ERD Commander 2000

Since the release of Windows 2000, Microsoft has significantly enhanced and improved the built-in system reliability tools. In Windows XP, these tools have been improved one step further. However, if your job is to support and maintain Windows installations, including emergency recovery of damaged systems, you may wonder why Microsoft didn't include such functionality as booting DOS disks to recover damaged Windows 2000/XP installations. After all, Recovery Console is a great tool, but still, it is somewhat limited. Furthermore, there may be situations when you'll have difficulties starting it.

If your are missing the ease of booting ERD for recovering damaged Windows NT/2000/XP installations, I'd like to turn your attention to ERD Commander 2000. It is an ideal utility for a system administrator, allowing one to fix nearly all problems that prevent Windows NT/2000 from booting.

Note 

The current version of this powerful tool is intended for use with Windows NT/2000. Windows XP is not fully supported. However, in some situations ERD Commander 2000 will prove helpful even with Windows XP. An example of such a situation is one in which you only need to replace damaged system files by their valid backup copies, or simply copy several files from the system that doesn't boot. If you encounter such a situation, don't hesitate to use ERD Commander 2000. It will help.

To install ERD Commander 2000, you'll need the distribution files of this program (visit the http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/freeware/erdcommander2k.shtml to download the Read-Only version for free or order the Read-Write fully functional version, the Windows 2000 distribution CD and, optionally, five 3.5-inch diskettes). The ERD Commander 2000 Setup program will prompt you to select the installation type (Fig. 13.15). You'll have the option to create boot diskettes, a bootable CD-ROM image or to install ERD Commander 2000 on your hard disk (in this case, ERD Commander 2000 will be added as an alternate Boot.ini startup option).

Note 

You can install ERD Commander 2000 even when running Windows XP. Notice, however, that in this situation you must do so on the basis of Windows NT/2000 distribution files. When Setup prompts you (Fig. 13.16), insert your Windows NT/2000 distribution CD or specify an alternate location for the installation files. Don't create ERD Commander 2000 boot media based on the Windows XP distribution files—the Setup program will run OK, but the result will be practically useless.

After you complete ERD Commander 2000 installation, you'll be able to boot into a command-line from a set of 3.5" floppy disks, from a CD-ROM, or directly from the hard disk. ERD Commander 2000 allows users to perform practically all recovery-related operations by accessing and modifying files on NTFS and FAT disk volumes. ERD Commander 2000's environment mirrors the standard NT/2000 console-mode environment, so users familiar with the commands of these operating systems can intuitively work with this tool.

When you boot a damaged system using ERD Commander 2000 boot floppies or bootable CD, you'll be provided access to all drives and devices available in the downed Windows NT/2000/XP system, including removable drives.

Note 

Since ERD Commander 2000 is not intended for resolving disk corruption problems, only drives that are consistent enough to be recognized by Windows NT/2000 file systems will be accessible with ERD Commander.

Administrators can then remove or replace corrupted drivers, update system files, correct security mistakes that prevent the OS from booting, make recoveries from improperly installed Service Packs or other updates, and many more.

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Fig. 13.15: ERD Commander 2000 Setup Wizard prompts you to select installation method

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Fig. 13.16: Next, ERD Commander 2000 Setup Wizard prompts you to insert your Windows Nt/2000 distribution CD or specify an alternate location for the installation files

ERD Commander 2000 works fine on NT 4.0 and Windows 2000. As was already mentioned, this utility is not intended for Windows XP. However, some tasks, such as replacing corrupted files or copying important data from the dead system can be accomplished successfully using, for example, ERD Commander 2000's boot floppies.

The current version of ERD Commander 2000 includes the following convenient features:

  • Built-in registry editor

  • Built-in file editor

  • Options of the hard drive, CD-ROM, or floppy disks installation

  • Batch-file support

  • Command and output logging

  • Emergency Repair Disk images for Windows 2000



Windows XP Registry
Linux Enterprise Cluster: Build a Highly Available Cluster with Commodity Hardware and Free Software
ISBN: N/A
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2000
Pages: 144
Authors: Karl Kopper

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