Windows 开机管理员（Windows Boot Manager）是从Windows Vista开始引进的新一代开机管理程序，用以取代NTLDR。当电脑运行完POST后，传统型BIOS会根据启动磁区寻找开机硬盘中标记"启动"分割区下的BOOTMGR文件；若是UEFI则是Bootmgr.efi文件，接着管理程序会读取开机组态数据库（BCD, Boot Configuration Database）下的启动数据，接着根据其中的数据加载与缺省或用户所选择的操作系统。

The startup process of Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 and their successors differs from the startup process part of previous versions of Windows.

In this article, unless otherwise specified, what is said about "Windows Vista" also applies to all later NT operating systems. For Windows Vista, the boot sector loads the Windows Boot Manager (a file named BOOTMGR on either the system or the boot partition), accesses the Boot Configuration Data store and uses the information to load the operating system. Then, the BCD invokes the boot loader and in turn proceeds to initiate the Windows Kernel.