Easy Solutions to Fix The Error Winload.exe missing on Windows 10

I. About winload.exe

The full name of winload.exe is Windows Boot Loader, which is a Windows system loader and is started by the BOOTMGR protocol. It is the boot manager in Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7 and Windows Vista. The job of winload.exe is to load the necessary device drivers, as well as ntoskrnl.exe, a core part of Windows. But in earlier Windows operating systems, such as Windows XP, the loading of ntoskrnl.exe is done by NTLDR, which also acts as a boot manager.

If winload.exe is corrupted or missing, users will not be able to start their Windows tablet, laptop, or desktop and may get “The application or operating system could not be loaded because a required file is missing or contains errors. File: \\Windows \system32\winload.exe. Error code: 0xc000000f” error message.

When there is a prompt about the loss of winload.exe, the Windows system will not be able to load normally. If you have saved important files in your Windows computer, you can refer to the method in the second part to transfer or restore the important data before solving the problem.

II. Use Renee PassNow to transfer or recover data before repairing

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 Windows system has a prompt about the loss of winload.exe and cannot be started, you can create a boot disk through Renee PassNow, then start the computer through the boot disk, and then use the functions provided by the software to transfer or restore files. 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.

III. How to solve the loss or damage of winload.exe?

1. Perform startup repair

The Startup Repair feature in the Windows Recovery Environment can fix problems that prevent Windows from loading and replace missing or damaged files. Therefore, you can try to use the startup repair function to solve the problem that winload.exe is missing or damaged. Here are the detailed steps to perform a startup repair:

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.

2. Use the Bootrec command to rebuild the boot configuration data

The Bootrec command can repair damaged master boot records or boot configuration data files, which can help troubleshoot Windows startup problems. This method needs to enter the recovery environment and then operate. Proceed as follows:

Step 1: Press the power button to turn it on, and press and hold the power button when the startup logo appears to force shutdown. Repeat this step three times to allow the computer to start completely, select Advanced option on the Automatic Repair interface, and the computer will enter the Windows recovery environment. Or use the Windows installation disk to start the computer, you need to set the Windows installation disk as the first in the boot sequence in the BIOS settings, then save the settings and restart the computer, select the Repair your computer option in the Windows installation program Install Now interface to enter the recovery environment.

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

Step 3: In the command prompt window that opens, type bootrec.exe /rebuildbcd and press the Enter key. On the command line, you may see it display “Total Windows installations identified: 1″ or “Total Windows installations identified: 0″. If the total number of Windows installations is 0, then skip to step 5.

Step 4: When “Total Windows installations identified: 1″ appears, you must manually delete the BCD store before rebuilding can begin. At the command line, type bcdedit /export c:\bcdbackup and press the Enter key.

Step 5: Then you need to adjust several file properties stored by BCD so that it can be manipulated. Please enter attrib c:\boot\bcd -h -r -s (-h refers to removing hidden file attributes, -r refers to removing read-only file attributes, -s refers to clearing system file attributes), Then press the Enter key.

Step 6: Now you need to rename the BCD storage, please enter the ren c:\boot\bcd bcd.old command.

Step 7: Then type bootrec /rebuildbcd and press Enter to start rebuilding BCD. Then type Y and press Enter under the question “Add installation to boot list?”. Finally, just restart your computer.

3. Reinstall Windows 10

If the above methods cannot solve the problem, you can consider reinstalling the system. Reinstalling the system can solve many Windows blue screen or startup problems, but this method may lose some data in the computer, so before reinstalling Windows 10, it is recommended that you refer to this article the second part method to transfer important files from your computer. Next, we will reinstall Windows 10 through the reset computer function in the Windows recovery environment. The specific steps are as follows:

Step 1: First enter the Windows recovery environment. Below are two methods.

● Method 1: Power on the computer, then press and hold the power button to turn it off when the computer brand logo appears, repeat this step three times, then allow the computer to start completely, select Advanced option in the Automatic Repair interface, and the computer will enter Windows recovery environment.

● Method 2: Insert the Windows 10 installation disk (DVD or USB disk) into the computer. Continuously click F2 or F10 or DEL or ESC shortcut keys (varies with the computer brand) to enter the BIOS setting interface when starting up, set the first boot sequence to the Windows installation disk, and then save the settings to make the computer start from the installation disk and install Windows. Select the Repair Your Computer option on the program’s Install Now interface to enter the recovery environment.

Step 2: Then when “Choose an option” appears, click Troubleshooting – Reset this PC in turn. The Reset This PC feature allows users to keep or delete personal files and then reinstall Windows.

Step 3: Next select Keep my files or Remove everything. Select Erase All Content if you plan to sell or give away the device, as this will overwrite all data on the drive and there is little chance of future data recovery.

Step 4: After the computer restarts automatically, please click to select an Account Name. Then enter the account password (no need to enter if there is no password), click Continue.

Step 5: After confirming the reset information, click (Reset). The computer will automatically restart and initialize the system. This process may take a long time, please wait patiently.