt. The /d switch specifies that the files will not be expanded and displays a directory of the files in the source.
• Fixboot
  writes a new startup sector on the system partition.
• Fixmbr
  repairs the startup partition's master boot code. The variable device is an optional name that specifies the device that requires a new Master Boot Record. Omit this variable when the target is the startup device.
• Format
  formats a disk. The /q switch performs a quick format. The /fs switch specifies the file system.
• Help
  If you do not use the command variable to specify a command, help lists all the commands that the Recovery Console supports.
• Listsvc
  displays all available services and drivers on the computer.
• Logon
  displays detected installations of Windows and requests the local Administrator password for those installations. Use this command to move to another installation or subdirectory.
• Map
  displays currently active device mappings. Include the arc option to specify the use of Advanced RISC Computing (ARC) paths (the format for Boot.ini) instead of Windows device paths.
• MD (Mkdir)
  operates only within the system directories of the current Windows installation, removable media, the root directory of any hard disk partition, or the local installation sources.
• More/Type
  displays the specified text file on screen.
• Rd (Rmdir
  operates only within the system directories of the current Windows installation, removable media, the root directory of any hard disk partition, or the local installation sources.
• Ren (Rename)
  operates only within the system directories of the current Windows installation, removable media, the root directory of any hard disk partition, or the local installation sources. You cannot specify a new drive or path as the target.
• Set
  displays and sets the Recovery Console environment variables.
• Systemroot
  sets the current directory to %SystemRoot%.