Heres 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.


Active Directory database files
An Active Directory database consists of the following files:
1. NTDS.dit (database file)
2. Edb.chk (checkpoint file)
3. Edb*.log (transaction logs)
4. Res1.log and Res2.log (two reserve log files)
The files are typically located in the %systemroot%\NTDS folder (such as C:\Windows\NTDS) of a
domain controller. However, their location is configurable. The database files and the transaction logs
may be stored on different volumes. Make sure that both volumes are included in the backup.
To determine the current location of the database files and transaction logs, examine the DSA Database
file and Database log files path values in the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Netlogon\Parameters