Booting process of Windows NT: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 10:39, 7 January 2024

Revision as of 00:43, 12 March 2024

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{{technical|date=October 2011}}}}

{{short description|Process by which several Microsoft Windows operating systems initialize}}

The '''booting process of Windows NT''' is the process run to start [[Windows NT]]. The process has been changed between releases, with the biggest changes being made with [[Windows Vista]]. In versions before Vista, the booting process begins when the [[BIOS]] loads the Windows NT [[bootloader]], [[NTLDR]]. Starting with Vista, the booting process begins with either the [[BIOS]] or [[UEFI]] loadloading the [[Windows Boot Manager]], which replaces NTLDR as the bootloader. Next, the bootloader starts the [[ntoskrnl.exe|kernel]], which starts the [[Session Manager Subsystem|session manager]], which begins the [[Winlogon|login process]]. Once the user is logged in, [[File Explorer]], the [[graphical user interface]] used by [[Windows NT]], is started.

== History ==

Windows Vista introduces a complete overhaul of the Windows operating system loader architecture.<ref>{{cite web |title=Inside the Windows Vista Kernel – Startup Processes |url=https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/2007.03.vistakernel.aspx |access-date=2010-10-01 |publisher=Microsoft}}</ref><ref name="BCD">{{cite web |author=Microsoft |author-link=Microsoft |date=February 4, 2008 |title=Boot Configuration Data in Windows Vista |url=http://download.microsoft.com/download/a/f/7/af7777e5-7dcd-4800-8a0a-b18336565f5b/BCD.docx |access-date=April 18, 2015 |format=DOCX}}</ref> The earliest known reference to this revised architecture is included within [[PowerPoint]] slides distributed by [[Microsoft]] during the [[Windows Hardware Engineering Conference]] of 2004, when the operating system was codenamed as "Longhorn". This documentation mentions that the Windows operating system loader would be undergoing a significant restructuring in order to support [[Extensible Firmware Interface|EFI]] and to "do some major overhaul of legacy code".<ref name="Restructuring">{{cite web |last=Ritz |first=Andrew |date=2004 |title=EFI and Windows 'Longhorn' |url=http://download.microsoft.com/download/1/8/f/18f8cee2-0b64-41f2-893d-a6f2295b40c8/TW04022_WINHEC2004.ppt |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040609090303/http://download.microsoft.com/download/1/8/f/18f8cee2-0b64-41f2-893d-a6f2295b40c8/TW04022_WINHEC2004.ppt |archive-date=June 9, 2004 |access-date=April 18, 2015 |publisher=[[Microsoft]] |format=PPT}}</ref> The new boot architecture completely replaces the [[NTLDR]] architecture used in previous versions of [[Windows NT]].<ref name="BCD"/>

Most of the steps that follow the NT kernel being loaded, including kernel initialization and user-space initialization, are kept the same as in earlier NT systems.<ref name="pollard">{{cite web |author-last=de Boyne Pollard |author-first=Jonathan |title=The Windows NT 6 boot process |url=https://jdebp.eu/FGA/windows-nt-6-boot-process.html |work=Frequently Given Answers}}</ref> Refactoring in [[Winlogon]] resulted in [[Graphical identification and authentication|GINA]] being completely replaced by Credential Providers and graphical components in Windows Vista and later.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Winlogon and GINA |url=http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa380543.aspx |access-date=4 December 2014 |website=[[MSDN]] |publisher=[[Microsoft]]}}</ref>