A+ Certification/Exam Objectives/Windows 7

WINDOWS VISTA / 7 BOOT PROCESS

1. BIOS runs POST.
2. Computer finds the boot device and loads Master Boot Record (MBR) into RAM.
3. MBR looks for the active partition on the boot device and loads the boot sector.
4. The boot sector in turn starts the bootmgr file, which loads the operating system.
5. bootmgr configures the computer’s processor to recognize all of the memory.
6. bootmgr starts the file system and the operating system loads. Windows Vista/7 must be NTFS.
7. bootmgr checks the BCD and bootsect.bak files to find the operating system(s) and to create the boot menu.
8. After the operating system is selected, bootmgr makes the hardware list.
9. bootmgr loads Ntoskrnl.exe, which is the kernel of the operating system.
10. The operating system starts the graphical user interface.
11. Ntoskrnl.exe loads Smss.exe, which is the Session Manager.
12. The user logs on.