[Bruinaholic]

In simple (non internet definitions) terms, your own words, can someone please define what the following files do, please. I would greatly appreciate it.

NTLDR
BOOT.INI
NTDETECT.COM
NTOSKRNL.EXE
HAL.DLL
WINLOGON
NTBOOTDD.SYS
BOOTSECT.DOS
WINSTART.BAT


Thanks

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sounds like a homework exercise to me...am i right?

[dsenette]

sounds like a homework exercise to me...am i right?

[Bruinaholic]

No, Just trying to get a simplistic answer for each so I can remember it better. That's all. I promise.

[dsenette]

ok

NTLDR - stands for NTLOADER...it takes controll of the boot process after POST (power on self test)...basically BIOS does all the hardware checks etc...then sends the process on to NTLDR

BOOT.INI - is an information file that contains the instructions that NTLDR looks for to decide where your windows installation is, how many installationis of windows you have, which one is default, and if there are any special commands (like /safeboot for safemode)

NTOSKRNL.EXE - IF memory serves correct...this is the NT kernal...which is the basic portion of the OS that all the things you see interact with and are based on

HAL.dll - Short for Hardware Abstraction Layer, HAL is an operating system programming layer that enables the operating system to operate with a hardware device.

[Bruinaholic]

thanks for those. Much appreciated. Hopefully others can chime in with the others.

[SRX660]

winlogon.exe is a process belonging to the Windows login manager. It handles the login and logout procedures on your system. This program is important for the stable and secure running of your computer and should not be terminated.

NTBOOTDD.SYS is a device driver file will only be used on systems that boot from a SCSI disk on which the SCSI adapter BIOS is disabled. On a system with a SCSI boot device, this file is used to recognize and load the SCSI interface. On systems other than SCSI device this file is not required and is not installed.
(NOTE) Some new systems with SATA hard drives use this file also.

Bootsect.dos is a file included with Windows NT based Windows operating systems. This file is executed by NTLDR if an operating system other than Windows XP, Windows 2000, or Windows NT was chosen to boot. NTLDR will skip ntdetect.com and other tasks, and pass control of the system to bootsect.dos. Bootsect.dos is then responsible for loading the files needed to boot the other operating system.

WINSTART.BAT file in Windows 95 and 98 loads TSR programs required for Windows-based programs but not needed in MS-DOS sessions. This file, if it exists, is usually in the C:\Windows folder, and is executed every time Windows starts — just like AUTOEXEC.BAT, except that AUTOEXEC.BAT is also launched during a DOS startup. You can examine and edit the contents of WINSTART.BAT with Notepad. You can temporarily suspend any line of WINSTART.BAT by placing REM (followed by a space) in front of the line. (Note that this is ignored in all other versions of Windows, since there is no need to differentiate MS-DOS session behavior). You should not use the Winstart.bat file for setting environment variables.

By the way, you could have looked all this up with some Google searches.

SRX660

[Bruinaholic]

winlogon.exe is a process belonging to the Windows login manager. It handles the login and logout procedures on your system. This program is important for the stable and secure running of your computer and should not be terminated.

NTBOOTDD.SYS is a device driver file will only be used on systems that boot from a SCSI disk on which the SCSI adapter BIOS is disabled. On a system with a SCSI boot device, this file is used to recognize and load the SCSI interface. On systems other than SCSI device this file is not required and is not installed.
(NOTE) Some new systems with SATA hard drives use this file also.

Bootsect.dos is a file included with Windows NT based Windows operating systems. This file is executed by NTLDR if an operating system other than Windows XP, Windows 2000, or Windows NT was chosen to boot. NTLDR will skip ntdetect.com and other tasks, and pass control of the system to bootsect.dos. Bootsect.dos is then responsible for loading the files needed to boot the other operating system.

WINSTART.BAT file in Windows 95 and 98 loads TSR programs required for Windows-based programs but not needed in MS-DOS sessions. This file, if it exists, is usually in the C:\Windows folder, and is executed every time Windows starts â€â€� just like AUTOEXEC.BAT, except that AUTOEXEC.BAT is also launched during a DOS startup. You can examine and edit the contents of WINSTART.BAT with Notepad. You can temporarily suspend any line of WINSTART.BAT by placing REM (followed by a space) in front of the line. (Note that this is ignored in all other versions of Windows, since there is no need to differentiate MS-DOS session behavior). You should not use the Winstart.bat file for setting environment variables.

By the way, you could have looked all this up with some Google searches.

SRX660

I know that but the reason I asked was I wanted a simple non-net or text book answer as some have a shorter more simple explanation where it's easier to remember, hence the query here and in the original query of non-internet definition or book term.

Edited by Bruinaholic, 05 April 2007 - 08:58 AM.

[dsenette]

I know that but the reason I asked was I wanted a simple non-net or text book answer as some have a shorter more simple explanation where it's easier to remember, hence the query here and in the original query of non-internet definition or book term.

well...the most important part of education and research is the ability to FIND the answers in the format that you are wanting....a good researcher will find something and be able to interperate the results into something that they can understand and remember...it's kind of the point of learning...and you get much more good out of the process of finding the answers on your own than you will when they're given to you

[Bruinaholic]

Well, What happens if I don't understand what book/internet related info is given but I would understand it if someone simplified it?