WinXP Recovery Console - "Access is denied" WTF?

[Guest kevinmd88]

Okay, so I need to copy files from one hard drive to a USB jump/flash drive without actually starting up Windows XP. (Pro, if that matters.)

I've tried using a boot disk, but it doesn't recognize any of my IDE hard disk drives, or the jump drive for that matter. I tried downloading usbaspi.sys and loading it with "device=usbaspi.sys" in CONFIG.SYS for the boot disk, but it still didn't work. After about 4 hours of trying to get a working boot disk that would do the job, I gave up.

Then I found out that the Windows XP installation CD comes with a "recovery console" which is basically a souped-up password protected command prompt. I found that it recognizes all my hard drives as well as the USB jump drive. So I'm thinking "FINALLY". . .

But then when I try to access any folder other than the C:\ root directory (and files on the root, but I don't have any I need ther), I get an "Access is denied." response with:

copy [file] D:

Where D: happens to be my flash drive.

Does anyone know how to gain access to all files and folders on the hard disk drive, without starting up windows XP?

Thanks

[Mr. Chronopoulos]

Use a Linux LiveCD. Why is it so imperative to avoid booting anyway?

[Guest kevinmd88]

Well, it's not so much that I don't want to boot up WinXP. It's that I can't. :/

I explained everything in my other thread (in hardware hangout) - I'll summarize it and say that my CD-ROMs weren't being detected.

I took my computer to a repair shop and they just told me that the Enhanced IDE plug I was using needs RAID drivers. And that's why it isn't detecting the CD-ROMs because that channel isn't active. Something like that. But I remember it making sense, haha :D.

They told me I just had to repair Windows XP (the second choice for repair in the WinXP setup CD, after you press F8 for the license agreement), and it should work.

So I did that and now Windows XP hangs on the "Installing devices" part of the actual GUI setup thing. It never gets past what appears to be about 80% done. I don't know why, but I figured if I could just backup all my files I'd be able to just do a fresh install.

So anyway, if I remember correctly, Linux LiveCD is a CD image of a bootable operating system. . . Does it matter that it's using NTFS? And even so, is there any way to do this using a Windows-based client?

[Cloud Geek]

I would try downloading a trial version of winternals admin pack if thats possible they are now owned by microsoft so you may have no choice but to use bit torrent

or you could use another pc with a simple external drive kit and antistatic wrist strap :)

[Jeff-Flowers]

The reason you get an "access denied" is because of a security features of XP's recovery console. The registery setting can be modified so that you can go where ever you want in Recovery Console.

Fred Langa has an excellent article online that describes all of this, and the Recovery Console in general, in this Information Week article:

http://www.informationweek.com/story/showA...cleID=187000225