Here’s the brief description of Windows Server 2008 Boot process.

1. System is powered on
2. The CMOS loads the BIOS and then runs POST
3. Looks for the MBR on the bootable device
4. Through the MBR the boot sector is located and the BOOTMGR is loaded
5. BOOTMGR looks for active partition
6. BOOTMGR reads the BCD file from the \boot directory on the active partition
7. The BCD (boot configuration database) contains various configuration parameters( this information was previously stored in the boot.ini)
8. BOOTMGR transfer control to the Windows Loader (winload.exe) or winresume.exe in case the system was hibernated.
9. Winloader loads drivers that are set to start at boot and then transfers the control to the windows kernel.

Here’re some articles for your reference. Boot Process and BCDEdit http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee221031(WS.10).aspx Server 2008 Boot Process – Making a boot disk http://www.slickit.ca/2009/03/server-2008-boot-process-making-boot.html Windows Server 2008: Startup Processes and Delayed Automatic Start http://www.ditii.com/2008/02/02/windows-server-2008-startup-processes-and-delayed-automatic-start/