Simplified View of the Boot Process

Question 1

Step 1

Answer 1

The machine’s BIOS or boot firmware loads and runs a boot loader.

Question 2

Step 2

Answer 2

The boot loader finds the kernel image on disk, loads it into memory, and starts it.

Question 3

Step 3

Answer 3

The kernel initializes the devices and its drivers

Question 4

Step 4

Answer 4

The kernel mounts the root filesystem.

Question 5

Step 5

Answer 5

The kernel starts a program called init with a process ID of 1. This point is the user space start.

Question 6

Step 6

Answer 6

iNit sets the rest of the system processes in motion.

Question 7

Step 7

Answer 7

At some point, init starts a process allowing you to log in, usually at the end or near the end of the boot.