Boot Sequence: Windows CE 5.0 vs. Windows Embedded CE 6.0

  • Article

1/6/2010

Prior to Windows Embedded CE 6.0, the kernel was hard-coded to launch filesys.exe as the second process. Beyond that, the starting order of system processes and applications was controlled by registry settings under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Init. Now that most of the system processes have been converted to DLLs that load inside the kernel process, the system uses a mechanism that supports both DLLs and executables.

Boot Sequence Specifications

  • You cannot specify command-line parameters for executables. This is unchanged from previous versions of Windows Embedded CE.
  • Application-loading sequences are specified under the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Init registry key.
  • You can specify the load order of system DLLs, executables, and applications under the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Init registry key. The OS launches executables listed under this key and loads DLLs under this key into the kernel.
  • You can specify which DLL entry point to call when the application starts.
  • The startup sequence is similar to the service startup sequence in Services.exe and the registry enumerator.

See Also

Concepts

Nk.exe Boot Process

Other Resources

Kernel Functionality Modifications: Windows CE 5.0 vs. Windows Embedded CE 6.0
Kernel API Modifications: Windows CE 5.0 vs. Windows Embedded CE 6.0
Configuring the Process Boot Phase