The Recovery Console provides command-line access to the system. The console is started by booting to the original Windows CD or using the set of 4 setup diskettes. The setup diskettes can be made using MAKEBOOT or MAKEBT32 in the BOOTDISK folder of the CD.

A Recovery Console option can be provided at startup by running the installation command from the CD.
         i386\WINNT32 /cmdcons

By default Recovery Console only provides the following access to files.

Four environment variables are available to control these restrictions by setting the variable to TRUE or FALSE. For example, use the command

• SET AllowAllPaths = TRUE

Local security settings can be set to eliminate the logon requirement and to eliminate file access restrictions.

The following commands are available when you use Recovery Console. Most are familiar DOS commands.

The Recovery Console is protected by requiring the password for the local Administrator user account. The local Administrator account is stored in the SAM database rather than the Active Directory. For workstations and member servers, the Administrator password can be changed with the Computer Management Console. On domain controllers, the Local User and Groups are not accessible. If the local Administrator password is forgotten, it can only be reset by

• Restoring the Registry from a backup, or
• Demoting the server and then in the promotion process the Administrator password can be set.

Keyboard Exercise

Install the Recovery Console as a boot option by running the setup program from the Windows CD.

• i386\WINNT32 /cmdcons