Initializing the Kernel

You know that the Kernel is initializing when the screen turns blue, and you see text similar to the following:

This means that Ntoskrnl.exe has successfully initialized and that control has passed to it.

During the Kernel initialization phase, the Kernel:

• Initializes the low-level device drivers that were loaded in the previous phase.
• Loads and initializes the other device drivers.
• Runs programs, such as Chkdsk, that need to be run before it loads any services.
• Load and initializes services.
• Creates the page file.
• Starts subsystems that are needed to run Windows NT.