Anyone know how to inst Recovery Console w/o XP CD (like Combofix does)???

[FoolishTech]

So just now I had a netbook with no optical drive and I wanted to install the recovery console on the machine (I needed to do a fixmbr on it to cap off a malware removal); so rather than hooking up an external optical drive and finding an XP CD to do the fixmbr - OR - install recovery console, I used Combofix to install the recovery console...

... of course I don't want Combofix to keep running so I cancelled it after it was complete ...

So I think to myself, wouldn't it be convenient if I knew how Combofix does this (I could add it to D7 among other things) and not have to keep Combofix around for this in the future...

I know that it downloads the XP boot floppies from Microsoft... from there I'm about lost. I assume that either Combofix knows a quick way to do this with those floppy images, like extract the setup and run that with a certain parameter like you would from the CD (i.e. winnt32.exe /cmdcons), OR perhaps it extracts the appropriate files and modifies the boot.ini manually...

I was hoping someone can tell me there's an easier way, and if not, how exactly is it done?

 

[iisjman07]

Does this help?
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307654

 

[FoolishTech]

Does this help?
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307654

I wish! That just tells you how to do it with the CD, I trying to find out how to do it without the CD... but thanks!

 

[Fixedathome.com]

Somebody was attempting to do it via Autoit but didn't get much help on the Autoit forums. He has posted some code that might be of use to you though. The post is a couple of years old now but hopefully it will help

http://www.autoitscript.com/forum/topic/97070-recovery-console-installerhopefully/

 

[FoolishTech]

Somebody was attempting to do it via Autoit but didn't get much help on the Autoit forums. He has posted some code that might be of use to you though. The post is a couple of years old now but hopefully it will help

http://www.autoitscript.com/forum/topic/97070-recovery-console-installerhopefully/

That's a lot to digest, and doesn't look great since this guy never posted back with a completed project... I will have to check this over when I'm a little less busy...

But it does answer one of my questions... that yeah, Combofix does it manually, and there isn't a simple way to do it...

It's a great start, and exactly the kind of info I'm looking for, thanks!

 

[14049752]

I'm sure if you look at the batch file that Combofix uses, you could figure it out easily enough. If you extract it, you can look at the "Install-RC.cmd" to get started.

 

[PaulRome]

Could they install off a command prompt

%windir%\i386\winnt32.exe /cmdcons

 

[Benchtech]

Could they install off a command prompt

%windir%\i386\winnt32.exe /cmdcons

This guide say's the same thing

installing recovery console without win xp CD

 

[FoolishTech]

%windir%\i386\winnt32.exe /cmdcons

That would be too easy! (an i386 directory isn't always in %windir% or the root of the drive, even.)

 

[Jsch38]

Here's a suggestion

Hook the laptop an an external CD. Set the boot menu to boot fron the CD,Run the Ulimate Boot Disc for Windows. It has a windows recovery console with the FIXMBR command .

 

[Methical]

Hook the laptop an an external CD. Set the boot menu to boot fron the CD,Run the Ulimate Boot Disc for Windows. It has a windows recovery console with the FIXMBR command .

Really? wow....

Read the OP's question in future, before dribbling ..

+1 for 14049752's answer

 

[Cornerstone Technologies]

It seems like quite an endeavor that can be solved with tools that are already available like combo fix. I can understand wanting to include it in your own tool, but it is like reinventing the reinvented wheel. I would personally evaluate if the time invested will result in time saved by a significant factor.

I'm not bashing the idea, just the premise of saving a few seconds. I personally use a 128gb flash drive that literally has everything down to the actual i386 folder. It also might be worth the money to invest in an external optical.

 

[FoolishTech]

It seems like quite an endeavor that can be solved with tools that are already available like combo fix. I can understand wanting to include it in your own tool, but it is like reinventing the reinvented wheel. I would personally evaluate if the time invested will result in time saved by a significant factor.

I'm not bashing the idea, just the premise of saving a few seconds. I personally use a 128gb flash drive that literally has everything down to the actual i386 folder. It also might be worth the money to invest in an external optical.

LOL We have external opticals!!! That's beside the point...

But I completely agree with you on the time investment - in fact I was hoping someone knew of a way so that I wouldn't have to invest the time in figuring it out myself!