XP+DOS+Would+you+like+it+?

XP DOS Would you like it ?

There are those amongst us who remember and loved DOS This has been removed or taken from us with XP and we have been given a program called Recovery Console.

Now I pose the question would you like a XP-DOS ? Because this tip is all about how to do just that Convert Recovery Console into XP-DOS

First we have to accept that Windows XP's Recovery Console is a restricted version of XP

By default, it restricts you to working in just a few systems folders, refusing to allow you access to any other part of your hard drive.

It will not allow you to use "wildcards" (such as "*.exe" [ Where the asterisk is the wildcard] to represent all files ending in "exe"). Also it will prohibit you from copying files to removable media such as floppies.

As I said before fear not that is what this tip is about, a tweak which enables you to convert the Recovery Console into a XP-Dos

You will be able to use all the old commands such as:- ATTRIB BATCH BOOTCFG CD CHDIR CHKDSK CLS COPY DEL

DELETE DIR DISABLE DISKPART ENABLE EXIT EXPAND FIXBOOT FIXMBR FORMAT HELP LISTSVC LOGON MAP MD MKDIR MORE NET RD REN RENAME RMDIR SET SYSTEMROOT TYPE

OK I know you want the details of how to do it so eyes down and follow carefully because this involves a visit to the dreaded Registry, therefore before you go one step further implement my tip on the Registry.

Obviously you have to load the Recovery Console onto your hard drive ( This comment should really not be necessary but there are some who would not realize this )

Therefore assuming that Recovery Console is now in your hard drive

You will already be aware that when you have tried to use the above in the past you have received a message “ Access Denied “

Let us take for example, unrestricted access to the hard drive is controlled by a variable called "AllowAllPaths." In XP (just as in the days of DOS), "environmental variables" like these are controlled via the SET command. In Microsoft's documentation on the Recovery Console, it states that all you have to do is type:-

SET AllowAllPaths = TRUE and you'll be able to navigate anywhere on your hard drive. Sadly this is not TRUE ( Pun )

The SET command is currently disabled.

There is a easy way to enable the SET command,

Normally, you can get assistance for any command by typing the command followed by " /?" However, the query doesn't give a great deal of assistance with this issue.

Typing "SET ?/" lists the commands that are not available to you.

Are you ready to view the simple, straightforward way of getting SET to work?.

Go to :- Start > Run In the box type without the quotes “ Regedit “ Enter Scroll to :-

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT \CurrentVersion\Setup\RecoveryConsole

Double-click on "SetCommand" in the right-hand pane and type the numeral "1" in the "value data" box

Would you believe that is all there is to it?

Now that you have applied the tweak and gone back to the Recovery Console at a command prompt, the format for using SET is:-

SET [variable] = [TRUE/FALSE] In other words, you type SET, then a space, then the variable you want to modify, followed by a space, then an equal sign and another space, and then the word "TRUE" if you want to enable the variable, or "FALSE" to disable it.

These are the options you can choose:-

SET AllowAllPaths = TRUE This enables you to access all directories and subdirectories on a hard drive.

SET AllowRemovableMedia = TRUE This allows you to access removable media (such as a floppy) as a target for copied files.

SET AllowWildCards = TRUE This enables wildcard support (e.g. using an asterisk to match any/all files) so you can use commands such as COPY andDELon whole groups of files and folders.

SET NoCopyPrompt = TRUE This turns off confirmation when overwriting an existing file, which is useful when copying many files into an already populated folder.

You are now in a position to SET these variables one by one, in any combination of TRUE and FALSE. (They're all FALSE--disabled--by default.)

And if you want to see what the current variables are just type SET ( Nothing else )

Isn’t it nice to be using DOS again ?