boot

Booting is the activation of the operating system. During booting, the operating system is loaded into the main memory. Booting is performed by executing the startup program that is stored in the PROM or, in the case of hard disks and floppy dis ks, in the Master Boot Record( MBR).

The MBR program includes the codes with which the operating system or other programs can be activated and called, in addition some self tests, which refer to the configuration, as well as the loading of the operating system. At boot time, the hardware is configured with the information stored in the Basic Input/Output System( BIOS). The settings of addresses, interrupt requests( IRQ), slots, etc. are taken over and managed by the operating system. The restart of a computer is called a reboot.

If one speaks of booting for personalcomputers, the same function is called Initial Program Load( IPL) for larger computers and mainframes.