How To Make A Windows XP Bootable Recovery Console CD

For a number of years now, many brand name manufacturers have included a "recovery" CD or they store customized install files on a hidden partition instead of supplying a genuine Windows XP install CD. Recovery CDs typically aren't very useful. While they can get a system back up and running again, you could lose all your data in the process. Recovery CDs and hidden partitions are more of a convenience for the tech support department than they are for the user.

Many people might not be aware that a complete install CD is not required to access the Windows XP Recovery Console. Although one can download the install floppy disks that contain the files needed to run the Recovery Console, waiting for six floppy disks to load is tedious. Creating a bootable Recovery Console CD, using the files from these disks, is a fairly straightforward project.

Unfortunately, we won't have this option with Windows Vista. Originally, Microsoft had no intention of offering the floppy disk option even for XP and had to be persuaded to do so. They have said that these will be the last. Think twice before buying a Vista-equipped PC from a vendor that does not supply a true install CD.

Files included in this archive:

burncdcc.exe
burncdcc.txt
BurncdccLic.txt
Burning.txt
extract.exe
extract.txt
mkisofs.exe
Readme.htm
RecoveryCD.bat
splitter.exe
splitter.htm

The text & html files, other than this one (Readme.htm) and Burning.txt are included in accordance with the license terms of the developers.

RecoveryCD.bat does the grunt work of actually creating the Recovery Console CD. The only thing you must add is the file to be downloaded from Microsoft. After downloading, this file should be renamed BootDisk.exe. Briefly, RecoveryCD.bat extracts the disk image files contained within BootDisk.exe and creates an ISO file, which is used to burn the CD with the BurnCDCC™ utility.

It's possible (but unlikely) that BurnCDCC may not be compatible with all CD/DVD drives. In that case, some other program may be used to burn the ISO file to a CD. It is important to mention that one does not merely copy the ISO file to a CD. Instead, the program uses the information contained within the ISO file to create the appropriate CD. As long as you make whatever program you are using aware of the fact that you are dealing with an ISO file, it should work properly.

For Recovery Console purposes, it doesn't matter whether the file you download from Microsoft is for XP Home or XP Professional; either one will work. The SP2 version is recommended unless you aren't running SP2 (you should be).

Download the self-extracting disk creator here:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310994

Move the downloaded file to the same folder where the other files (listed above) are located. For this example, we downloaded the file that creates install disks for XP Professional SP2. The file has a long name, something like:

WindowsXP-KB310994-SP2-Pro-BootDisk-ENU.exe

Whatever the name of the downloaded file happens to be, change it to BootDisk.exe. Upper vs. lower case doesn't matter; just the name. If you have not turned off Hide extensions for known file types in Folder Options, then you will not see the ".exe" extension in Windows Explorer.

Run RecoveryCD.bat by either double-clicking on it from Windows Explorer or opening a command prompt window. RecoveryCD.bat will do the rest of the work.

Before RecoveryCD.bat is finished, you will be asked if you wish to burn the CD. If you are not technically inclined, it is suggested that you let RecoveryCD.bat do the job for you. If you would rather "roll your own," the process is outlined in Burning.txt. It's not terribly difficult, but there are various little details that can trip you up. Furthermore, your preferred CD/DVD mastering program may not even have the capability of producing this particular type of CD.

Even if you do not plan on burning a CD at the time you run RecoveryCD.bat, you should still respond Yes. RecoveryCD.bat will create an ISO file; when BurnCDCC starts, simply decline to burn the CD by clicking on the Close gadget. You will then be told where you can find the ISO file.

If you use RecoveryCD.bat to do all the work for you, you don't need to bother reading Burning.txt.

Troubleshooting

If BurnCDCC fails for some reason, you can try using your own software to burn the CD, using the file XPRC.iso as the source. Note that when an ISO file is used to create a CD, you do not copy the ISO file to the CD. Instead, follow the instructions for your program that pertains to creating a CD from an ISO image. The Windows XP built-in CD burner does not have this capability, but there are many alternatives which are freely available. Creating a CD from a new compilation is more involved; this topic is covered in Burning.txt.

Credits

BurnCDCC is a trademark of TeraByte Unlimited. The company specializes in backup software including Image for Windows, Image for DOS and Image for Linux as well as BootIt Next Generation, a boot manager, partition manager and backup program rolled into one.

Thanks to Gilles Vollant for his freeware program, Extract. Visit his web site to learn more about his superb disk and ISO image editor, WinImage.

Thanks to Martin Stoeckli for his freeware program, Splitter Light.

Thanks to Vic Laurie for making this small project available on his site, so that users can easily create a bootable Recovery Console CD, when they do not have a true Windows XP install CD available. For further information on using the Recovery Console, see this article on Vic's web site, The Command Line in Windows.

For questions or comments on using RecoveryCD.bat, you may contact me (Dean Adams) here.