Starting and stopping the system

Loading the operating system

The first step in starting the system is to load the operating system from the computer's hard disk.

Turn on power to the computer and hard disk. The computer loads the UNIX system bootstrap program and displays this message:
```
   Boot
   :
```
Press the <Enter> key. The system loads the operating system using the default bootstring as described in ``Changing the startup process''.

When the system is loaded, it displays information about the system configuration and verifies that the root filesystem (that is, all files and directories) is in order and not corrupted. If a filesystem is uncorrupted and in good order, it is called ``clean''. If the root filesystem is clean, you can choose the mode of operation. If not, the system requires you to clean your filesystems first.