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When a user is logging on to Windows, the startup sound is played, the shell (usually EXPLORER.EXE) is loaded from the [boot] section of the SYSTEM.INI file, and startup items are loaded. In all versions of Windows 9x except ME, it is also possible to load Windows by booting to a DOS prompt and typing "win".
On system with BIOS firmware, the BIOS invokes MBR boot code from a hard disk drive at startup. The MBR boot code and the VBR boot code are OS-specific. In Microsoft Windows, the MBR boot code tries to find an active partition (the MBR is only 512 bytes), then executes the VBR boot code of an active partition.
As of November 2024, Windows 11, accounting for 35% of Windows installations worldwide, [20] is the second most popular Windows version in use, with its predecessor Windows 10 still being the most used version in virtually all countries (with Guyana being an exception, where Windows 11 is the most used [21]), with it globally at over 2 times ...
Before Windows 7, the system and boot partitions were, by default, the same and were given the "C:" drive letter. [7]: 971 Since Windows 7, however, Windows Setup creates, by default, a separate system partition that is not given an identifier and therefore is hidden. The boot partition is still given "C:" as its identifier.
In x86 computers, a first-stage bootloader is a compact 512-byte program that resides in the master boot record (MBR) and executes when a computer starts. Running in 16-bit real mode at address 0x7C00, it performs minimal hardware initialization, sets up a basic execution environment, and locates the second-stage bootloader.
Also, Windows 11 requires UEFI to boot, [87] with the exception of IoT Enterprise editions of Windows 11. [10] UEFI is required for devices shipping with Windows 8 [88] [89] and above. Other alternatives to the functionality of the "Legacy BIOS" in the x86 world include coreboot and libreboot.
A modern PC is configured to attempt to boot from various devices in a certain order. If a computer is not booting from the device desired, such as the floppy drive, the user may have to enter the BIOS Setup function by pressing a special key when the computer is first turned on (such as Delete, F1, F2, F10 or F12), and then changing the boot order. [6]
Used during the boot process to detect basic hardware components that may be required during the boot process Windows Boot Manager: In Windows Vista and later operating systems, displays boot menus to the user if multiple operating systems are configured in the system's Boot Configuration Data. Graphical subsystem: Desktop Window Manager: DWM