C:\Cmdcons Folder Deleted When Reinstalling Recovery Console

ID: Q233979

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server
Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional
Microsoft Windows 2000 Server

SYMPTOMS

If the Recovery Console is preinstalled on your computer but for some reason files in the C:\Cmdcons folder become corrupted or are accidentally deleted, you may not be able to boot into the Windows 2000 Recovery Console.

Under normal circumstances, you can run the "WINNT32 /CMDCONS" command from the Windows 2000 CD-ROM to reinstall the console and repair the missing or damaged files.

However, when your system partition (the partition containing the Ntldr, Ntdetect.com, and Boot.ini files) is part of a Windows 2000 basic or dynamic disk software mirror, you cannot reinstall the Recovery Console. If you try to reinstall the Recovery Console with the "WINNT32 /CMDCONS" command, you receive the following error message:

No valid system partitions were found, Setup is unable to continue.

After this message is displayed, the original C:\Cmdcons folder is deleted, but the original Recovery Console boot option in your C:\Boot.ini file remains.

CAUSE

Winnt32.exe erroneously deletes the old C:\Cmdcons folder in preparation for installing the new Recovery Console folder before it does a system check to determine whether the installation is possible.

The restriction of not being able to install the Recovery Console on a software-mirrored system partition is by design.

For more detailed information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q229077 Mirroring Prevents Pre-Installing the Recovery Console

RESOLUTION

If the system partition is part of a legacy basic disk mirror set, the only option after this occurs is to boot from the four Windows 2000 Setup disks or the Windows 2000 CD-ROM to run the Recovery Console. Pre-installing the Recovery Console again is not an option unless you break the mirror, but doing so prevents you from re-establishing the mirror unless you upgrade the disks to dynamic first.

For additional information about basic and dynamic disks, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q175761 Dynamic vs. Basic Storage in Windows 2000

If your system partition is part of a dynamic mirror, you can break the mirror, reinstall the Recovery Console, and then re-establish the mirror.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article.

MORE INFORMATION

For additional information about starting and using the Recovery Console, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q229716 Description of the Windows 2000 Recovery Console

Additional query words:

Keywords :
Version : WINDOWS:2000
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbbug