SQL Server Magazine

If you work with Windows 2000 Server (Win2K Server), you'll probably run into problems sooner or later—I have. Luckily, Win2K Server has a suite of recovery tools that includes the Advanced Options menu, Emergency Repair Disk (ERD), and Recovery Console. Armed with these tools, you can recover from most OS scrapes.

The Advanced Options menu is a secondary Windows 2000 (Win2K) boot menu that includes stripped-down versions of Win2K (i.e., Safe Mode), a Last Known Good Configuration option that lets you return Win2K to its state at the last successful logon, a directory services repair mode that you can use to reestablish the Active Directory (AD) structure (i.e., restore AD servers and replicate changes to other AD servers), and a logging mechanism for recording the boot process. Most items in the Advanced Options menu help you recover from simple problems (e.g., choosing an unsupported video setting) by letting you either back out of the problem with the Last Known Good Configuration option or fix the problem with a Control Panel setting. These options can also help troubleshoot your server if the server isn't fully functional and you need to work in Safe Mode.

In contrast, the ERD and Recovery Console are good for a little R and R—repair and recovery. You'll need these tools when the server is so badly damaged or misconfigured that you must revert to a saved configuration or do some low-level repair work to get things running.

Using the Advanced Options Menu
When you boot a Win2K server, the server recognizes the system hardware and presents you with the Boot menu. Press F8 from the Boot menu to open the Advanced Options menu, which includes the Safe Mode options (Safe Mode, Safe Mode with Networking, Safe Mode with Command Prompt), Enable Boot Logging, Enable VGA Mode, and Last Known Good Configuration.

Safe Mode. All Safe Mode options are versions of Win2K that run only essential services to get the server running. Minor but important differences exist between the Safe Mode versions. Safe Mode uses the Windows Explorer interface but doesn't include networking support. Safe Mode with Networking uses the Windows Explorer interface but loads enough network support to let you use network resources. Safe Mode with Command Prompt is a network-disabled version of Win2K that replaces the explorer.exe shell that Win2K ordinarily uses with cmd.exe. In Safe Mode with Command Prompt, you can do anything on the local computer that you can do in the usual shell. You can even run GUI applications, if you don't mind a maximum resolution of 800 * 600 (640 * 480 by default, but you can edit the Control Panel Display applet) and 16 colors. However, you must begin applications from the command prompt or the Task Manager, which you can access by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del. Safe Mode with Command Prompt lets you fix your system when you experience problems with Windows Explorer.

Enable Boot Logging. The Enable Boot Logging option starts Win2K, creates the ntbtlog.txt file (which Screen 1, page 118, shows), and stores the file at the top of your system root directory. If you run into boot-sequence problems, you can review ntbtlog.txt to see which drivers loaded. Some drivers don't usually load; these drivers are available, but if the system doesn't require them, Win2K won't load them to conserve memory. However, if your network isn't working, you can scan ntbtlog.txt to determine whether the ndis.sys driver loaded. To take advantage of Enable Boot Logging, you need to know which drivers the system loads under ordinary operation. Run Enable Boot Logging when your server is running and save the output with a filename that shows the day on which you logged the boot and the server's basic configuration. If you later have boot problems, you can compare this healthy-boot record with the problem-boot record to pinpoint what's wrong.

Enable VGA Mode. If you're familiar with NT Server, you know that its OS boot menu has two entries for each instance of NT installed on the computer: One entry contains your selected graphics settings, and the other entry contains the VGA mode settings. These settings exist for good reason. NT 3.1 doesn't have a VGA mode; consequently, if you set up the wrong video driver in NT 3.1 and log on, you have to execute a complicated sequence of keystrokes to navigate to the Control Panel Display applet to fix your mistake. The VGA option doesn't exist on Win2K's Boot menu. To access the VGA option in Win2K, press F8 at the Boot menu and choose Enable VGA Mode from the resulting menu. Use this option to correct the problem if you install a bad video driver. You can access and use Enable VGA Mode at any time.

Last Known Good Configuration. Every time you boot your computer and log on successfully, Win2K stores the configuration information for the local machine in the Registry under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM.

Win2K stores a backup copy of this information and assigns a number to the copy. Win2K uses this backup if the default set of configuration information (which is the current set) becomes corrupt and unusable. In contrast to NT, which stores each boot's current set and clone, Win2K maintains one current control set, which is a pointer to a numbered copy. Win2K also maintains a numbered set as a Last Known Good configuration for use if the default configuration set becomes unusable.

To view the configuration information sets, start the Registry Editor (i.e., regedt32) and locate the HKEY_LOCAL _MACHINE\SYSTEM\Select entry. As Screen 2 shows, this entry includes four values: Current, Default, Failed, and LastKnownGood. If you restart the machine and boot as usual (i.e., without using the Advanced Options menu), Win2K will use the Default control set. The Failed value is the configuration set that is the Default set when you start the machine from the Last Known Good Configuration menu. By choosing the Last Known Good configuration option, you tell Win2K not to start with the Default configuration set; therefore, Win2K marks the Default set as Failed, even if nothing is wrong with it.

You don't need to tweak the Registry to use the Last Known Good Configuration option. Restart the computer and take the following steps:

1. When the system displays the Boot menu, press F8 to open the Advanced Options menu.
2. Select Last Known Good from the Boot menu and press Enter. The Boot menu will reappear with Last Known Good Configuration printed in red letters at the bottom of the screen. The red lettering reminds you that if you load this option, you're choosing to reverse all nonsecurity-related Registry changes made during the last session. Press F3 to return to the main boot menu. (You can also reach the Last Known Good Configuration menu by pressing the spacebar when the system prompts you during the system boot.)
3. When you select Last Known Good, Win2K displays the Last Known Good/Hardware Profiles menu, which lists all previously created hardware profiles. If you haven't created any new hardware profiles, the system lists your current configuration as Profile 1. Choose the profile you want, then press Enter to boot the computer.

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