Advanced Options menu
A Windows menu that appears when you press F8 when Windows starts. The menu can be used to troubleshoot problems when loading Windows. In Windows 7/Vista, the menu is called the Advanced Boot Options menu.

bcdedit
A command used to manually edit the BCD.

Boot Configuration Data (BCD) file
A Windows 7/Vista file structured the same as a registry file and contains configuration information about how Windows is started. The BCD file replaces the Boot.ini file used in Windows 2000/XP.

booting
The process of starting up a computer and loading an operating system.

Boot.ini
A Windows 2000/XP hidden text file that contains information needed to start the boot and build the boot loader menu.

bootrec
A command used to repair the BCD and boot sectors.

bootsect
A command used to repair a dual boot system.

cold boot
See hard boot.

diskpart
A Windows command to manage hard drives, partitions, and volumes.

emergency repair disk (ERD)
(1) In Windows 2000, a record of critical information about your system that can be used to fix a problem with the OS. The ERD enables restoration of the Windows 2000 registry on your hard drive.
(2) IN Windows XP, a bootable floppy disk that can boot the system, bypassing the boot files stored in the root of drive C.

FDISK
A Windows 9x/Me command used to create and manage partitions on a hard drive.

fixboot
A Windows 7/Vista command that repairs the boot sector of the system partition.

fixmbr
A Windows 7/Vista command to repair the MBR.

hard boot
Restart the computer by turning off the power or by pressing the Reset button. Also called a cold boot.

Last Known Good Configuration
In Windows, registry settings and device drivers that were in effect when the computer last booted successfully. These settings can be restored during the startup process to recover from errors during the last boot.

Ntldr
The Windows XP program responsible for starting Windows XP, called the boot loader program.

OS boot record
The first sector in the active partition. Windows XP uses this sector during the boot, but Windows 7/Vista does not.

POST (power-on self test)
A self-diagnostic program used to perform a simple test of the CPU, RAM and various I/O devices. The POST is performed by