How To Replace a Driver by Using Recovery Console in Windows 2000 (313670)

SUMMARY

This step-by-step article describes how to use Recovery Console to replace a driver on a Windows 2000-based computer that you cannot start.

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Requirements

To replace a driver, you must have a copy of the uncorrupted driver files. You must also know in which folder the driver file is located.

NOTE: Only the Administrator account can obtain access to Recovery Console. To use Recovery Console on domain controllers, you need the DS Restore password. The DS Restore password was specified during the Active Directory Promotion Wizard.

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Start Recovery Console

To start Recovery Console, use one of the following methods.

If Recovery Console Is Not Installed

1. Start your computer by using the Windows Setup floppy disks, or with the Windows CD-ROM.
2. At the "Welcome to Setup" screen, press R to repair the installation, and then press C to start Recovery Console.
3. Select the Windows installation that you want to repair, and then press ENTER.
4. Type the Administrator password, and then press ENTER.
   
   NOTE: Recovery Console uses the Administrator password that you configured when you installed Windows 2000. Changes that you make to the Administrator password after you install Windows 2000 do not apply to Recovery Console.

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If Recovery Console Is Installed

1. Restart your computer.
2. When you are prompted Select the operating system to start, select Microsoft Windows 2000 Recovery Console.
   
   NOTE: If Recovery Console does not appear in the list, Recovery Console is not installed. Follow the steps in the previous section to start Recovery Console.
3. Select the Windows installation that you want to repair, and then press ENTER.
4. Type the Administrator password, and then press ENTER.
   
   NOTE: Recovery Console uses the Administrator password that you configured when you installed Windows 2000. Changes that you make to the Administrator password after you install Windows 2000 do not apply to Recovery Console.

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Extract the Driver Files from the Windows 2000 Installation CD-ROM

Installation files are stored on the Windows 2000 installation CD-ROM in compressed folders that are known as cabinet (.cab) files. Driver files are stored in the Driver.cab file.

To use original driver files that are included on the Windows 2000 installation CD-ROM to replace damaged driver files:

1. Insert the Windows 2000 installation CD-ROM in the CD-ROM drive.
2. At the command prompt in Recovery Console, type the following line, and then press ENTER:

   expand d:\i386\driver.cab /f:filename [path]

   In this command, replace d: with the CD-ROM drive letter, filename with the name of the file to expand, and path with the folder in which to copy the driver file. Typically, driver (.sys) files are stored in the %SystemRoot%\System32\Drivers folder.
   
   For example, to replace the Atimpab.sys driver file, you might type:

   expand d:\i386\driver.cab /f:atimpab.sys %systemroot%\System32\Drivers\

   Note that in this command, you must use the /f switch because the Driver.cab cabinet file contains more than one file.

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Replace the Driver Files by Using the COPY Command

If the driver files that you want are not located in a cabinet (.cab) file, you can use the Recovery Console copy command to overwrite the corrupted files. To do this:

1. At the command prompt, type the following line, and then press ENTER:

   copy [source_path] source_filename [destination_path] destination_filename

   In this command, replace source_path with the path for the source replacement file, source_filename with the name of the replacement file, destination_path with the path for the driver file that you want to replace, and destination_filename with the name of the driver file that you are replacing.
   
   For example, to replace the Atimpab.sys file with a known good copy from a floppy disk drive, you might type:

   copy a:\atimpab.sys c:\winnt\system32\drivers\atimpab.sys

   Note that the copy command in Recovery Console does not support wildcard characters. Therefore, you can copy only one file at a time. If you must replace more than one file, use multiple copy commands.
   
   
2. When you are prompted to confirm that you want to overwrite the existing file, press Y, and then press ENTER.

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Add Recovery Console to an Existing Installation

You can add Recovery Console to an existing installation of Windows 2000 by using the winnt32.exe /cmdcons command. Recovery Console requires approximately 7 megabytes (MB) of space in the system partition on the hard disk.

NOTE: If you are using software mirroring, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For additional information about how to install Recovery Console, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: back to the top