"Boot partition" redirects here; not to be confused withBIOS boot partition.
Thesystem partition and theboot partition (also known as thesystem volume and theboot volume) are computing terms fordisk partitions of ahard disk drive orsolid-state drive that must exist and be properly configured for a computer to operate. There are two different definitions for these terms: the common definition and theMicrosoft definition.
In context of every operating system, except those developed byMicrosoft, the system partition and the boot partition are defined as follows:
Theboot partition is aprimary partition that contains theboot loader, a piece of software responsible forbooting theoperating system. For example, in the standardLinux directory layout (Filesystem Hierarchy Standard), boot files (such as thekernel,initrd, and boot loaderGRUB) are mounted at/boot/.[1] Despite Microsoft's radically different definition (see below), System Information, a utility app included inWindows NT family of operating systems, refers to it as "boot device".[2][3]
Thesystem partition is the disk partition that contains the operating system folder, known as thesystem root. By default, in Linux, operating system files are mounted at/ (theroot directory).
In Linux, a single partition can be both a boot and a system partition if both/boot/ and the root directory are in the same partition.
SinceWindows NT 3.1 (the first version of Windows NT),[4] Microsoft has defined the terms as follows:
Thesystem partition (or system volume)[5] is a primary partition that contains the boot loader, a piece of software responsible for booting the operating system.[6]: 1087 This partition holds theboot sector and is marked active.[7]: 970
Theboot partition (or boot volume)[5] is the disk partition that contains the operating system folder, known as thesystem root or%systemroot% inWindows NT.[6]: 174
BeforeWindows 7, the system and boot partitions were, by default, the same and were given the "C:"drive letter.[7]: 971 Since Windows 7, however,Windows Setup creates, by default, a separate system partition that is not given an identifier and therefore is hidden. The boot partition is still given "C:" as its identifier. This configuration is suitable for runningBitLocker, which requires a separate unencrypted system partition for booting. As ofWindows 11, this nomenclature is still used by the "Disk Management" utility.
^Petersen, Richard (2009). "Chapter 21: Basic System Administration".Ubuntu The Complete Reference. New York: McGraw-Hill. p. 473.ISBN978-0-07-164368-9.
^Andrews, Jean; Chellis, James (13 August 2012).A+ Guide to Software (6th ed.). Cengage Learning. p. 21.ISBN9781285414980.
^Donald, Lisa (2008).MCSA / MCSE: Windows Server 2003 Environment Management and Maintenance Study Guide: Exam 70-290 (2nd ed.). John Wiley & Sons. pp. 116–117.ISBN9780470327616.
