Remove recovery console from Windows XP

Once you have installed Recovery Console as described in the article Install Recovery Console in Windows XP, Windows gives you no option to uninstall the recovery console. The following procedure explains how to manually uninstall Recovery Console from the hard disk :

  1. There would be a hidden folder named cmdcons in your root drive. For example, C:cmdcons. You have to delete it. To delete it you must enable make hidden files visible in Windows Explorer. Read this article on how to do so : Display hidden files and folders in Windows XP. Once the hidden folder is visible, select it by left-clicking on it, and hit the Del key on your keyboard.
  2. There would be a file named boot.ini in the root folder, for example C:boot.ini. Right-click on it, select Properties, un-check Read only and click OK.

  3. Now open Windows Notepad, and drag the boot.ini file into Notepad. This would open boot.ini in Windows Notepad. In the file there would be a line in the end, that would look like :
    C:CMDCONSBOOTSECT.DAT=”Microsoft Windows Recovery Console” /cmdcons

    You have to delete this line. Just select the whole line with your mouse, and press the Del key on your keyboard. and save the file by pressing Ctrl + S or by selecting File → Save from the menu.

  4. After saving the file, close Notepad. Now we have to restore the Read only attribute back for the boot.ini file. Process is the reverse of he process in Step 2 above. Right-click on the boot.ini file in Windows Explorer, select Properties, check the Read only box and click OK.