System partition and boot partition

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The system partition and the boot partition (also known as the system volume and the boot volume) are computing terms for disk partitions of a hard disk drive or solid-state drive that must exist and be properly configured for a computer to operate. There are two different definitions for these terms: the common definition and the Microsoft definition.

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Common definition

In context of every operating system, except those developed by Microsoft, the system partition and the boot partition are defined as follows:

In Linux, a single partition can be both a boot and a system partition if both /boot/ and the root directory are in the same partition.

Microsoft definition

Since Windows NT 3.1 (the first version of Windows NT), [4] Microsoft has defined the terms as follows:

Before Windows 7, the system and boot partitions were, by default, the same and were given the "C:" drive letter. [7] :971 Since Windows 7, however, Windows Setup creates, by default, a separate system partition that is not given an identifier and therefore is hidden. The boot partition is still given "C:" as its identifier. This configuration is suitable for running BitLocker, which requires a separate unencrypted system partition for booting. As of Windows 11, this nomenclature is still used by the "Disk Management" utility.

See also

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disk partitioning</span> Creation of separate accessible storage areas on a secondary computer storage device

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wubi (software)</span> Ubuntu Linux installer for Windows

Wubi is a free software Ubuntu installer, that was the official Windows-based software, from 2008 until 2013, to install Ubuntu from within Windows, to a single file within an existing Windows partition.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Architecture of Windows 9x</span>

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In computing, rebooting is the process by which a running computer system is restarted, either intentionally or unintentionally. Reboots can be either a cold reboot in which the power to the system is physically turned off and back on again ; or a warm reboot in which the system restarts while still powered up. The term restart is used to refer to a reboot when the operating system closes all programs and finalizes all pending input and output operations before initiating a soft reboot.

References

  1. Petersen, Richard (2009). "Chapter 21: Basic System Administration". Ubuntu The Complete Reference. New York: McGraw-Hill. p. 473. ISBN   978-0-07-164368-9.
  2. Andrews, Jean; Chellis, James (13 August 2012). A+ Guide to Software (6th ed.). Cengage Learning. p. 21. ISBN   9781285414980.
  3. Donald, Lisa (2008). MCSA / MCSE: Windows Server 2003 Environment Management and Maintenance Study Guide: Exam 70-290 (2nd ed.). John Wiley & Sons. pp. 116–117. ISBN   9780470327616.
  4. "Definition of System and Boot Partition". Support. Microsoft. 20 February 2007. Archived from the original on 13 March 2016.
  5. 1 2 "Definitions for system volume and boot volume". Support. Microsoft. 29 October 2009. Archived from the original on 2017-09-13.
  6. 1 2 Tulloch, Mitch; Tulloch, Ingrid (2002). Microsoft Encyclopedia of Networking (2nd ed.). Redmond, WA: Microsoft Press. ISBN   0-7356-1378-8.
  7. 1 2 Russinovich, Mark E; Ionescu, Alex; Solomon, David A (2008). Windows Internals (5th ed.). Redmond, WA: Microsoft Press. ISBN   978-0-7356-2530-3.