Which disk do you need?

You need to repair your Windows XP installation from the Windows installation program. What system disk is required to complete the repair?

A) Automated System Recovery disk

B) Windows Extras disk

C) Windows Backup and Restore disk

D) MS-DOS boot disk

E) Sam, make it a double.

The answer: A) Automated System Recovery disk

The Automated System Recovery disk contains critical system configuration information, but it doesn’t hold any user data. Since the recovery process performs some extreme configuration changes, it should probably be used as a last-ditch recovery effort.

Want to know more? Watch “Recovering the Operating System.” When things go bad with an operating system, they can often go very, very bad. In this video, we’ll show you how you can recover from major operating system startup problems using Safe Mode, Last Known Good Configuration, Automated System Recovery Disks, and the Windows Recovery Console.