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Booting a 2nd hard drive from within windows

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by consult troy

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I have a laptop that has just lost some system files for Windows XP Pro. This laptop is encrypted and the password is required for the laptop to boot the hard disk. I intend to rescue this using a second computer and a 2.5 inch usb drive enclosure.
What I need to know is, if there is any way that I can boot a hard drive (from the boot sector onwards as I need to un-encrypt the drive before i can edit the sys files) from Windows XP Pro. Or any other OS for that matter.
Note: I still have the encryption password, I simply can't fix the system files till i can un-encrypt the drive and still be able to change files afterwards.

Also if there is an absolute way of changing Windows XP Pro boot order with out changing the contents of the hard disk. Such as a key stroke to invoke safe mode or simillar, even a command prompt should suffice.

Any help would be much appreciated, I have extremely important personal data on the drive that I need in the next few days.

Thanks in advance.

2 replies

by oh smeg

However you can access the Encrypted Files and the Encryption Key and save them to a different HDD where you can access your Data.

you need to make a few changes to the XP Pro system but they are easy and simple to do.

The first thing that you need to do is take ownership of the files by following the directions here

http://tinyurl.com/3aw7

Then save a copy of the encryption Key following the directions here

http://tinyurl.com/3cd8hf

Or you can just backup the Encryption Key and then perform an In Place Install which will overwrite the existing OS but totally destroy the Encryption Key and when the system is running properly copy the encryption key back and then access your data. The directions to do an In Place install are here

http://tinyurl.com/g4bv8

Col

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