Boot Process
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A Master Boot Record ( MBR ) is a special type of boot sector at the very beginning of partitioned computer mass storage devices like fixed disks or removable drives intended for use with IBM PC-compatible systems and beyond. The MBR holds the information on how the logical partitions, containing file systems , are organized on that medium. Besides that, the MBR functions as an operating system independent chain boot loader in conjunction with each partition's Volume Boot Record (VBR). MBRs are not present on non-partitioned media like floppies , superfloppies or other storage devices configured to behave as such.
Master boot record
The Standard Master Boot Record
Other Microsoft MBR pages: The MBR created by Windows 95B/98/98SE and ME 's FDISK The MBR created by Windows 2000/XP/2003 Installs or Disk Management Utility The MBR created by Windows Vista OS Installs or Disk Management Utility The MBR created by Windows 7 Installs or Disk Management Utility And Microsoft OS Volume Boot Records : An Examination of the Windows 95B/98/98SE/Me OS Boot Record (MSWIN4.1) An Examination of the Windows 2000/XP OS Boot Record (NTFS) An Examination of the Windows Vista OS Volume Boot Record (NTFS) An Examination of the Windows 7 OS Volume Boot Record Confused? Send me an email if you have a specific question about the MBR or any Boot Records...
MBRFIX.EXE 1.3.0.0 (Author: Kåre Smith; of Systemintegrasjon AS ; for Windows™ NT/2000 , XP , 2003 , Vista and Windows 7 ). This links to a very nice page describing all the program's commands. MBRFIX.bat is a Batch (*.bat) program you can use to run some simple MbrFix commands on a Windows computer without having to first open a Command Line Interface (CLI) window. This Batch program will also record the date and time it was run, in the same way that our Sector Inspector Batch program does.
Tools for MBR/Boot Records and References
liveusb-creator - Trac
The liveusb-creator is a cross-platform tool for easily installing live operating systems on to USB flash drives.
Boot from USB
PCs use a system called the BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) to start the machine. A modern BIOS (written after 2002) usually contains USB drivers and a boot from USB option but older computers often don't have these features. There are two common problems:Hi folks, my name is David and I’m an Escalation Engineer for Microsoft. Since Bryan wrote about How Windows Shuts Down , I thought it would be a good idea to cover How Windows Starts Up. This information applies specifically to Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003. I will blog separately on the boot changes in Windows Vista.
How Windows Starts Up (part 1 of 4) - Ntdebugging Blog
How Windows Starts Up (Part the second) - Ntdebugging Blog
Howdy folks, David here again with part two of How Windows Starts Up. Today we’ll be covering the Boot Loader Phase . Let’s take a moment to recap where we are at this point.
Inside the Linux boot process
In the early days, bootstrapping a computer meant feeding a paper tape containing a boot program or manually loading a boot program using the front panel address/data/control switches.
Understanding the content and function of a file system "boot sector" can be helpful when troubleshooting boot failures or disk corruption. From time to time, usually due to hardware failure or virus infection, a boot sector may become corrupted. If the partition is the active primary partition, or a partition containing operating system files, this can prevent the system from starting.
Detailed Explanation of FAT Boot Sector