Recovery Console install

I have an HP PC which came with a preinstalled version of XP Home. Needless to say the purchase of this PC did not include the original XP Home CD. HP uses a lousey recovery partition. Later, through Microsoft's automatic update, my system was updated to SP2.
This update I understand is not reflected in the preinstalled i386 folder which is on my C: drive.

Just for the heck of it, I dedcided to try to install the Recovery Console using C drive as the location of i386 installation files.

I typed in "Run" c:\i386\winnt32.exe/cmdcons, clicked OK, and got the error message "Setup cannot continue because the version of Windows on your computer is newer than the version on the CD" which was no surprise to me.

My daughter recently updated from Windows ME to Windows XP Home which already included SP2 in the CD.

What I would like to know is can I use my daughter's XP Home CD with XP2 included to install the Recovery Console onto my PC or would such a venture cause conflicts with Windows keys etc.

I do have the free SP2 CD from Microsoft. Would it be better to slipstream the contents of this CD into the preinstalled i386 files already on my C: drive and then try to install the Recovery Console?

 

That sounds like the way to go....the last bit. Never had a system without the original windows CD.

Whatever you do though I would back up the recovery partition just in case it has a hissy fit.