Install Recovery Console as a Boot Menu Option

[dock98]

When you have a problem with your Windows computer, you'll usually be told to insert the Windows cdrom and then start the Recovery Console in order to fix the issue. So where did you put that XP disc anyway? Why can't we just install the recovery console to the hard drive?

As it turns out, you can indeed install the recovery console as a boot menu option. This won't help if your computer doesn't boot at all, but in many cases you'll find it useful.

Note: If you have a dual-boot setup with Windows Vista, there's a chance that installing this would screw up booting into Vista, so don't use this until I can confirm otherwise.

Installing Recovery Console to the Hard Drive

First you'll need to insert your Windows XP cdrom into the drive. It's important to note that your cdrom version of XP has to match the version of XP that you have installed. So if you have SP2 installed but your cd is for SP1, you'll need to read this Microsoft KB article.

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