I made a mistake while loading linux to dual boot with xp... lilo wrote over my master boot record and I was no longer able to load xp. (not that thats a bad thing...)

When trying to repair the master boot record so I can use both operating systems, I tried to use the recovery console.

Apparently if you rename/delete your admin account on a machine running xp, you can't use the xp recovery console because it asks for the administrator account password.

After many many tries, I thought I was going to have to format and reload. All my data gone and I haven't backed up in at least two months!

I tried everything, even Win9x boot disks...

It turns out, you can use the Win2k boot disks to access the recovery console. There you have access to all recovery console commands without providing admin password. I could copy/delete/move/rename etc. files to and from external media.

However I wasn't able to move to a directory that had a space in it.

cd winnt
cd drivers
cd tempcd

worked just fine

cd program files
cd documents and settings

did not work

I thought I had read somewhere that the recovery console will give you access to only windows setup folders and files?

Anyway, I thought it was strange as you need an account and password for every other boot option.
In this case I was happy that I didn't have to reload my whole system.