Windows XP Boot Sequence
WINDOWS XP BOOT SEQUENCE As with other Windows Operating Systems, when you turn on your PC, it goes through an elaborate boot up process. It begins when the computer performs the POST (power-on self test), followed by the POST for each adapter card that has a BIOS, for example, your video card. The BIOS then reads the MBR (Master Boot Record) which is in the first sector of the first hard disk and transfers control to the code in the MBR which is created by the XP Setup. This is where Windows takes over the startup process. What comes next? Here's what happens: 1. The MBR reads the boot sector which is the first sector of the active partition.This sector contains the code that starts Ntldr which is the boot strap loader for Windows XP. The first role of Ntldr is to allow full memory addressing, start the file system, read boot.ini and put up the boot menu. IMPORTANT: Ntldr must be located in root folder of the active partition along with Ntdetect.com, boot.ini, bootsect.dos (f...
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