For Windows Vista to start, the system and boot partitions must contain the files listed in Table 1.
Table 1. Windows Vista Startup Files
| Filename | Disk location | Description |
|---|
| BootMgr | Root of the system partition | The Windows Boot Manager. |
| WinLoad | systemroot\System32 | The Windows Boot Loader. |
| BCD | \Boot | A file that specifies the paths to operating system installations and other information required for Windows to start. |
| Ntoskrnl.exe | systemroot\System32 | The
core (also called the kernel) of the Windows Vista operating system.
Code that runs as part of the kernel does so in privileged processor
mode and has direct access to system data and hardware. |
| Hal.dll | systemroot\System32 | The
HAL dynamic-link library file. The HAL abstracts low-level hardware
details from the operating system and provides a common programming
interface to devices of the same type (such as video adapters). |
| Smss.exe | systemroot\System32 | The
Session Manager file. Session Manager is a user-mode process created by
the kernel during startup that handles critical startup tasks including
creating page files and performing delayed file rename and delete
operations. |
| Csrss.exe | systemroot\System32 | The Win32 Subsystem file. The Win32 Subsystem is launched by Session Manager, and is required by Windows Vista to function. |
| Winlogon.exe | systemroot\System32 | The
Logon Process file, which handles user logon requests and intercepts
the Ctrl+Alt+Delete logon key sequence. The Logon Process is launched
by Session Manager. This is a required component. |
| Services.exe | systemroot\System32 | The Service Control Manager is responsible for starting and stopping services, and is a required component of Windows Vista. |
| Lsass.exe | systemroot\System32 | Local
Security Authentication Server process is called by the Logon Process
when authenticating users, and is a required component. |
| System registry file | systemroot\System32\Config\System | The
file that contains data used to create the registry key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM. This key contains information that the
operating system requires to start devices and system services. |
| Device drivers | systemroot\System32\Drivers | Driver files in this folder are for hardware devices, such as keyboard, mouse, and video. |
In Table 1, the term systemroot is one of many environment variables
used to associate string values, such as folder or file paths, to
variables that Windows Vista applications and services use. For
example, by using environment variables, scripts can run without
modification on computers that have different configurations. To obtain
a list of environment variables that you can use for troubleshooting,
type set at the Windows command prompt.
