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A bootloader, also spelled as boot loader [1] [2] or called bootstrap loader, is a computer program that is responsible for booting a computer and booting an operating system. If it also provides an interactive menu with multiple boot choices then it's often called a boot manager .
Then the boot loader loads the OS kernel from the storage device. If there is no active partition, or the active partition's boot sector is invalid, the MBR may load a secondary boot loader which will select a partition (often via user input) and load its boot sector, which usually loads the corresponding operating system kernel.
Das U-Boot (subtitled "the Universal Boot Loader" and often shortened to U-Boot; see History for more about the name) is an open-source boot loader used in embedded devices to perform various low-level hardware initialization tasks and boot the device's operating system kernel.
Note: The column MBR (Master Boot Record) refers to whether or not the boot loader can be stored in the first sector of a mass storage device. The column VBR (Volume Boot Record) refers to the ability of the boot loader to be stored in the first sector of any partition on a mass storage device.
The boot loader is responsible for accessing the file system on the boot drive, starting ntoskrnl.exe, and loading boot-time device drivers into memory. Once all the boot and system drivers have been loaded, the kernel starts the session manager ( smss.exe ), which begins the login process .
The boot partition is a primary partition that contains the boot loader, a piece of software responsible for booting the operating system. For example, in the standard Linux directory layout (Filesystem Hierarchy Standard), boot files (such as the kernel, initrd, and boot loader GRUB) are mounted at /boot/. [1]
GNU GRUB (short for GNU GRand Unified Bootloader, commonly referred to as GRUB) is a boot loader package from the GNU Project.GRUB is the reference implementation of the Free Software Foundation's Multiboot Specification, which provides a user the choice to boot one of multiple operating systems installed on a computer or select a specific kernel configuration available on a particular ...
The intermediate stage loader (stage1.5, usually core.img) is loaded and executed by the stage1 loader. The second-stage loader (stage2, the /boot/grub/ files) is loaded by the stage1.5 and displays the GRUB startup menu that allows the user to choose an operating system or examine and edit startup parameters.