Operating system code, as one of my colleague developers recently realized, is “just code”. It’s not voodoo and it does not exist on a higher plane of knowledge. In fact, an operating system kernel is usually remarkably well structured and well designed in comparison to other pieces of software. When you think about it, it has to be. More than one person needs to understand and maintain a core set of code that must work and must support debugging of all other software that runs upon it. People move on, and change jobs to look for new challenges to keep learning. If only one person understood the way an operating system worked, then there is a huge amount of risk.

One of the most interesting facets to Operating Systems that I’ve followed in my career is how they start. Initialization is the last step in design, but at the same time it uncovers the most fundamental bedrock of the principles used. You start with literally nothing but a CPU which can execute instructions (sometimes not even with memory to use), and must take a platform from that point to a fully functioning system - one that not only utilizes available hardware, but abstracts it to a common understanding.

What I’m going to do in this article is discuss the details of how the Windows CE 6.0 kernel starts, and the association of the ‘Microsoft’ kernel code with the code that comes from an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM). It is hoped that by relating this understanding more people will have a better idea of the ‘hows’ and ‘whys’ of the Microsoft design.