Installing the Recovery Console in XP after you install SP2:
"Help! I am trying to install the recovery console. It tells me the current version of Windows is newer than that on the disk and won't proceed."
Sound familiar? When you try to install the Recovery Console in Windows XP after SP2 is installed you will encounter the above situation.
While no KB article exists as yet regarding this situation for XP, there is one that references the same situation in regards to Windows 2000:
So currently the only way around this is to create a "slipstreamed" XP SP2 CD and then install the RC.
Another option: http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/xpfaq.html#fix
How to create a slipstreamed XP SP2 CD here.
Or try Autostreamer a "quick and easy" slipstreamer for Windows Operating Systems.
More Slipstreaming links here.
OK, so what is the Recovery Console and why do I need it?
Typically, the Recovery Console (RC) is best left in the hands of advanced users and you have to be an administrator to use it at all. The RC is 'command line only', there is no graphical user interface. There are certain commands that, when entered at the command prompt allow the user to recover the OS, fix the Master Boot Record (MBR) and other tasks. If you decide to install it, the Windows boot manager is also installed so at each boot/reboot you will have the choice of starting Windows normally or starting the RC. The RC can also be run directly from the Windows XP CD by booting from the CD.
You can read more about the RC here: