WINDOWS XP BOOT SEQUENCE

1. POST
2. NTLDR: The MBR reads the boot sector which is the first sector of the
active partition. This sector contains the code that starts Ntldr which is the
boot strap loader for Windows XP. The first role of Ntldr is to allow full
memory addressing, start the file system, read boot.ini and put up the boot
menu. IMPORTANT: Ntldr must be located in root folder of the active
partition along with Ntdetect.com, boot.ini, bootsect.dos (for dual booting)
and Ntbootdd.sys (needed with some SCSI adapters).
3. Ntdetect: Gets information about installed hardware. Ntldr then uses the
ARC path specified in the boot.ini to find the boot partition.
4. Ntoskrnl.exe and Hal.dll.
5. Ntldr reads the registry files, selects a hardware profile, control set and
loads device drivers, in that order.
6. Ntoskrnl.exe starts Winlogon.exe which starts Lsass.exe (Local Security
Administration), this is the program that displays the Welcome screen (If
Professional Edition-the Windows Log On dialog box), and allows the user
to log on with his/her user name and password.
Click Reference 1 or Reference 2 for more information.