Windows Boot Manager

Boot loader used by modern version of Windows NT.

The Windows Boot Manager is the the thing used to load Windows. It was added by Microsoft in the Windows Vista operating system. It is the 1st thing loaded by Windows by the BIOS of the computer and is responsible for loading everything else in Windows.[1] Windows Boot Manager replaced NTLDR which was added in the 1st version of Windows NT.

Windows Boot Manager
Other names BOOTMGR
Developer(s) Microsoft
Operating system Windows
Predecessor NTLDR
Type Bootloader
License Proprietary


The BIOS loads it from a file called BOOTMGR on the main directory of the C: drive and it loads it using either winload.exe or winresume.exe.[2]

References change

  1. barrygolden. "Boot and UEFI - Windows drivers". learn.microsoft.com. Retrieved 2023-03-20.
  2. de Boyne Pollard, Jonathan. "The Windows NT 6 boot process". Frequently Given Answers. Archived from the original on August 26, 2016.