What is the Difference Between Cold and Warm Booting

The main difference between cold and warm booting is that the cold booting is the process of starting up the computer that is turned off while warm booting is the process of restarting the computer without interrupting power.

Booting is a process or set of operations involved in loading and starting the operating system from the point in which the user switches on the power button. It is also called rebooting, booting, start-up or boot up. In booting, the startup instructions are loaded from the computer’s ROM. Then the operating system is loaded from the current boot disk. Usually, the boot disk can be an internal hard drive. After loading the operating system, the boot process is completed, and the computer is ready to use. Cold and warm booting are two types of booting.

Key Areas Covered

1. What is Cold Booting
     – Definition, Functionality
2. What is Warm Booting
     – Definition, Functionality
3. What is the Difference Between Cold and Warm Booting
     – Comparison of Key Differences

Key Terms

Boot Up, Cold Booting, Operating System, Warm Booting

What is Cold Booting

Cold booting is the process of starting up a computer that is switched off.  Usually, it is performed by pressing the power button on the computer. Cold booting performs the “Power on Self-Test” (POST). It is a series of system checks at the beginning of the boot sequence. In other words, it checks whether all the requirements are met, and the hardware is working correctly before starting the operating system.

When troubleshooting the computer, the user is asked to turn off the computer completely. Then cold booting is performed. It clears all temporary data from the system and eliminates the issues that can affect the functionality of the computer.

What is Warm Booting

Warm booting is the process of restarting a computer. It can be initialized using the operating system. In Windows, the user can perform warm booting by selecting the restart option from the start menu. In Mac, the user can perform warm booting by selecting restart from the Apple menu.

Usually, warm booting is performed frequently than cold booting because the users leave the computer in the sleep mode when they do not work. Warm booting does not include power on self-test, but it performs the rest of the boot sequence. It also loads any system files that were installed before the computer was restarted.

Difference Between Cold and Warm Booting

Definition

Cold booting is the process of starting a computer from shutdown or a powerless state and setting it to the normal working condition. Warm booting is the process of restarting a computer that is already on without completely turning the computer off. Hence, this explains the main difference between cold and warm booting.

Initialized by

While cold booting is initialized by pressing the power button on the computer, warm booting is initialized by the operating system.

Synonyms

Cold booting is also called hard booting, cold start, dead start. Warm booting is also called soft booting.

Reset

A cold booting performs a more complete reset of the system than warm booting. This is another difference between cold and warm booting.

Power On Self-Test

Furthermore, cold booting includes power on self-test (POST) while warm booting does not include POST.

Frecency of Usage

Another difference between cold and warm booting is that warm booting is more common than cold booting.

Conclusion

Booting can be cold or warm depending on the whether the system needs to start from the dead state or power on state. The difference between cold and warm booting is that cold booting the process of starting up the computer that is switched off while warm booting is the process of restarting the computer without interrupting power.

Reference:

1. “Cold Boot.” P2P (Peer To Peer) Definition, Available here.
2. “Warm Boot.” P2P (Peer To Peer) Definition, Available here.

Image Courtesy:

1. “414059” (CC0) via Pixabay