XP Recovery Console

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Hi,

I'm working through the XP book for exam 70-270 and I followed the instructions for installing the Recovery Console.

When I try to run the necessary files, I get a setup error telling me that Setup cannot continue because the Installed O/S is newer than the files on the disc.

This figures because i'm running XP SP2, and the XP disc is just XP with no Service Packs.

Is there a way to use Recovery Console after a newer version of Windows has been installed? Is there a d/l you can get off Microsoft or is it one of those things you have to install right at the beginning of a new setup?

Any ideas?

Thanks

 

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See this link

The first two aren't particularly helpful to you (gotta love M$' logic on the second one especially!) but the third might get you out of the jam you're in

 

Awesome! Thanks Zeb

I'll give that a bash and see what happens!

P.S: Method 2, Idiots!

 

IMHO an even better method - although more complicated - is to use a system called 'slipstreaming'.

This basicaly is a way of creating a legal copy of your XP disk with SP2 applied. This means that any other work that needs the disk will be more up to date that if you hadn't done this.

Do a google for slipstream. It basicaly consists of copying the XP disk to a directory on your machine. Copy the SP2 executable likewise. Open a CMD windows and type a command which effectively applies the SP2 to the saved copy of the disk.

You then need a few bits and pices to create the new image and burn it. There are utils out there that will walk through most of this for you.

Harry.

 

Hey Harry,

I think I may have been 'Slipstreaming' already by following Zeb's advice.

I've created 2 folders on my h/d, one which has all the files from the i386 folder on my XP disc, and another folder that contains the SP2 Network Installation Package (all 274Mb's of it!). I then use the command prompt to integrate the 2 folders so that the XP installation effectively becomes XP with SP2. From here I can run the command line to execute the Recovery Console.

Well that's the plan anyway. I got as far as trying to integrate the 2 folders and then Windows returns this error:

Failed to copy some or all of the files necessary for integrated install.

Please check that:
a)No network or copy errors occurred during the integration process.
b)The format of the destination directory is correct.

I can only assume the d/l lost or corrupted some of the files. I tried searching on Microsoft last night for help, but what do you know, their search engine on their website wasn't working!

Thanks anyway

 

Righty ho,

Following on from before. I have now managed to create an integrated installation folder as instructed here. But when i go to step 9 and Run an inplace update to upgrade to SP2 i get that error message about the installed o/s being newer than the one i'm about to update.

I can't run winnt32.exe /cmdcons because this returns the same error, even after the integrated installation (except step 9 above).

So it looks like i'm back to square 1!

I'm planning a new installation soon as part of my 70-270 studies, so i may have to wait til i get around to that to play with the Recovery console.

 

Stoney,

Why don't you temporarily roll back SP2, install the recovery console, then reapply SP2?

 

Oooh, I never thought of that! Thanks R.H.Lee!

When I put SP2 back on will i have to d/l and re-install all the updates that I have put on my PC post original SP2 installation?

 

Personally, i would avoid that for the sake of an exercise. Why not wait until the fresh install and install recovery console before SP2.

Si

 

Boyce,

Due to the Windows XP activation limitations of the number of times you may "fresh install" Windows XP, we have to deal with the situation as is right now without reinstalling. Thanks to Windows XP Activation the "fresh install" solution is applicable to the Windows 2000 Professional operating system and before.

 

Stoney,

Maybe, maybe not. Here's why. Let's say "Windows XP without any Service Packs" is v1.0 . Every time you apply a patch, your Windows XP version goes up. A Service Pack is actually a whole bunch of patches at once. So let's say SP1 the version goes up to v2.0 . Therefore, SP2 would make it v3.0 . That's why you're having problems installing the recovery console using your "Windows XP v1.0" CD because it is "inferior" compared to the "Windows XP v3.235234" it has become after applying SP2 and other patches. So by "rolling back" SP2, you would be "dumbing it down" from v3.235234->v1.0 where your "Windows XP" CD should work. You may need to roll back some more patches to get it back to "v1.0" conditions.

I hope this helps.

 

OK, I just had a very cursory glance through this thread and I have to say, IMO, Harry's solution of slipstreaming is the best idea. First of all, with a third party app it's very simple (BartPE Builder has a decent built-in slipstreamer) and secondly, burn the image onto CD and you have a Windows XP SP2 installation disk. This will eliminate all the problems associated with installing XP with SP1 (such as SATA drives not being recognised etc). And before all the "this will breach the licensing" naysayers get here, no it won't if you're only keeping the burnt disk for your own purposes.

 

Hey guys,

Thanks for all the feedback and support

I have made a bootable XP SP2 disc by following a tutorial on Slipstreaming. It was pretty much the same method as Microsoft Support suggested, the only difference being that you actually burn the integrated files onto a disc. I was quite suprised that this worked because I only have Nero express and the options for creating a Bootable CD are limited, compared to the directions in the tut's that use Nero Burning Rom or similar.

Anyway, using a new XP SP2 disc has proved to work and I have managed to get the Recovery Console installed without having to roll back any updates or Service Packs. And I now have an installation disc for use at a later date, yay!!

Just one last quick question, when I go to logon to the Recovery Console it asks me for the Administrators Password. Is this the password for the actual Administrator account that is built into the o/s, as opposed to my Administrators account that I created and use? I can't logon with my administrator account password, so i'm guessing it's the system admin account, which I don't have (remember ) the password for.

Will there be any adverse effects if I reset the password for the built in admin account? I understand that if you reset a users password then all their encrypted data is lost, but as I don't actually use this account I can't see that this should be a problem?

Thanks,

Paul

 

Now you know why I suggested it!

It is looking for the account usualy named 'Administrator' that was set up automaticaly when XP was installed.

If you have never used it, and haven't created any EFS files then changing the password is perfectly fine. In fact - the password *should* be changed on a regular basis.....

Harry.

 

Yeah, that's what I thought. I just wasn't sure if it was going to cause problems on anything else.

Thanks for your help Harry