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Ntdetect.com
ntdetect.com is a component of Microsoft Windows NT-based operating systems that operate on the x86 architecture. It is used during the Windows NT startup process, and is responsible for detecting basic hardware that will be required to start the operating system. Overview The bootstrap loader takes the control over the booting process and loads NTLDR. Ntdetect.com is invoked by NTLDR, and returns the information it gathers to NTLDR when finished, so that it can then be passed on to ntoskrnl.exe, the Windows NT kernel. Ntdetect.com is used on computers that use BIOS firmware. Computers with Extensible Firmware Interface, such as IA-64, use a method of device-detection that is not tied to the operating system. Hardware detection operates somewhat differently depending on whether or not Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) is supported by the hardware. It passes on the hardware details gathered from the BIOS onto the OS. If ACPI is supported, the list of found devi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
NTLDR
NTLDR ( abbreviation of ''NT loader'') is the boot loader for all releases of Windows NT operating system from 1993 with the release of Windows NT 3.1 up until Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. From Windows Vista onwards it was replaced by the BOOTMGR bootloader. NTLDR is typically run from the primary storage device, but it can also run from portable storage devices such as a CD-ROM, USB flash drive, or floppy disk. NTLDR can also load a non NT-based operating system given the appropriate boot sector in a file. NTLDR requires, at the minimum, the following two files to be on the system volume: * , the main boot loader itself * , required for booting an NT-based OS, detects basic hardware information needed for successful boot An additional important file is ''boot.ini'', which contains boot configuration (if missing, NTLDR will default to ''\Windows'' on the first partition of the first hard drive). NTLDR is launched by the volume boot record of system partition, which i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Windows Components
The following is a list of Microsoft Windows components. Configuration and maintenance User interface Applications and utilities Windows Server components File systems Core components Services This list is not all-inclusive. DirectX * Direct3D * DirectDraw * DirectInput * DirectMusic * DirectPlay * DirectShow * DirectSound * DirectX Media Objects * DirectX plugin * DirectX Video Acceleration Networking * Administrative share * Distributed File System * My Network Places (formerly Network Neighborhood) * Network Access Protection * Remote Installation Services * Server Message Block * Windows Rights Management Services Scripting and command-line * Batch file * CHKDSK * Cmd.exe * ComSpec * Ipconfig * Net / Net Send * Netdom.exe: Windows Domain Manager * Netsh * Netstat * QBasic * Regsvr32 * Robocopy * Win32 console * Windows Script Host * Windows PowerShell * XCOPY Kernel * Commit charge * Kernel Transaction Manager * Win ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hardware Abstraction Layer
Hardware abstractions are sets of routines in software that provide programs with access to hardware resources through programming interfaces. The programming interface allows all devices in a particular class ''C'' of hardware devices to be accessed through identical interfaces even though ''C'' may contain different subclasses of devices that each provide a different hardware interface. Hardware abstractions often allow programmers to write device-independent, high performance applications by providing standard operating system (OS) calls to hardware. The process of abstracting pieces of hardware is often done from the perspective of a CPU. Each type of CPU has a specific instruction set architecture or ISA. The ISA represents the primitive operations of the machine that are available for use by assembly programmers and compiler writers. One of the main functions of a compiler is to allow a programmer to write an algorithm in a high-level language without having to care abo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Windows XP
Windows XP is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It was release to manufacturing, released to manufacturing on August 24, 2001, and later to retail on October 25, 2001. It is a direct upgrade to its predecessors, Windows 2000 for high-end and business users and Windows Me for home users, available for any devices running Windows NT 4.0, Windows 98, Windows 2000 and Windows Me that meet the new Windows XP system requirements. Development of Windows XP began in the late 1990s under the codename "Windows Neptune, Neptune", built on the Architecture of Windows NT#Kernel, Windows NT kernel explicitly intended for mainstream consumer use. An updated version of Windows 2000 was also initially planned for the business market. However, in January 2000, both projects were scrapped in favor of a single OS codenamed "Whistler", which would serve as a single platform for both consumer and business markets. As a result, Windows XP is the first consumer edition of W ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Windows Support Tools
Windows Support Tools is a suite of management, administration and troubleshooting tools for Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2003 R2 from Microsoft. Overview These tools are not installed with the Windows operating system and have to be separately installed. They are located on the Windows Installation CD, ''Support'' folder, ''Tools'' subfolder. They can also be downloaded from Microsoft Download Center. Windows Server 2003 Support Tools includes 70 different tools. For instance, WinDiff is a GUI tool for comparing files and folders. NetDiag is a CLI tool for diagnosing network problems. This tool is command-line version of the Network Troubleshooter that can be found in Windows Help and Support Center. Windows Installer Zapper (msizap.exe, a command-line tool) and Windows Installer CleanUp Utility (Msicuu.exe, a GUI tool) are tools for cleaning Windows Installer databases in Microsoft Windows. Many of the Windows Resource Kit tools are include ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Industry Standard Architecture
Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) is the 16-bit internal bus of IBM PC/AT and similar computers based on the Intel 80286 and its immediate successors during the 1980s. The bus was (largely) backward compatible with the 8-bit bus of the 8088-based IBM PC, including the IBM PC/XT as well as IBM PC compatibles. Originally referred to as the PC bus (8-bit) or AT bus (16-bit), it was also termed ''I/O Channel'' by IBM. The ISA term was coined as a retronym by competing PC-clone manufacturers in the late 1980s or early 1990s as a reaction to IBM attempts to replace the AT-bus with its new and incompatible Micro Channel architecture. The 16-bit ISA bus was also used with 32-bit processors for several years. An attempt to extend it to 32 bits, called Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA), was not very successful, however. Later buses such as VESA Local Bus and PCI were used instead, often along with ISA slots on the same mainboard. Derivatives of the AT bus structure ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coprocessor
A coprocessor is a computer processor used to supplement the functions of the primary processor (the CPU). Operations performed by the coprocessor may be floating-point arithmetic, graphics, signal processing, string processing, cryptography or I/O interfacing with peripheral devices. By offloading processor-intensive tasks from the main processor, coprocessors can accelerate system performance. Coprocessors allow a line of computers to be customized, so that customers who do not need the extra performance do not need to pay for it. Functionality Coprocessors vary in their degree of autonomy. Some (such as FPUs) rely on direct control via coprocessor instructions, embedded in the CPU's instruction stream. Others are independent processors in their own right, capable of working asynchronously; they are still not optimized for general-purpose code, or they are incapable of it due to a limited instruction set focused on accelerating specific tasks. It is common for these to be d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
SCSI
Small Computer System Interface (SCSI, ) is a set of standards for physically connecting and transferring data between computers and peripheral devices. The SCSI standards define commands, protocols, electrical, optical and logical interfaces. The SCSI standard defines command sets for specific peripheral device types; the presence of "unknown" as one of these types means that in theory it can be used as an interface to almost any device, but the standard is highly pragmatic and addressed toward commercial requirements. The initial Parallel SCSI was most commonly used for hard disk drives and tape drives, but it can connect a wide range of other devices, including scanners and CD drives, although not all controllers can handle all devices. The ancestral SCSI standard, X3.131-1986, generally referred to as SCSI-1, was published by the X3T9 technical committee of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) in 1986. SCSI-2 was published in August 1990 as X3.T9.2/86-109 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boot Process
In computing, booting is the process of starting a computer as initiated via Computer hardware, hardware such as a button or by a software command. After it is switched on, a computer's central processing unit (CPU) has no software in its main memory, so some process must load software into memory before it can be executed. This may be done by hardware or firmware in the CPU, or by a separate processor in the computer system. Restarting a computer also is called Reboot (computing), rebooting, which can be "hard", e.g. after electrical power to the CPU is switched from off to on, or "soft", where the power is not cut. On some systems, a soft boot may optionally clear RAM to zero. Both hard and soft booting can be initiated by hardware such as a button press or by a software command. Booting is complete when the operative runtime system, typically the operating system and some applications,Including Daemon (computing), daemons. is attained. The process of returning a computer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Windows Registry
The Windows Registry is a hierarchical database that stores low-level settings for the Microsoft Windows operating system and for applications that opt to use the registry. The kernel, device drivers, services, Security Accounts Manager, and user interfaces can all use the registry. The registry also allows access to counters for profiling system performance. In other words, the registry or Windows Registry contains information, settings, options, and other values for programs and hardware installed on all versions of Microsoft Windows operating systems. For example, when a program is installed, a new subkey containing settings such as a program's location, its version, and how to start the program, are all added to the Windows Registry. When introduced with Windows 3.1, the Windows Registry primarily stored configuration information for COM-based components. Windows 95 and Windows NT extended its use to rationalize and centralize the information in the profusion of INI fi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Winload
The booting process of Windows Vista and later versions differ from the startup process part of previous versions of Windows. In this article, unless otherwise specified, what is said about Windows Vista also applies to all later NT operating systems. For Windows Vista, the boot sector or UEFI loads the Windows Boot Manager (a file named BOOTMGR on either the system or the boot partition), accesses the Boot Configuration Data store and uses the information to load the operating system. Then, the BCD invokes the boot loader and in turn proceeds to initiate the Windows kernel. Initialization at this point proceeds similarly to previous Windows NT versions. History Windows Vista introduces a complete overhaul of the Windows operating system loader architecture. The earliest known reference to this revised architecture is included within PowerPoint slides distributed by Microsoft during the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference of 2004 when the operating system was codename ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Microsoft Windows NT
Windows NT is a Proprietary software, proprietary Graphical user interface, graphical operating system produced by Microsoft, the first version of which was released on July 27, 1993. It is a processor-independent, multiprocessing and multi-user operating system. The first version of Windows NT was Windows NT 3.1 and was produced for workstations and server computers. It was a commercially focused operating system intended to complement consumer versions of Microsoft Windows, Windows that were based on MS-DOS (including Windows 1.0 through Windows 3.1x). Gradually, the Windows NT family was expanded into Microsoft's general-purpose operating system product line for all personal computers, deprecating the Windows 9x family. "NT" was formerly expanded to "New Technology" but no longer carries any specific meaning. Starting with Windows 2000, "NT" was removed from the product name and is only included in the product version string along with several low-level places within the sys ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
