Quick Guide to Fix winload.efi Error on Windows 10

I. About winload.efi

In the EFI environment, winload.efi is an executable file with a boot loader, which is mainly responsible for initializing the environment and booting the Windows system. Therefore, if there is a problem with this file, such as missing or containing errors, you may receive winload.efi related error prompts, and the system will not start normally.

Usually, this error occurs due to a corrupted boot record, enabling Secure Boot in UEFI, corrupted system files, etc. Aiming at the possible causes of this error, the editor has sorted out several conventional repair methods for you, and you can choose and try the corresponding methods independently. We continue to learn.

II. How to fix winload.efi error?

1. Rebuild the BCD file

The Bootrec command can repair corrupt master boot record or boot configuration data (BCD) files. This method needs to enter the recovery environment to operate. Proceed as follows:

Step 1: Insert the Windows installation disk DVD or USB Drive into the computer, and press the F2 or F10 or DEL or ESC keys continuously (there may be slight differences due to different computer brands) to enter the BIOS setting interface when turning on the computer, and the installation disk Set first in the boot order. Boot the computer from the Windows installation disk and click the Repair your Computer option to enter the recovery environment. If you don’t have a Windows installation disk, you can also try to force restart the computer three times, and then select Advanced Options on the Automatic Repair interface to enter the recovery environment.

Step 2: After entering the recovery environment, select Troubleshooting – Advanced Options – Command Prompt.

Step 3: In Command Prompt, enter the following command. Each time you enter a command, you need to press the (Enter) key. After the repair is complete, remove the Windows installation disk and restart the computer to check whether the problem is resolved.

bootrec.exe /fixmbr

bootrec.exe /fixboot

bootrec.exe /scanos

bootrec.exe /rebuildbcd

2. Disable the Secure Boot feature

If your computer has Secure Boot Mode enabled in the UEFI BIOS (Windows 8 and later versions enable this feature by default), then this feature may prevent you from accessing your computer normally, along with winload.efi related errors. To disable the Secure Boot feature, follow these steps:

Step 1: Start the computer, and when the brand logo appears, press F2 or F8 or Esc or Del to enter the UEFI BIOS setting interface. The shortcut keys vary depending on the brand of the computer or motherboard.

Step 2: Next, under the Security tab, find the Secure Boot – Secure Boot option. If your UEFI BIOS cannot find the Secure Boot option, you can try Boot – Start or Authentication.

Step 3: Then change the setting of Secure Boot to Off or Disabled to turn off this function.

Step 4: After that, it is recommended that you check whether the first boot sequence is the system hard disk. If you are not sure whether the first boot device is correct, you can also use the elimination method to check one by one. According to some netizens’ feedback, try to move the hard disk without “Windows Boot Manager” in the name to the first place in the boot sequence, and the problem has been successfully solved. Finally remember to save the changes and restart your computer to see if the problem is resolved.

3. Use the SFC command to repair damaged system files

The SFC command stands for System File Checker, a program that instantly scans for corrupted system files and fixes problems. The specific operation steps are as follows:

Step 1: Connect the Windows installation disk to the computer. Start the computer, and change the boot sequence in the BIOS settings to start from the Windows installation disk boot with a USB disk. Start the computer after saving the settings.

Step 2: After the computer successfully boots from the Windows installation disk, select the Repair your computer option in the lower left corner of the installation interface to enter the Windows recovery environment.

Step 2: After entering the recovery environment, select Troubleshooting – Advanced Options – Command Prompt.

Step 4: In the opened command prompt window, enter the command sfc /scannow /offboot=c:\ /offwindir=c:\windows (here c: is the drive letter of the system disk, which can be changed according to the actual situation) , and press Enter. The scan may take approximately 5-20 minutes to complete. After the scan is complete, remove the Windows installation disk and restart the computer to see if the problem is resolved.

The above are three commonly used methods to fix winload.efi-related errors. I hope it will be helpful to you. If the problem cannot be solved, you can also try to use the startup repair function in the Windows recovery environment to solve it. In addition, if you cannot enter the system normally due to various system failures, but you are worried about losing important files in the computer, it is recommended that you use a professional system rescue tool to transfer or restore important files in the computer. The following are detailed operations method.

III. When unable to enter the system, use Renee PassNow to transfer or recover important files

1. What is Renee PassNow?

Renee PassNow is a professional system rescue software, which can help Windows users clear Windows account passwords, create new administrator accounts; restore disk/memory card data, recover data after hard disk formatting; transfer disk files; erase or scan Disk files, etc. In addition, this software also supports repairing Windows system problems, such as: repairing MBR boot records, DBR error parameters, 0xc00000e, Windows system startup failure, and some problems that cause black screen or blue screen, etc. As a system rescue tool with various functions, it is perfectly compatible with multiple systems including Windows 10/8.1/8/7/XP/Vista, and can meet the system rescue needs of different users.

2. How to use Renee PassNow to transfer or recover data?

When the computer cannot be started and used normally, you can create a startup disk through Renee PassNow, then start the computer through the startup disk, and then transfer or restore data through the functions provided by the software. The specific steps are as follows:

Step 1: Download and install Renee PassNow on other computers that can log in and run normally, then connect the U disk to the PC, run Renee PassNow, and then check in “Step 1: Select creation method” (Create a Live USB) option. (Note: Before performing this operation, please make sure that the important files in the U disk have been saved in other locations, because the operation process will delete all the data in the U disk.)

Step 2: Next, select (x64) or (x86) according to the system type, click the (Download Now) button to download the ISO file, click the (Create a Live USB) button after the file is downloaded, and click the (Eject USB) button.

Step 3: Connect the created boot device to the computer that needs to transfer data, turn on the computer, and then the shortcut key to enter the BIOS will be displayed on the computer screen (the display time of this interface is very short, maybe only one or two seconds), click continuously BIOS shortcut key to enter the BIOS setting interface, and then set the boot U disk as the first in the boot sequence in Boot Priority, then save the settings and restart the computer.

Step 4: Wait for a while, after Renee PassNow is loaded, select (Data Transfer). If you need to transfer the data of the entire hard disk, you can select the (Data Backup) option.

Step 5: You can click on each disk drive letter (C/D/E/F, etc.) to check whether important files are lost. If not, it is recommended that you transfer them to an external disk. The operation of transferring data is very simple. For example, if you want to transfer the data in the C drive to the G drive, you can first select the C drive on the upper left, select the G drive on the upper right, and then select the files in the C drive, and click the Copy function button in the middle. Disk data can be easily transferred. If there is a file you want to delete, you can also click the (Delete) button in the middle after selecting the file, but the deletion operation cannot be undone, please operate with caution.

Step 6: If you find that there is data loss, please select the (Undeleter) option on the main interface of the function, and click the (Run) button.

Step 7: Select (Fast Partition Scan) to scan the target hard disk.

Step 8: After the scan is complete, select the file to be recovered, click the (Recover) button to execute the data recovery command, please save the file in another external disk, eject the U disk after the recovery is complete, and then perform other operations on the computer, such as maintenance , replace the hard disk or reinstall the system, etc.