Note One of the drawbacks of Windows NT and earlier versions of the Windows NT operating system was shared system files | Note One of the drawbacks of Windows NT and earlier versions of the Windows NT operating system was shared system files which could be overwritten during installation of incompatible third-party software. Starting with Windows 2000 this drawback was eliminated by the addition of appropriate protection for critical system files. This functionality was discussed in Chapter 6. If you wish to avoid startup problems I recommend that you regularly use these tools. Parallel Installation of the Operating System What else can be done to provide universal troubleshooting tools for startup problems A traditional method of increasing the probability of quick and easy recovery became popular among users of Windows NT and earlier. This method is known as parallel installation of the operating system . The parallel installation is another copy of the Windows NT-based operating system installed on the same computer in a different installation folder preferably on a hard disk different from the primary installation. If the main operating system the one you use most frequently fails to boot an additional copy of the operating system will allow quick access to NTFS volumes system files and registry hives. Another method of providing access to NTFS volumes after system failures is to use the NTFSDOS utility which will be discussed in Chapter 14. Note Parallel OS installations weaken the system security like NTFSDOS parallel installations provide a backdoor to your main operating system. Thus from a reliability and recoverability point of view both parallel OS installations and NTFSDOS are beneficial. From a security point of view they re not ideal methods. Although the introduction of Recovery Console has significantly reduced the need for parallel OS installation during a system recovery operation this additional safeguard should not be dismissed altogether. Despite the power of Recovery Console you may wish to continue using parallel OS installation on the most critical .
