Question : Recovery Console - "Copy c:\ d:\" fails!

My Windows XP Professional laptop won’t boot.  (Error: “Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \windows\system32\config\system”)

So I’ve booted into the recovery console.  I have an external USB hard drive hooked up and want to simply copy all of the computer’s data over to it to back it all up.  So it should be as simple as:

copy c:\ d:\backup\

right?  Well, no.  Doing that gives me the error of “COPY does not support wildcards or directory copies.”

So my next thought was to use XCOPY.  However, I can’t run xcopy.  I put it on the external hard drive from a working computer, and any time I try one of the following, I get the error “The command is not recognized.  Type HELP for a list of supported commands.”

xcopy
d:\xcopy
d:\XCOPY.EXE
c:\WINDOWS\system32\xcopy

etc.

So what can I do to simply dump this hard drive onto the external USB drive???  The USB drive is there and I can move single files between the laptop and the external drive.  But I just can’t seem to do anything in bulk!!!?

Answer : Recovery Console - "Copy c:\ d:\" fails!

To further document what leew said above about the limited nature of Recovery Console:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;314058
Description of the Windows XP Recovery Console

The relevant quotation:

Restrictions and Limitations of the Recovery Console
When you use the Windows Recovery Console, you can use only the following folders:
The root folder

The %SystemRoot% folder and the subfolders of the Windows installation that you are currently logged on to

The Cmdcons folder

Removable media drives such as CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drives

NOTE : If you try to obtain access to other folders, you receive an "Access Denied" error message. Also, while you are using the Windows Recovery Console, you cannot copy a file from the local hard disk to a floppy disk. You can copy a file from a floppy disk or from a CD-ROM to a hard disk, and from one hard disk to another hard disk.