CHAPTER 17

THE WINDOWS NT BOOT PROCESS

The Windows NT boot process occurs in stages: The Power On Self Test (POST) process,

the Initial Startup Process, the Boot loader process, the boot sequence, and the load phase.

Files Required for Windows NT System Boot

Intel x86 RISC

Ntldr osloader.exe

Boot.ini *.pal (Alpha only)

Bootsect.dos

Ntdetect.com

Ntbootdds.sys (SCSI only)

Ntoskrnl.exe

System

Device Drivers

Hal.dll

Intel x86 Boot Sequence Files

Ntldr. This hidden, read-only system file loads the operating system.

Boot.ini. This is a 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 system file loaded by ntldr if another operating system, such as

Microsoft MS-DOS, Microsoft Windows 95, or O/S 2 version 1.x is selected instead of Windows

NT. This file contains the boot sector that was on the hard disk before installing Windows NT.

Ntdetect.com. This is a hidden, read-only system file used to examine the hardware available and

to build a hardware list. This information is passed back to Ntldr to be added to the registry later

in the boot process.

Ntbootdd.sys. This hidden, read-only system file is only on systems that boot from a SCSI hard

disk and on which the BIOS on the SCSI adapter is disabled. This driver accesses devices attached

to the SCSI adapter during the Windows NT boot sequence.

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Boot Sequence:

• CPU
• RAM
• Keyboard
• Video
• Plug and Play BIOS
• Boot track

Check problems in the BIOS versus on the operating system. That is usually a more reasonable

problem.

Windows 98 and DOS:

I/O.sys

msdos.sys

config.sys

command.com

autoexec.bat

When you format^/s you call on all hidden files. The above are all hidden files.

Boot Sequence Disk:

• Ntldr
• Boot.ini (we can see it, in our menu)
• Ntdectect.com
• Ntoskrnl.exe
• Bootsect.doc (additional, for a previous operating system, WIN 98, to allow you to

Dual boot. Just like what happened to me with the reinstall)

Ntbootdd.sys is used if you have SCSI with BIOS disabled.

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It is important to keep an up-to-date repair disk, and boot.ini file.

(default must match the first line of the operating systems)

Operating Systems

Default-mulit(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)

Multi (0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition (2)

Multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partion(2)

C:\=”Microsoft Windows”

You can have a very long boot.ini file if you are constantly reinstalling, it will not remove the

information. It is a good idea to go in and do some system maintenance.

My computer/right click properties/when STOP error occurs, or a blue screen of Death

The swap file must be on your boot partition.

The last known good picks up the last used drivers.

How to create a repair disk:

Run rdisk at a command prompt

Rdisk^/s gives you the system and security information, and takes all the hidden files also.

Firstly, you must format the diskettes in NT on the server, and you will need 4.

WINNT repair folder, you start the install and go into the Repair to fix it. Do not select the

option to repair the Registry.

Lesson 2: Troubleshooting the Boot Process

You can commonly have the error message tell you what file is missing, so you simply need

to locate it and add to the boot.ini. Ensure you have the proper path for the Boot.ini file.

However when Windows NT is installed, the boot.ini is placed at the Root of C, or the

active partition as a read-only, hidden system text file.

If you have to change the path to the Windows NT system files, make sure you edit both

the default path and the operating system path statements. If you change one but not both,

a new choice is added to the Boot Loader Operating System Selection menu.

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The new choice has a DEFAULT designator next to it, indicating that this choice attempts to load

the default operating system from the path designated on the default = line of the [boot loader]

section of the Boot.ini.

Creating a NT Boot Disk

• Format the diskettes, 4 on a computer running Windows NT.
• Copy the following files from the root of drive C to the root of drive a:

ntldr

ntdetect.com

boot.ini

bootsect.doc (if also running Win98)

ntbootdd.sys (if it exists)

Lesson 3: Last Known Good Configuration:

There are two, the default and the Last Known Good. The default is the last configuration

that was saved when the computer successfully shut down the last time.

The Last Known Good was when you successfully logged on to your computer.

The configurations are stored as control sets in the registry key HKEY_LOCAL-MACHINE\SYSTEM.

Lesson 4: Emergency Repair Disk:

Use the rdisk.exe utility, and this utility is located in the systemroot\System32 folder, and has

two options:

• Update Repair Information
• Create Repair Disk

In order to run rdisk.exe the user must be a member of the Administrators or Power Users

groups or have the appropriate privileges. For non-Administrators or non-power users, rdisk.exe

appears to work, but as it is saving files, the user gets an error message indicating that the utility

could not save all configuration files.

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The Update Repair Info Option

The Update Repair Info process overwrites the files in the systemroot\Repair folder. During

the update process, a $$hive$$.tmp file is created. This file temporarily stores the registry

information before it is copied to the appropriate file.

Setup.log

The setup.log is located in the Emergency Repair folder and on the Emergency Repair Disk.

Setup.log is used to check the validity of the Windows NT files on the system.

Summary:

• The Windows NT boot sequence requires the presence of a number of system files. For example,

Ntdlr is the main component for loading Windows NT on Intel-based computers, and Osloader

is the main boot component for RISC-based computers.

• Windows NT is loaded and in four phases: the kernel load phase, the kernel initialization phase,

the services load phase, and the Win32 subsystem start phase.

• If Windows NT fails to boot, there are several troubleshooting techniques you can try to correct

the problem, such as editing the Boot.ini file, using the last Known Good configuration, and trying

an Emergency Repair.

• The problem may be that the path for the systemroot folder, found in the Boot.ini file is incorrect.

If that is the case, you must edit the Boot.ini file.

• Booting from the Last Known Good configuration provides a way to recover from problems such

as a newly added driver that may be incorrect fore your system. It does not solve problems caused

by corrupted or missing drivers or files. The Last Known Good option is used only in cases of

incorrect configurations.

• The Emergency Repair folder and disk are used to return a computer running Windows NT to the

state of the last Emergency Repair update. The Emergency Repair folder and disk also include a

Setup.log file to verify files on the system.