Booting

: This article is about booting, in the sense of starting a computer. For other meanings, see Booting (disambiguation).

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In computing, booting is a bootstrapping process that starts operating systems when the user turns on a computer system. A boot sequence is the set of operations the computer performs when it is switched on which load an operating system.

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Most computer systems can only execute code found in the memory (ROM or RAM); modern operating systems are mostly stored on hard disks, LiveCDs and USB flash drives. Just after a computer has been turned on, it doesn't have an operating system in memory. The computer's hardware alone cannot perform complicated actions of the operating system, such as loading a program from disk; so a seemingly irresolvable paradox is created: to load the operating system into memory, one appears to need to have an operating system already installed.

Computing: Originally, the word computing was synonymous with counting and calculating, and a science that deals with the original sense of computing mathematical calculations....

Bootstrapping: Bootstrapping alludes to a German legend about a Baron M?nchhausen, who was able to lift himself out of a swamp by pulling himself up by his own hair. In later versions he was using his own boot straps to pull himself out of the sea which gave rise to the term ....

Operating system: In computing, an operating system (OS) is the system software responsible for the direct control and management of hardware and basic system operations. Additionally, it provides a foundation upon which to run application software such as word processing programs and web browsers....