Chapter 2 Operating Systems 39
provides a menu of tools to repair a system as well
as an option to access the command prompt. The
menu options are
Startup
Repair,
System
Restore,
CompletePC
Restore,
Windows Memory Diagnostic
Tool, and
Command
Prompt.
There are also newer text-based commands
that complement today’s more sophisticated
operating systems. There will be much more about
command line support in Chapter 15—
PC Troubleshooting and in the Laboratory Manual.
Text-based commands are still very much a
part of the A+ Certification exams. To pass
the exams, you must be familiar with each
command’s function.
A+ Note
Graphical User Interface
A graphical user interface (GUI) allows
the user to perform functions by selecting on-
screen icons rather than by issuing text-based
commands. Although DOS and DOS-like systems
controlled over 80% of the market during the
1980s, the user-friendly graphical user interface
(GUI) of Macintosh gained popularity. Creating
GUIs for the PC in the form of Windows 3.1 and
as Recovery Console, used in Windows 2000 and
Windows XP, can only be run using text-based
commands. It is important that the technician be
able to use the command prompt.
Modern Windows systems do not use DOS
but rather a DOS emulator. The DOS emulator
has the look and feel of a real DOS prompt and
functions similarly. Many of the restrictions or
limitations of DOS are not found in the emulator
program. For example, many of the restricted
characters not allowed in DOS file names can be
used.
Windows XP also uses DOS-like commands
in the Recovery Console utility. The Recovery
Console utility allows a computer technician to
communicate with the Windows XP operating
system after a system GUI failure. When a
computer system fails during the startup
process, there is no GUI. The only means of
communicating with the computer system is by
using a non-graphical user interface such as the
Recovery Console. Many of the commands used in
Recovery Console look and work exactly like the
DOS commands and DOS emulator commands.
Figure 2-4 lists the most commonly used Recovery
Console commands.
Windows Vista replaced the Recovery Console
with a utility called the Recovery Environment.
Both provide access to a command prompt.
However, Windows Vista Recovery Environment
Goodheart-Willcox Publisher
Command Example Description
cd c:\cd\games Changes from the current location in a direc-
tory to another directory.
chkdsk c:\chkdsk c: Checks a disk for errors and displays the
results.
copy c:\copy d:memo.txt c:
Copies data from one location to another.
del c:\del memo.txt Deletes a fi le.
dir c:\dir Displays a list of fi les, directories, and
subdirectories.
exit c:\exit
Exits the command prompt window and
returns to the Windows desktop.
format c:\format a: Prepares a disk for fi rst-time use.
md c:\md c:\games Creates, or makes, a directory.
rd c:\rd c:\games
Deletes, or removes, a directory.
xcopy c:\xcopy c:\games d: Copies multiple fi les and directories.
Figure 2-3.
Table of commonly
used Windows text-
based commands.