NTOSKRNL
NTOSKRNL.EXE contains the Windows kernel. When control is transfered
to the kernel, the following components have been loaded
into memory:
- The kernel (NTOSKRNL.EXE)
- The Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL.DLL)
- A number of I/O drivers as specified in the registry file.
When the kernel receives control, it performs the following
initialization steps:
-
The kernal switches the processor from real mode to 32- or 64-bit
protected mode. (When bootmgr was used, it performed this step.)
-
The kernel next initializes various internal components.
-
The kernel then calls the initialization routines for the drivers
loaded by the boot loader (NTLDR or WINLOAD.EXE, depending on the Windows version).
-
The kernal loads and intializaes additional device drivers that are marked "SYSTEM" in
the registry. (These drivers are loaded by the Windows disk driver
that was loaded and initialized above.)
-
The NT kernel does some additional initialization and the state
of all disk file systems is checked.
-
The kernel begins dispatching processes. This begins the next stage of system initialization.
Next: Windows Process Initialization
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