Windows Driver Load Order: Analysis and Insights
/ 1 min read
🖥️✨ Exploring Windows Driver Load Order: A Deep Dive into Boot Processes. The second part of a blog series by Colin Finck delves into the intricacies of the Windows driver load order, detailing the hardcoded modules, boot driver loading, and the sorting algorithm used by the Windows bootloader. It explains how drivers are organized in the registry, the significance of tags and groups, and the complexities introduced by dependencies and API Sets. Finck also discusses the challenges faced in replicating the original load order algorithm and introduces his Rust library, nt-load-order, designed to analyze and visualize the boot driver load order. This comprehensive examination highlights the nuances of Windows boot processes and the importance of maintaining compatibility in driver management.
