Appendix B: Troubleshooting System Startup

Highlights

Every time a computer is started, it initiates a boot process. Part of the boot process involves hardware discovery and verification. Another part involves the selection and loading of an operating system. Despite the operating system's improved reliability and stability, a computer running Windows XP Professional may sometimes fail to complete its boot process.

In order to assist administrators in troubleshooting and recovering from boot failures, Windows XP Professional provides a number of tools. These tools provide the ability to roll back faulty software drivers to a previous version, to boot the computer using special diagnostic startup modes when it will not otherwise boot, to restore computer settings to a previous point in time, and to repair and replace damaged or missing system files.

This chapter introduces the administrator to system recovery tools and explains how to use them. It also provides suggestions as to what types of situation each tool can best be used.