# Recovery Console

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Recovery_Console
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Recovery_Console.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recovery_Console
> Source revision: 1347423369
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

{{Short description|Microsoft Windows feature}}
{{Infobox software
| name             = Recovery Console
| screenshot       = Windows 2000 Recovery Console.png
| screenshot_size  = 300px
| caption          = The Windows 2000 Recovery Console selection, login, and command prompts
| developer        = [Microsoft](/source/Microsoft)
| released         = {{Start date and age|2000|02|17}}
| replaced_by      = [Windows Recovery Environment](/source/Windows_Recovery_Environment)
| operating system = [Microsoft Windows](/source/Microsoft_Windows)
| platform         = [IA-32](/source/IA-32), [x86-64](/source/x86-64), [Itanium](/source/Itanium)
| genre            = [Command-line interpreter](/source/Command-line_interpreter)
}}
The '''Recovery Console''' is a feature of the [Windows 2000](/source/Windows_2000),<ref name="Windows 2000">{{cite web|url=http://support.microsoft.com/kb/229716|title=Description of the Windows 2000 Recovery Console|work=KnowledgeBase|author=Microsoft|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111104192800/http://support.microsoft.com/kb/229716|archive-date=2011-11-04}}</ref> [Windows XP](/source/Windows_XP)<ref name="Windows XP">{{cite web|url=http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314058|title=Description of the Windows XP Recovery Console|work=KnowledgeBase|author=Microsoft|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140908043953/http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314058|archive-date=2014-09-08}}</ref> and [Windows Server 2003](/source/Windows_Server_2003) operating systems. It provides the means for administrators to perform a limited range of tasks using a [command-line interface](/source/command-line_interface).

Its primary function is to enable administrators to recover from situations where Windows does not [boot](/source/booting) as far as presenting its [graphical user interface](/source/graphical_user_interface). The recovery console is used to provide a way to access the hard drive in an emergency through the command prompt. The Recovery Console can be started from [Windows 2000 / XP / 2003 Setup](/source/Windows_Setup) CD.

The Recovery Console can be accessed in two ways, either through the original installation media used to install Windows, or by installing it onto the hard drive and adding it to the [NTLDR](/source/NTLDR) menu. However, the latter option is much more risky than the former one because it requires that the computer can boot to the point that NTLDR loads, or else the Recovery Console will not work at all.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ehsco.com/reading/20060816iwc1.html|title=Primer: Creating A Windows XP Recovery Console CD Image|author=Eric A. Hall}}</ref>

== Abilities ==
The Recovery Console has a simple [command-line interpreter](/source/command-line_interpreter) (or CLI). Many of the available [commands](/source/command_(computing)) closely resemble the commands that are normally available in<code>[cmd.exe](/source/cmd.exe)</code>, namely<code>[attrib](/source/attrib)</code>,<code>[copy](/source/copy_(command))</code>,<code>[del](/source/del_(command))</code>, and so forth.

From the Recovery Console an administrator can:
* create and remove directories, and copy, erase, display, and [rename](/source/ren_(command)) files  
* enable and disable services (which modifies the service control database in the registry, to take effect when the system is next bootstrapped)
* repair boot file, using the<code>[bootcfg](/source/bootcfg)</code> command
* write a new [master boot record](/source/master_boot_record) to a disk, using the<code>fixmbr</code> command
* write a new [volume boot record](/source/volume_boot_record) to a volume, using the<code>fixboot</code> command
* format volumes
* expand files from the compressed format in which they are stored on the installation [CD-ROM](/source/CD-ROM)
* perform a full<code>[chkdsk](/source/chkdsk)</code> scan to repair corrupted disks and files, especially if the computer cannot be started properly

Filesystem access on the Recovery Console is by default severely limited. An administrator using the Recovery Console has only read-only access to all volumes except for the [boot volume](/source/system_partition_and_boot_partition), and even on the boot volume only access to the root directory and to the Windows system directory (e.g. \WINNT). This can be changed by changing Security Policies to enable read/write access to the complete file system including copying files from removable media (i.e. floppy drives).

=== Commands ===
The following is a list of the Recovery Console [internal](/source/Shell_builtin) commands:<ref name="Windows 2000" /><ref name="Windows XP" />

{{Div col|colwidth=9em}}
* [attrib](/source/attrib)
* batch
* [bootcfg](/source/bootcfg) (introduced in Windows XP)
* [cd](/source/cd_(command))
* [chdir](/source/cd_(command))
* [chkdsk](/source/chkdsk)
* [cls](/source/cls_(command))
* [copy](/source/copy_(command))
* [del](/source/del_(command))
* [delete](/source/del_(command))
* [dir](/source/dir_(command))
* disable
* [diskpart](/source/diskpart)
* enable
* [exit](/source/exit_(command))
* [expand](/source/expand_(command))
* fixboot
* fixmbr
* [format](/source/format_(command))
* [help](/source/help_(command))
* listsvc
* logon
* map
* [md](/source/mkdir)
* [mkdir](/source/mkdir)
* [more](/source/more_(command))
* [rd](/source/rmdir)
* [ren](/source/ren_(command))
* [rename](/source/ren_(command))
* [rmdir](/source/rmdir)
* [set](/source/set_(command)) (introduced in Windows XP)
* systemroot
* [type](/source/TYPE_(DOS_command))
{{Div col end}}

Although it appears in the list of commands available by using the<code>[help](/source/help_(command))</code> command, and in many articles about the Recovery Console (including those authored by Microsoft), the<code>[net](/source/net_(command))</code> command is not available. No protocol stacks are loaded, so there is no way to connect to a [shared folder](/source/shared_folder) on a remote computer as implied.

== See also ==
* [Emergency Repair Disk](/source/Emergency_Repair_Disk)
* [Comparison of command shells](/source/Comparison_of_command_shells)

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140908043953/http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314058 Description of the Recovery Console]

{{Windows Components}}
{{Windows commands}}

Category:Windows components
Category:Windows command shells
Category:Live CD

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Recovery Console](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recovery_Console) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recovery_Console?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.