How To Troubleshooting and Repairing Windows XP Professional Systems

Posted: September 11th, 2008 | Author: seodude | Filed under: Computer, how to, windows xp | Tags: , , , |

Troubleshooting and Repairing Windows XP Professional Systems
Windows XP Professional offers several advanced startup options for troubleshooting and repairing the operating system. In addition to supporting various options when you restart the computer, Windows XP also offers more effective ways to recover from reconfiguration errors or from intentional or accidental system damage than any other previous Microsoft operating system. With Windows XP, disaster recovery no longer needs to be an overly arduous process.

Safe Mode and Other Advanced Startup Options
Safe Mode enables you to start your system with a minimal set of device drivers and services. For example, if newly installed device drivers or software are preventing your computer from starting, you may be able to start your computer in Safe Mode and then remove the software or device drivers from your system. Safe Mode does not work in all situations, especially if your system files are corrupted or missing, or if your hard disk is damaged or has failed. All Safe Modes start using standard VGA and create a boot log, which is useful when you are determining the exact cause of system startup problems. As a precautionary measure, when you boot into Safe Mode, Windows XP does not update the Last Known Good Configuration information. So, you always have the option of booting the computer using the Last Known Good Configuration even after you have restarted the computer under Safe Mode and perhaps changed some settings. You can go back to the original settings under the Last Known Good Configuration and discard any changes you may have made under Safe Mode.

In Safe Mode, Windows XP uses default settings, including the VGA monitor, Microsoft mouse driver, no network connections, and the minimum device drivers required to start Windows. Support for audio devices, as well as for most USB and FireWire (IEEE 1394) devices, is disabled by Safe Mode. Users’ applications that normally run at startup do not run at startup under Safe Mode. If your computer does not start successfully using Safe Mode, you may need to use the Recovery Console feature or the Automated System Recovery (ASR) feature, covered later in this chapter, to repair your system.

Windows XP also provides several startup modes to help you troubleshoot and repair Windows XP systems, as well as recover from various types of disaster. Understanding each mode enables you to make informed decisions about the best startup method to use in a particular crisis situation. To select an advanced startup option, press the F8 key during the Windows XP startup process. The startup options definitely provide extra troubleshooting capabilities for your Windows XP machines. The following sections describe the Windows Advanced Options menu items that are available when you press the F8 key during startup for Windows XP Professional.

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