Fixed: Winload.efi is Missing or Contains Errors in Windows 11/10/8/7

What is Winload.efi file?

As its name suggests, the Winload.efi is an EFI (or Extensible Firmware Interface) file. The executable EFI files apply to the UEFI based on computer systems and execute the tasks of loading the files to the computer bootloader. They contain important data on how the operating system boot process should proceed.

Therefore, Winload. efi files are very important for a successful OS boot. If the Winload.efi is missing or corrupted, the Windows cannot boot as normal and is stuck on the blue screen along with some error codes like “0xc0000225”, 0xc00000e, and 0xc0000001.

What triggers "Winload.efi missing" boot error?

Typically, you will meet the Winload.efi missing Windows 10 during Windows startup in the following three situations:

How to fix Winload.efi errors in Windows 11/10/8/7?

In order to solve this issue and boot Windows 11/10/8/7 correctly, we have collected the below methods many users have proven effective

• Method 1. Enable CSM compatibility mode and disable Secure Boot

• Method 2. Check system drive for errors

• Method 3. Run System File Checker to check system file integrity

• Method 4. Rebuild BCD and MBR

• Method 5. Repair EFI bootloader

▌Method 1. Enable CSM compatibility mode and disable Secure Boot

If your computer supports both UEFI boot mode (boot from GPT disk), and legacy boot mode (boot from MBR disks), you can try to enable CSM Boot (Compatibility Support Module allows legacy BIOS mode on UEFI systems), and disable secure boot to check if the problem can be fixed.

1. Restart your computer and constantly press F2, F8, and Del (the key might be different depending on the PC manufacturer) to enter the UEFI configuration menu. Enable the compatibility (legacy) mode CSM Boot in the UEFI settings (in some versions of UEFI firmware it is called Legacy Boot);

2. Then find the "Secure Boot" option. It is usually located in the "Security", "Authentication" or "Boot Sections". Change the "Secure Boot" option from "Enable" to "Disable". Save the changes and reboot your computer.

▌Method 2. Check system drive for errors

If the first method does not help with your problem, you can run the CHKDSK.exe tool to check the system hard drive for errors.

1. Boot your computer from your Windows installation DVD.

2. At the Welcome screen, click "Repair your computer".

3. Select "Troubleshoot" and then "Command Prompt" (for Windows 10/8).

Note: for Windows 7, you need to press any key in the "Press any key to boot from CD or DVD" screen, select a language, and keyboard layout, click "Next", select the operating system, and choose "Command Prompt" at the subsequent "System Recovery Options" screen.

4. In the elevated Command Prompt window, input "chkdsk c: /f" and press Enter to scan the C drive for errors and fix them if possible.

▌Method 3. Run System File Checker to check system file integrity

Besides, you can also use SFC (System File Checker) tool to scan your Windows system files for corruption and any other changes. If any protected system files are detected to be covered by wrong files, it will automatically extract the correct file from the system backup and replace the incorrect one.

To run it, you just first access the Command Prompt window (refer to the last method), and then execute the command: "sfc /scannow".

Or execute command : sfc /scannow /offboot=d:\ /offwindir=d:\windows.

▌Method 4. Rebuild BCD and MBR

In many cases, the Windows boot failure can be related to damaged MBR (Master Boot Record) and BCD (Boot Configuration Data). Therefore, rebuilding MBR or BCD is also worth trying.

After you have got Command Prompt window open, run the following commands one after another:

• bootrec /FixMbr – repair the corrupted or damaged boot sector on the system partition;

• bootrec /FixBoot – overwrite a new boot sector on the system partition;

• bootrec /ScanOs – scan the disk for the installed OSs;

• bootrec /RebuildBcd – rebuild the boot configuration data.

Then close the Command Prompt window with the "exit” command and restart your computer to see if it can boot up successfully.

If it does not help, you can run the following commands instead to rebuild the BCD for the MBR.
bcdedit /set {bootmgr} device boot
bcdedit /set {default} device boot
bcdedit /set {default} osdevice boot
bcdedit /set {default} device partition=c:
bcdedit /set {default} osdevice partition=c:
bcdedit /set {default} path \windows\system32\winload.efi

If you do have the Windows installation DVD, you can try the above methods. If you don’t have one, you can switch to AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional. It's an all-around disk and partition management for Windows 11/10/8/8.1/7/XP and fitting for both 32-bits and 64-bits systems. So, whether it's Windows system32 Winload.efi missing error or system 64-bits, this tool can help you fix problems.

With it, you can create a bootable USB drive, boot your computer from the USB drive and rebuild MBR in the WinPE mode. Quite easy!

1. Connect an empty USB drive to a working Windows PC. Free download AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard. Install and run it on that computer. Click "Tools"> "Make Bootable Media" on the top side and follow it to create a bootable USB stick.

2. Plug the created bootable USB drive (containing pre-installed AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard) into the computer with a boot problem. Boot the machine from the USB. Once log in, you will be in the main interface of AOMEI Partition Assistant.

3. Right-click the system disk and select “Rebuild MBR”.

4. Choose an appropriate MBR type according to your current OS, and click “OK”.

5. Click “Apply” and “Proceed” to commit the pending operation.

Notes:
1. Moreover, you can also right-click the system drive and select “Advanced”> “Check Partition”, then choose the first way to check bad sectors and fix them on the boot drive.
2. If your system partition is deleted by accident and causes boot failure, you can try AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional to recover deleted boot drive with ease.

▌Method 5. Repair EFI bootloader

At last, you can manually repair EFI bootloader using some commands.

1. Open Command Prompt via Windows installation media.

2. Type the following commands one by one and hit enter to assign a drive letter to the EFI volume.

▶ diskpart
▶ list disk 
▶ select disk 0
▶ list volume

Then find a partition labeled ESP or EFI with a size of 100 MB. Remember it.

▶ Select Volume 1: select the ESP or EFI volume
▶ assign letter= z (or another available drive letter)

Now you can type “exit” the diskpart. After that, execute the below command to recreate the bootloader and copy files from the Windows directory:

▶ bcdboot c:\Windows /s k: /f ALL (replace c:\ with your OS drive letter)

At last, reboot your computer and check if the boot problem is fixed.

Final words

In this post, 5 effective methods are shared with you to fix the “Winload.efi missing” boot error in Windows 11/10/8/7. Obviously, AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard provides easier solutions. If you need to solve the “Winload.efi missing” problem in Windows Server 2012 R2/2016/2019/2022, etc, AOMEI Partition Assistant Server will be a great choice.