Xbox System Software

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Revision as of 23:01, 9 August 2010 by imported>Stoker25
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The Xbox's Software is composed of many things, including the bootloaders, the kernel, the dashboard and more.

Bootloaders

1BL

Stored in CPU rom, decrypts and starts CB bootloader. (more info needed)

CB/2BL

Stored in NAND, decrypts and starts CD bootloader. (more info needed)

CD

Stored in NAND, decrypts and decompresses CE, which contains the base kernel and hypervisor. It then decrypts and starts the CF bootloader. (more info needed)

CF

Stored in NAND, decrypts and decompresses CG, which contains the latest update patches for kernel and hypervisor. It then applies the patches and loads. (more info needed)

Hypervisor

The hypervisor is used to protect the Xbox 360 console from attacks, by running the hypervisor with higher privileges than the kernel.

Kernel

The Xbox 360's kernel is responsible for low level hardware communication and more. (more info needed)

File Systems

The Xbox 360 uses various File Systems for storing games, user content and more.

FATX (File Allocation Table for Xbox) is used as the storage filesystem on hard drives/memory units/USB devices/xlaunch.fdf files.

STFS (Secure Transacted File System) is used for game saves, profiles, arcade games, downloadable content and more. STFS is also referred to as CON/LIVE/PIRS files, as they are all STFS files, just signed with a different header.

File Formats

The Xbox 360 also uses different File Formats for storage of data, as storage on the Xbox is limited, these files are usually binary.

XEX (Xenon Executable) is the executable format used by the Xbox 360.

XDBF/GPD (Xbox Dashboard File/Gamer Profile Data) is used for profile (achievements/settings) and titles (achievements/strings/ratings).

XMI (Xenon Music Index) is used to index music on the Xbox.