Over the years Operating Systems have evolved from DOS to
Windows 7. With that
evolution there has been another evolution, how to fix the problems inherent
with the increasingly complex environment of the computer operating system.
When NT was introduced it came on ninety floppy disks.
Then the bootable cd a
couple of years later. The first three floppies would start the system and you
could trouble shoot it from there, when the CD came out it had an option for
trouble shooting your computer. With Windows 2000, XP, Vista, and now
Windows 7 trouble
shooting your problems are no longer so simple. MS has deicide to use what they
call the Emergency Recovery Console. This is a convoluted, confusing, and down
right unusable program. So as with most MS products they have to did have a solution,
a fix, that fix is ERD Commander.
So what is ERD
Commander? It is a mini XP operating system on a cd. It has aXP
style desktop and tools to fix problems with a computer that will not start or
you have locked your self out
I would recommend you have
ERD Commander in your TS Toolbox. This will allow you
to recover data from a non functional computer, it will allow you to use Ghost
to put the image you made back on in the event of a hardware or software
failure. You can remove hardware or software drivers that were installed and
caused a blue screen when the computer restarted. There are a lot of things you
can do with ERD Commander that I have not listed.
A plus is it is a bootable cd, no need for a floppy!
Quote from Microsoft's web site
"When your server or
workstation won't boot, you need ERD Commander 2005. ERD Commander 2005 boots
dead systems directly from CD into a Windows-like repair environment. You'll
have full access to the dead system's volumes, so you can diagnose and repair
problems using tools located on the ERD Commander 2005 Start menu. And you'll
have built-in network access to safely move data off of, or on to, the dead
system. With ERD Commander 2005 you can repair a system quickly and easily,
saving you time and rescuing your critical data.
Key features:
Boots dead systems directly from CD
Easy, familiar Windows-like interface
Intuitive Solution Wizard helps you select the right tool to correct your system
issue
Includes Crash Analyzer Wizard to pinpoint the cause of recent system crashes
for repair
Allows complete disk sanitizing/data removal with Disk Wipe utility
Includes the Locksmith utility to reset lost Administrator passwords
Includes FileRestore so that you can quickly find and recover deleted files
Provides access to XP Restore Points on unbootable Windows XP systems
Detect malware and other applications that may be consuming system resources
Compares key info on unbootable systems with that of a working system for
diagnosis and troubleshooting
Automatically identifies and replaces critical system files that have become
corrupt
Allows for formatting and partitioning of disks
Provides emergency removal capability for faulty hotfixes
Built-in network access to safely copy data to/from dead systems
Repair and diagnostic tools located on Start menu
Repair tools include System Restore tool, System File Repair, Service and Driver
Manager, Hotfix Uninstall Wizard, Locksmith, Registry Editor, Explorer, Disk
Management, and Command Prompt
Data recovery tools include Disk Commander and FileRestore
Diagnostic tools include Crash Analyzer Wizard, System Compare, Autoruns, Event
Log Viewer, System Information, TCP/IP Configuration, and Logical volumes
utilities
Compatible with Windows NT, 2000, XP, and Server 2003."
This article written in late 2006 has it's points, but Microsoft has
discontinued the product. Even though there are in excess of 100 Million
computers in the world that still use XP.
Pitfalls or other things you will need with ERD Commander:
One thing that comes to mind is the amount of support built into this program.
If you have a system that is a year older than the version of ERD you have there
is a good chance that all the device drivers you will need are on the cd. If you
have a newer system you may have to get drivers for the video, any raid array
controller, or network card you have in the system. Another draw back to the cd
is that if you want to use a recovery tool such as
Ghost you will have to have it on a separate disk or device like a usb flash
drive or external hard drive.
At the time of writing this article
ERD Commander was widely available but do to
Microsoft's dropping support of this fine program in favor of the 'command
console' kludge it will be extremely hard to find.
Because this program is the only one of its kind
(there are some kludge imitations on the web,
I do not recommend trusting your
data or business to a kludge) and I have used it since it was first introduced
many years ago I will rate it 8 of 10. The reason for the rating is MS is making
you buy a product that they had to produce instead of incorporating it in the cd
that the OS installation comes on and remove the ER console that is useless.
Update -
Windows 7 has a build a Emergency Recovery (ER) CD function
that works quite well in conjunction with the
Restore points and system imaging programs. It is recommended that if you have
Windows 7 that you create the ER CD. You can use it almost in the same way as
with ERD, the difference is you have to use the Command Prompt Console and MS
convoluted syntax to do your repairs. I have used it twice to restore a Windows
7 installation. Once to repair the boot record and once to install a Ghost Image
of a Windows 7 install.
This site contains a lot of information. As
with any publication not all information is available due to space, time, or
subject constraints.
If you have a question that you did not find the answer
on this web site you a can
ask your question here and we will endeavor to get you the most up to date
answer possible!
