Recovery Console

Recovery Console is a diagnostic tool included on the Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 installation media, which can be used to repair system errors that prevent booting into the full Windows environment. It is a command line interface designed to resemble the Command Prompt and other console Windows utilities, however, they don't share any code and there are many differences between the Windows and Recovery Console versions of the same utilities, one of them most notably being. The tool is implemented by the  driver loaded by the Windows Setup.

The Recovery Console is primarily used from the setup disc. However, it can also be installed to the hard disk by using the  command. Upon a confirmation, the setup installs the Recovery Console to  and adds appropriate entries to.

Windows Vista replaced the Recovery Console with the WinPE-based Windows Recovery Environment, which features a full graphical interface and implements most of the same functionality in wizards.

Commands
The Recovery Console supports many Command Prompt commands as well as includes some custom ones, which can be broken down into several categories.

Command Prompt counterparts
The following commands share largely the same behavior with Command Prompt built-in commands, mostly dealing with file management:
 * - manipulates file attributes
 * / - changes or prints the current working directory
 * - clears the screen
 * - copies files
 * / - deletes files
 * - prints the contents of a directory
 * - exits the Recovery Console and reboots the computer
 * - prints a list of supported commands or details about their usage
 * / - creates a directory
 * / - removes a directory
 * / - renames a file or directory
 * - sets or prints environment variables
 * / - prints the contents of a file

External command counterparts
The following commands are similar to certain external commands included with Windows; however, they are not completely compatible with their regular counterparts' behavior (if at all):
 * - manipulates the  file
 * - checks a file system for errors
 * - disk partition editor; unrelated to the regular DiskPart
 * - expands compressed files from the installation media
 * - formats a volume
 * - connects to a network share

Exclusive to the Recovery Console
The following commands are exclusive to the Recovery Console:
 * - executes commands in a text file, similarly to a batch file
 * - disables a service
 * - enables a service
 * - writes the Windows volume boot record to specified volume
 * - writes the Windows master boot record to specified disk
 * - lists all registered services
 * - logs the user onto a Windows installation; runs at start
 * - displays drive letter mappings
 * - changes to the system directory