The Windows Boot Manager starts the Windows Boot Loader phase when the user chooses to load Windows Vista or Windows 7. The Windows Boot Loader does the following:

1. Loads the operating system kernel, Ntoskrnl.exe, but does not yet run it.
2. Loads the Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL), Hal.dll. This will not be used until the kernel is run.
3. Loads the system registry hive (System32\Config\System) into memory.
4. Scans the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Services key for device drivers and loads all drivers that are configured for the boot class into memory. The Windows Boot Loader does not, however, initiate the drivers. Drivers are not initiated until the kernel loading phase.
5. Enables paging.
6. Passes control to the operating system kernel, which starts the next phase.