Microsoft Windows is the most used operating system for PCs in the world. With the deep infiltration in the consumer market that Windows achieved, a natural consequence is more issues and problems, since every user has their own style of messing up the OS one way or the other. Through the years Microsoft matured their flagship OS with more stability, easier to access features and more user friendliness overall, but not all changes were equally heart warming. One of these changes was the missing Windows Recovery Console in Windows 7.
What is Windows Recovery Console, you ask? Read on after the jump to find out what it is and how you can bring it back.
What is Windows Recovery Console?
To put things in the right perspective, Windows Recovery Console is a special boot up method that can be used to fix various problems that might prevent Windows from booting normally. Typically, Windows Recovery Console can be used to access files and drives, format them, enable and disable services and perform several other tasks using command prompt without the operating system loaded in background. Windows Recovery Console is a last-stop measure for reviving a corrupt installation, and should be used as such, considering that it is a really powerful tool.
What happened to the Windows Recovery Console in Windows 7?
With Windows 7, Microsoft “took out” the Recovery Console because they were confident their automated system repair options would suffice. While they do in most cases, a one-size-fits-all solution does not always apply. This is perhaps exactly why Microsoft did not remove the Windows Recovery Console altogether, just hid it well. You can still access it through the control panel applet in System Recovery Options.
Access to System Recovery Options can be gained in three ways:
Through the boot menu, by hitting F8 key when Starting Windows logo appears. You’ll need to select “Repair Your Computer” from the menu.
Using a system repair disc (learn how to make a system repair disk here). Windows will attempt to restore from a backup which you’ll need to cancel to access the System Recovery Options.
Windows 7 installation disc can be used in ‘Repair Your Computer’ mode at the Install screen.
Once you’ve managed to access the System Recovery Options, hit the Command Prompt option to gain access to the command line usage of the Windows Recovery Console.
What is Windows Recovery Console? What is it for?
One of the main uses of the Windows Recovery Console is to fix boot record errors. Windows’ boot record can become corrupt which will prevent the OS from loading altogether, or even worse, the master boot record can get corrupted. Within the command line interface, you can use the BootRec command with a series of switches to repair Windows’ boot record and get your operating system to load without fail.
The four switches supported by BootRec, and their usability, is as follows (case sensitive):
- BootRec /RebuildBcd – as obvious from the name, this will rebuild Windows 7 boot menu.
- BootRec /fixmbr – this command can be used to repair the master boot record (MBR) on the hard disk. Exercise caution when using.
- BootRec /fixboot – this command will write a new boot sector to the hard disk. This is inherently different from rebuild command, because in this case an entirely new boot sector is created. Useful in cases of damaged/corrupted hard disk and boot sector.
- BootRec /ScanOS – this final command will scan the local disks for operating systems that are currently not showing in the boot menu.
In some rare and extreme cases, you may need to delete a boot record altogether and rebuild one to get your operating system up and running. The Windows Recovery Console supports deletion of a corrupted boot sector using the following commands:
Bcdedit /export c:\BCD_Backup
c:
cd boot
attrib bcd –s –h –r
ren c:\boot\bcd bcd.old
where C: is your primary drive partition.
After this, simply rebuild the boot sector using the rebuild command:
BootRec /RebuildBcd
In conclusion, if you’ve always been asking, “What is Windows Recovery Console?” — now you know that it’s a powerful tool and can be used to recover your machine from several disasters. It’s intended for power users, so it’s better not to fool around with it if you don’t know what you’re doing. There’s a reason why Microsoft hid it.
For more Windows system tips, check out:
- How To Clean The Registry Without Harming Your Computer
- How To Recover A File Using Restore Previous Versions In Windows 7
- How To Kill Hung Or Unresponsive Applications In Windows
- How to Backup Windows 7 Activation Info & Activate Offline after Reinstallation
If you find this information useful, or would like to add anything more to it, please let us know through your comments.
