During the boot process, the BIOS is responsible for looking at the storage device inside of the computer to find a bootable partition. Where does the BIOS find this information?
A) POST
B) MBR
C) NTLDR
D) NTDETECT
The answer: B) MBR
The BIOS usually finds the master boot record on the first sector of the first hard drive in the computer. The MBR contains partition information for the drive, including the location of the system’s bootable partition. From this point, the boot sector begins the operating system startup.
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Want to know more? Watch “The Windows Boot Process.” When most people start Windows, they see a graphical “splash” screen and a moving status bar. Under the surface, Windows is initializing hardware, loading configuration files, and handing off control to the Windows kernel. In this video, we’ll look at this process in-depth and review some utilities that can assist with troubleshooting the Windows startup process. |