Boot (or booting) refers to the action of starting up a computer and getting it to run the operating system.
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What utility can move my Windows boot partition over to another hard drive? [closed]
Can anyone recommend a cheap/free utility that can do this without very much effort?
My preference is that it would be really easy.
Boot into Windows
Pick drive to move
Pick target drive
It copies ...
56
votes
5answers
3k views
What are the functions of the BIOS while the operating system is running?
I always wondered whether the BIOS (apart from conducting POST, starting the bootloader and passing control to the OS after one presses the power button) has any purpose or function while the ...
23
votes
2answers
2k views
Why are start-up times faster on Windows 8? [closed]
A few people have done benchmarks comparing Windows 8 to Windows 7. Many features don't improve, but consistently, startup time is better.
Why does Windows 8 start up faster compared to Windows 7? ...
23
votes
8answers
6k views
Booting Linux off USB pendrives
Booting a Linux system off USB Pendrives is one of my favorite things.
On a laptop we have the following advantages,
The Harddisk can be shutdown and that reduces power consumption (hdparm)
The ...
22
votes
6answers
80k views
Boot Camp: is it possible to restart directly to Windows from Mac OS X?
With the Boot Camp tools installed on Windows, there's an option for rebooting directly to Mac OS ("Restart in Mac OS X" from Boot Camp system tray item).
But is this possible in the opposite ...
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votes
7answers
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Can I boot Linux from a VHD?
Is there some way to boot a Linux system from a VHD in Windows 7?
If there is a way, how do I put it there in the first place?
EDIT: To clarify, I'm not trying to run Linux in a VM. I'm trying to ...
18
votes
1answer
41k views
grub: boot from ISO
How can I boot into an ISO file in GRUB? The ISO file is on a reiserfs partition and GRUB can access it (already tested that).
17
votes
8answers
131k views
How to boot from a USB device using an ISO image
I want to re-install Windows XP on my laptop.
I have the ISO image for Windows XP.
How can I boot from a USB device using simply my ISO image of Windows XP?
My laptop is an IBM T42.
If you are ...
17
votes
5answers
28k views
How to boot from a flash drive OS using VirtualBox?
I have two flash drive, one with Slax installed and another for Android x86 Live installed, but they do not boot in my laptop (in my work they boot perfectly).
I can boot from some live CDs/DVDs or ...
16
votes
5answers
3k views
How can I reduce Windows 7 boot times?
I have a Sony VAIO laptop that has an i7 processor, 6 GB of RAM and a 7200 RPM 500 GB 2.5 inch drive.
I work in .NET, so I have SQL Server Developer, Visual Studio and a lot of other tools like that.
...
16
votes
3answers
4k views
Why does my PC successfully boot only when unplugged for more than a few minutes?
I have an HP Pavilion Elite desktop computer, model HPE-490t. I like it because it didn’t cost too much, boots itself from an SSD, came with 16 GB of RAM, and has 6 CPU cores for editing video and ...
16
votes
9answers
739 views
Windows 7 is stuck at “Starting Windows” when I attempt to boot computer
Basically, whenever I turn on my computer, it gets to the Starting Windows phase and just stays there. The startup animation still plays, yet it gets nowhere.
I have tried booting into safe mode, ...
16
votes
3answers
22k views
Flipping the Removable Media bit — alternatives to BootIt?
There's a utility called the Lexar BootIt utility that flips the Removable Media Bit on certain USB flash drives.
I want to flip the bit on my USB flash drive (it's supported) but really am not too ...
15
votes
6answers
1k views
How do you silence the startup chime on a Mac?
What tools or techniques are available for silencing the start up chime on a Mac? I know this can be accomplished by muting the sound before shutdown, but I was hoping that a solution existed that ...
15
votes
5answers
2k views
How to find out how often Windows Seven has rebooted?
Where on the system or registry should I look for data on how many times Windows has been rebooted? I want to create an application that uses this information (how many times Windows has rebooted ...
15
votes
2answers
17k views
What does “delayed start” do in startup type for a Windows service?
What is the difference between Automatic and Automatic (Delayed Start) for a property setting for a Windows service? i.e. what do I gain or lose by setting my service as one or the other?
Running the ...
15
votes
1answer
1k views
How to Diagnose a Pre-Operating System Load or Hardware Issue
How can I find out if my problem is hardware based?
If it is, how can I figure out what component is to blame
How can I fix other pre-operating system issues?
As an aside, what are all of these ...
14
votes
4answers
4k views
Which virtual machine can boot from USB drive?
There are any desktop (not hipervisor) virtual machine software able to boot from USB drive? Which one and how?
14
votes
4answers
528 views
Is there a bootchart-style analyzer for what happens AFTER you log in?
Bootchart is an excellent tool for seeing what goes on when your computer boots. However, it only charts up to the login screen. Is there any way to analyze what is happening when I actually log in? I ...
13
votes
9answers
120k views
When installing Windows 7, CDBOOT error 5 appears: Cannot boot from CD; why?
I am installing Windows 7 on an old machine. I can not even get it to boot. I get this error message:
CDBOOT: Cannot boot from CD - Code: 5
Boot Failure from Previous Device..
Boot Failure from ...
13
votes
5answers
54k views
How to boot a Linux live USB on a Mac?
I have a USB stick with a Fedora 11 live environment on it.
It's booting fine on 3 PCs where I've tried it.
But I can't get it to boot on a Mac (Intel). When pressing the alt key (or command key, I ...
13
votes
4answers
3k views
Why does pulling the power cord then pressing the power button fix a non-booting PC?
I've been working at this institution for about 6 years. One thing thing that I've always found curious is that sometimes—especially after a power outage—we find a PC that won't boot when the power ...
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votes
4answers
1k views
Some questions regarding PXE servers and multi-booting
I currently work in a technology help desk for my college, where we fix the personal computers of all the students. We have hundreds of DVD's and CD's that we use to boot into all kinds of different ...
12
votes
1answer
338 views
What causes the computer clock to change radically and how can I fix it?
My girlfriend just sent me the following photo:
Apparently that was what greeted her, along with a load of license expiry warnings, when she booted her laptop this morning. She then rebooted to be ...
11
votes
1answer
264 views
Why are start-up times faster on Windows 7 than on XP? [closed]
Reading a hotter question Why are start-up times faster on Windows 8? There is a great answer there by ClickUpvote, which shows some design differences that makes 8 faster:
Difference between win7 ...
10
votes
2answers
3k views
What is the effect of booting with additional cores?
I was reading about ways to enhance speed in Windows 7 and I read that you can enable Windows to boot off of 4 cores vs 1 to boot faster.
Is there a reason why you do not want to use all 4 cores to ...
10
votes
3answers
8k views
How do I stop services from starting on boot on Ubuntu?
I have lots of servers installed (Apache, MySQL, etc.), but I don't want them all to start at boot time (they drain power, and I'm on batteries most of the time). How do I configure this?
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votes
11answers
3k views
Switch on the computer automatically
Is there any way to switch on the computer automatically at a specific time. Is there any BIOS clock trigger mechanisms available to switch on automatically.
EDIT:
I have a Dell Inspiron laptop. Does ...
10
votes
2answers
22k views
How to diagnose slow booting or logon in Windows 7?
When I start my PC, it boots into Windows (Windows 7 32-bit) quite happily, I login and the main Windows screen appears. At that point, however, the system is extremely unresponsive for up to 5 ...
10
votes
1answer
483 views
How do you disable the Windows Vista startup sound?
The sound when vista starts up is starting to annoy me, also when I am going to a lecture I forget to turn the volume down and the sound attracts a lot of attention. Is there any way to turn it off?
10
votes
4answers
3k views
Windows XP startup profiling?
My Windows XP computer is suffering from slow boot times, and although I use the free Quick Startup utility to enable only the programs I want, I still need to know which programs take the longest ...
10
votes
2answers
2k views
Move VHD to Hyper-V
I have a Windows 7 machine that can dual boot into Windows 2008 on a VHD file. I am now trying to move this VHD file to run as a Hyper-V image on Windows 2008.
I copied the VHD file to the Windows ...
10
votes
3answers
3k views
Reducing video mode switching during Linux boot
When I boot up my desktop computer, which only has Linux on it, the video mode and/or console font gets switched four times:
When GRUB starts, it switches from 80x25 text to a graphical mode so it ...
9
votes
6answers
594 views
Open file the next time the Windows computer boots
I'm going to be fixing a family friend's computer later and won't be interacting with the computer owner personally, so I would like to have a readme.txt to automatically open the first time (and only ...
9
votes
4answers
17k views
Running Spinrite from a USB drive?
I need to use SpinRite on my notebook which has no CD-ROM.
How can I install and run SpinRite from a USB thumbdrive? Such that I could boot the notebook up with a thumbdrive and start SpinRite.
Are ...
9
votes
4answers
14k views
How do I boot Windows 8 into Safe Mode?
I have Windows 8 Enterprise x64. It's installed a virtual machine. After trying to update VMWare's guest extension it black screened. After resetting it, now the virtual machine won't boot. It just ...
9
votes
4answers
1k views
Is it normal for a Dell Inspiron 530 to have is fan to spin up 3 times before it POSTS?
I picked up an used Dell 530 desktop. It seems to work, but it has an odd pattern of powering up the case fan (which might be faulty - it sounds like a jet engine) 3 times, while blinking the power ...
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votes
2answers
2k views
How can I start a program even before Windows starts itself?
I know that there are a lot of applications (such as that ones which manage partitions like Partition Magic, Partition Logic, Easeus, etc) that start even before Windows starts to load itself (the ...
9
votes
2answers
969 views
Is a SSD suitable as root disk for an always-on server?
Since an SSD has no moving parts, it seems to me to be perfectly suitable as the root disk of a server that is always on.
Is there any reason that you would suggest not using an SSD for this purpose? ...
9
votes
6answers
1k views
How do I prevent disk renumbering on reboot in OS X?
I have 3 physical drives in my Mac Pro with Mac OS X 10.6.4. Occasionally after rebooting the machine, the disk numbering changes such that the /dev/disk# does not reference the same drive as it did ...
9
votes
2answers
839 views
New SSD (Corsair) takes 1-2 minutes before it's found after first boot
My new SSD Corsair CSSD-F60 actually works - using it for boot and system disk (Windows 7 64-bit). But when first (cold-) booting the PC it's not properly found by BIOS and Intel ICH9R Controller. The ...
8
votes
7answers
12k views
Show Windows 7 logon time?
On Windows 7 Ultimate, is there a way to see when I logged on into the current session?
I want to find out how long I have been at the PC / when I started it up.
8
votes
5answers
2k views
Useful USB boot disks
What are some USB boot disks you have found most useful? I'm thinking of software that you keep on a bootable USB thumb drive that is your own personal Swiss army knife of neat software you use when ...
8
votes
2answers
2k views
Discover linux kernel boot options
Is there a cross-distribution way to know the boot parameters supplied to the kernel?
8
votes
2answers
4k views
Is there something like a BIOS in Windows 8? [closed]
Is there something like a BIOS in Windows 8? How can I set up the boot device priority? My problem occurs when switching on my computer. It immediately goes to Windows 8 loading screen without ...
8
votes
2answers
38k views
Can I make USB drive bootable and install multiple OSes from it?
Is it possible to have USB drive bootable and place multiple ISOs like
Windows 7.iso
WindowXP.iso
Ubuntu.iso
RHEL.iso
so that I can choose which OS to install?
8
votes
3answers
814 views
What happens when a computer starts?
I'm trying to understand what happens when a computer is turned on. How the computer works on startup, various initializations that take place, etc. For example, is the bootstrap loader the first ...
8
votes
1answer
1k views
Creating USB Disk from bootable CD
I have a recovery CD ISO image. As my CD drive is not working, I was wondering whether I can create a bootable pen drive out of that?
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votes
6answers
8k views
How to install Ubuntu, Windows XP and Windows 7 from scratch as triple-boot system
I'm currently running Windows XP, but have ordered Windows 7. I want to keep Windows XP on a separate partition, and install Ubuntu as well.
In which order should I install the OSs, and is there ...
7
votes
3answers
2k views
System32 and SysWOW64 on Windows 7
What is "SysWOW64" and how does it work?
Are SysWOW64 and System32 both used/loaded into RAM during the Windows 7 boot?
