Major System Files
A technician should be able to identify the names, locations, purposes and contents of major system files.
Windows NT / 200x / XP specific files
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| BOOT.INI | This contains information that Ntldr (the NT loader) uses to display the start-up menu. It also contains information on where the boot partition is and the text to display while the system is loading. Other system parameters can be included. |
| NTLDR | This is loaded from the boot sector and starts the loading of the operating system. |
| NTDETECT.COM | This detects the hardware on a system and matches it against the registry database. |
| NTBOOTDD.SYS | This stores information about disk drives including drivers for SCSI devices. |
| NTUSER.DAT | This stores the settings for each user. If the user logs onto a computer that is part of a domain, this information is retrieved from the server. For added security and to stop the user from changing settings this file extension can be changed to (.man (mandatory) and if absent the user will not be able to log on. |
All the above files are located in the root directory of the boot drive apart from NTUSER.DAT which is located in the user's documents and settings folder.
