- Locate your Windows XP CD and insert it in your primary CD or CD/DVD drive.
- Turn your PC on or restart your PC if it’s already running.
- Instead of loading Windows XP, your computer should boot from the Windows XP CD and you should see a message to Press any key to boot from CD, as in the screen shot above.
- Press any key to allow the computer to boot from the CD. If you do not press a key, your PC will continue to boot to the Windows XP installation on your hard drive as it normally does.
- When the Windows XP Professional/Home Setup screen appears, press R to enter Recovery Console.
- The Recovery Console is now loading but needs to know which Windows installation to access. Usually you just need to type 1 and press Enter.
- You will then be prompted fro the Administrator’s password. Unless you are using a PC on a business network, the administrator password is most likely the same password you use to access Windows XP on a daily basis. The password may also be blank (don’t type anything, just press enter). If you don’t know the password, or the Recovery Console won’t acecpt the correct password, see this post [1].
- The recovery console is now ready for use.