None More Metal............

Windows 98 Boot Process

1. POST - Hardware tests
2. Plug and Play Configuration -Windows 9x is a Plug and Play(PnP) operating system. In order for PnP to work, the BIOS, hardware and operating system must all be PnP compliant.
3. Master Boot Record - The MBR is located.
4. IO.SYS - This file loads drivers and executes CONFIG.SYS, MSDOS.SYS and COMMAND.COM
5. COMMAND.COM - Loads AUTOEXEC.BAT
6. Windows core files are loaded

• WIN.COM - This file begins the loading of Windows 9x system files.
• KERNEL32.DLL/KERNEL386.EXE - These files contain the core operating system and is responsible for loading device drivers.
• GDI.EXE/GDI32.EXE - These files are responsible for loading the basic GUI or graphical user interface.
• WIN.INI - Along with WINFILE.INI and SYSTEM.INI, these files provide backward compatibility with older 16-bit applications and are not required in order for 32-bit applications to run under Windows 9x. Most of the functions of these files are now stored in the registry files.

    7.The startup folder is checked for applications to load on startup.

Windows 9x also replaces many of the DOS start-up files such as IO.SYS, MSDOS.SYS and COMMAND.COM with newer versions. Most of the functions of the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files are now handled by the new IO.SYS file, although entries in CONFIG.SYS will take precedence over entries in the IO.SYS file.