What is the Recovery Console of Windows XP used for?

What is the Recovery Console of Windows XP used for?

The Recovery Console is a module to be used for emergency recovery when Windows XP does not start. User is able to recover the system without using the Recovery CD or extract data when the Recovery Console is installed to Windows XP in advance.

The Recovery Console allows user to execute a number of management tasks including enabling and disabling of services, formatting of drives, reading and writing of the data of local drives (including the drives formatted with NTFS).

Note:
Recovery Console should be used only by users who are experienced enough to use the basic commands to identify and specify the defective drivers and files.
Recovery Console should be only used by the administrator of the computer.

For more information, please refer to the following solution in Microsoft's technical support website.
Article ID: Q229716
Last Reviewed: December 16, 2001
Title: Description of Windows Recovery Console (Q229716)