What is the NT Boot Process?

A. A. Firstly the files required for NT to boot are

Ntldr - This is a hidden, read-only system file that loads the operating system
Boot.ini - This is read-only system file, used to build the Boot Loader Operating System Selection menu on Intel x86-based computers
Bootsect.dos - This is a hidden file loaded by Ntldr if another operating system is selected
Ntdetect.com - This is a hidden, read-only system file used to examine the hardware available and to build a hardware list.
Ntbootdd.sys - This file is only used by systems that boot from a SCSI disk.

The common Boot sequence files are

Ntoskrnl.exe - The Windows NT kernel
System - This file is a collection of system configuration settings
Device drivers - These are files that support various device drivers
Hal.dll - Hardware Abstraction Layer software

The boot sequence is as follows

Power on self test (POST) routines are run
Master Boot Record is loaded into memory, and the program is run
The Boot Sector from Active Partition is Loaded into Memory
Ntldr is loaded and initialized from the boot sector
Change the processor from real mode to 32-bit flat memory mode
Ntldr starts the appropriate minifile system drivers. Minifile system drivers are built into Ntldr and can read FAT or NTFS
Ntldr reads the Boot.ini file
Ntldr loads the operating system selected, on of two things happen
* If Windows NT is selected, Ntldr runs Ntdetect.com
* For other operating system, Ntldr loads and runs Bootsect.dos and passes control to it. The Windows NT process ends here
Ntdetect.com scans the computer hardware and sends the list to Ntldr for inclusion in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\HARDWARE
Ntldr then loads Ntoskrnl.exe, Hal.dll and the system hive
Ntldr scans the System hive and loads the device drivers configured to start at boot time
Ntldr passes control to Ntoskrnl.exe, at which point the boot process ends and the load phases begin

End of Article

I have a Windows NT 4.0 SP6a Server that takes 45 min to boot. It get to step 8. below, at seems to hang for the larger part of the time. Then, it will finish the boot process and work fine. It is just a pain if I ever have to reboot.

1. Power on self test (POST) routines are run
2. Master Boot Record is loaded into memory, and the program is run
3. The Boot Sector from Active Partition is Loaded into Memory
4. Ntldr is loaded and initialized from the boot sector
5. Change the processor from real mode to 32-bit flat memory mode
6. Ntldr starts the appropriate minifile system drivers. Minifile system drivers are built into Ntldr and can read FAT or NTFS
7. Ntldr reads the Boot.ini file
8. Ntldr loads the operating system selected, on of two things happen
* If Windows NT is selected, Ntldr runs Ntdetect.com
* For other operating system, Ntldr loads and runs Bootsect.dos and passes control to it. The Windows NT process ends here
9. Ntdetect.com scans the computer hardware and sends the list to Ntldr for inclusion in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\HARDWARE
10. Ntldr then loads Ntoskrnl.exe, Hal.dll and the system hive
11. Ntldr scans the System hive and loads the device drivers configured to start at boot time
12. Ntldr passes control to Ntoskrnl.exe, at which point the boot process ends and the load phases begin

Thanks for any help.

Jeff November 14, 2003

I believe you might have some hardware problem, say your network card might be giving the detection problems to the ntdetect.

Try booting with the minimum hardware, and then gradually add one at a time.

If this fails try your software...I would say, just re-Install NT.

Bessie

Anonymous User April 13, 2005 (Article Rating:

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