winload.exe missing/corrupt

Hi all. I need some help with a Dell Inspiron 1545 laptop. I'm trying to do a System Rcovery with image disks created with the included Dell DataSafe Local Backup 2.0 cuz it had a virus and I don't know if it got it for sure, but after Windows is thru loading files I get a message in the Windows Boot Manager:

\windows\system32\boot\winload.exe
The selected entry could not be loaded because the app. is missing or corrupt.

This laptop did not come with any disks when bought new. The only disks available are the 2 I made with DataSafe. I've tried several suggestions I found on the net, but, so far, none have worked:

Booted from a Windows 7 Repair Disk>cmd prompt and:
typed bootrec.exe /fixmbr = success
bootrec.exe /fixboor = success
bootrec.exe /rebuildbcd = success
sfc /SCANNOW /OFFBOOTDIR=c:\ /OFFWINDIR=c:\windows
Rec'd this msg. with the above command:
Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to
fix some of them. Details are included in the CBS.Log windir\Logs\
CBS\CBS.log.
I extracted this file and saved it to a thumb drive for later use if need
be. (It was 18MB of gibberish to me)
Renamed winload.exe to winload.old and replaced it with a known good
winload.exe file from my pc.
Ran an Avast Free AV boot-time scan = nothing found

Rebooted into F8>Repair your computer, but does nothing except load into
Windows normally.

I'd be obliged if someone could shed some light on this hair puller. If it was mine, the old pig would be out the back door in the snow bank, but the owner won't go for that. I already ckd. Nothing lost if we have to get drastic cuz I backed up his personal data--just please use terms, instructions, etc. that this numb skull can follow. Hope I haven't forgotten anything, but, who knows? Done so many things I can't remember 'em all. lol

Thanks for any help.

Dell Inspiron 1545
Pentium Dual-Core 2.20GHz
4GB RAM
Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64 bit
Avast Free AV

 

Hi,

Can you get to the command prompt from Repair your Computer? Or from the repair disc would be fine.

I would run a couple of chkdsk(s) to rule out that it is simply corruption.

chkdsk c: /r
chkdsk d: /r

 

I see a lot of lookers, but no takers. Please, does anyone have ANY ideas yet?

 

Hello again sach2. Sorry I missed your post. Yes, I used the Win 7 Repair Disk 64 bit to get to cmd prompt before. I'll start with your suggestion and start with the chksk commands. Thanks

 

sach2, I'll show ALL info as per the chkdsk commands as I don't know what's useful and what's not. OK?

RESULTS OF chkdsk c: /r
CHKDSK is verifying files <stage 1 of 5>
1 percent complete. <18791 of 18791 file records processed>
Deleting corrupt attribute record <128, ''''> from file record segment 22258.
187904 file records processed.
File verification completed.
597 large file records processed.
0 bad file records processed.
0 EA records processed.
44 reparse records processed.
CHKDSK is verifying indexs <stage 2 of 5>
238922 index entries processed.
Index verification complete.
0 unindexed files scanned.
0 unindesed files recovered.
CHKDSK is verifying security descriptors <stage 3 of 5>
187904 files SDs/SIDs processed.
Security descriptor verification completed.
Inserting data attribute into file 22258.
25546 data files processed.
CHKDSK is verifying Usn Journal...
35039936 USN bytes processed.
Usn Journal verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying file data <stage 4 of 5>
187888 files processed.
File data verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying free space <stage 5 of 6
5>
1077927107 free clusters processed.
Free space verification is complete.
CHKDSK discovered free space marked as allocated in the volume bitmap.
Windows has made corrections to the file system.
472984599 KB total disk space.
40897024 KB in 101413 files.
74852 KB in 25546 indexes.
0 KB in bad sectors.
304291 KB in use by the system.
65536 KB occupied by the log file.
431708432 KB available on disk.

4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
118246149 total allocation units on disk.
107927100 allocation units available on disk.
Failed to transfer logged messages to the event log with status 50.

RESULTS OF chkdsk d: /r
CHKDSK is verifying files <stage 1 of 5>
10240 file records processed.
File verification completed.
1 large files records processed.
0 bad file records processed.
0 EA file records processed.
0 reparse records processed.
CHKDSK is veryifying indexes <stage 2 0f 5>
10326 index entries processed.
0 unindexed files scanned.
0 unindexed files recovered.
CHKDSK is verifying security descriptors <stage 3 of 5>
10240 file SDs/SIDs processed.
Security descriptor verification completed.
44 data files processed.
CHKDSK is verifying Usn Journal.
650744 USN bytes processed.
Usn Journal verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying file data <stage 4 of 5>
10224 files processed.
File data verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying free space <stage 5 of 5>
2620335 free clusters processed.
Free space verification is complete.
Windows has checked the file system and found no problems.

15359999 KB total disk space.
4800868 KB in 262 files.
96 KB in 45 indexes.
0 KB in bad sectors.
77691 KB in use by the system.
65536 KB occupied by the log file.
10481344 KB available on disk.

4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
3039999 total allocation units on disk.
2620336 allocation units available on disk.
Failed to transfer logged messages to the event log with status 50.

 

It found some problems on C: but fixed them. There doesn't seem to be any problem with the HD.

Does it still give the winload.exe as the problem file?

And this does not seem to be the correct file path from your first post \windows\system32\boot\winload.exe are you sure that the error includes the /boot folder?
And not \windows\system32\winload.exe

 

Yes, it still shows \windows\system32\boot\winload.exe as the problem file when I boot off the Recovery Disk.
I got curious and double ck'd. in Win. Explorer and there is, indeed, a subfolder under Windows\System32 folder called Boot with the winload.exe file in it.
There is also a winload.exe in System32 folder itself.

I tried to copy and paste the newer, known good winload.exe file into System32 folder, but it won't let me even after taking ownership of that folder. I ck'd. Properties>Security tab and it shows that I am the owner and have full control.

"You'll need to provide administrator permission to copy to this folder">Clicked
Continue button.

Next box says "You need permission to perform this action">Try Again or Cancel.
I have to click Cancel cuz I could click Try Again all day and nothing happens.

Hope this info sheds some light on this cuz I'm buffaloed by it.

 

Have you tried to run the System File Checker:

Code:

sfc /scannow

 

I'm thinking that there was some corruption of the C: drive. Maybe when you rebuilt the BCD it set itself to the /boot/winload.exe because there was a problem with the usual /system32/winload.exe location.

Maybe rebuilding again would set it back to default?

I've been very distracted tonight but just saw that someone actually has the /boot/winload.exe as their default BCD entry but I still think this is unusual.
I'll try to get a few step by step instructions tomorrow. I have to test them out since I haven't done it in quite a while. We'd just be adding an extra entry to the BCD pointing to system32/winload.exe and see if it makes any difference but I don't know the correct commands to do that.

 

OK sach. Will give sfc /scannow a go and post back any results in the meantime. Thanks

 

Hey, the little testing I did last night showed that booting from the /boot/winload.exe or the /system32/winload.exe worked exactly the same on my functioning computer.

I still think it is worth a shot but I use VisualBCD to make the changes to the BCD and haven't figured out the exact steps to do it from the repair/installation disc. I'll test that out in the next half hour.

I think the scannow you did in your first post is the same as pwillener suggested and the only way to do it from the installation disc. I don't believe it will run as the simpler version of the command.

 

sach, FYI I rebuilt bcd again, but there was no change--still have the
\windows\system32\boot\winload.exe error.

I then used Repair Disk for cmd prompt and typed sfc /scannow and rec'd the
following msg.:
There is a system repair pending which requires reboot to complete. Reboot
Windows and run sfc again.

I did this and got the same msg. as shown above.

 

Hi,

This is a bit tricky and I got error messages but eventually it took the commands. Let me know how you get on. If you can't get it to work then we can just remove the current BCD completely and rebuild from scratch. The "nuclear" option here. I just want to see if you have any better luck when pointing to the system32/winload.exe which I believe is standard. I just never learned to edit the BCD manually. I don't know why MS made it so difficult and not plain text like boot.ini?

At the command prompt we want to backup the current BCD. Then copy the default entry and edit the path on the copy to point to /system32/winload

bcdedit /export c:\savedBCD
bcdedit /copy {current} /d "new 7"
you get a message successful with a long number. Then you want to highlight the long number including the brackets and right-click it as if to select copy, but you won't get any confirmation that it is copied but it will be. You will be left clicking in the next step to paste this long number where I have {guid} to substitute.
bcdedit /set {guid} path \windows\system32\winload.exe
you should get a confirmation

Then reboot and select the New 7 entry and see if you get the same message or different.

******
Before you do the above, I'd like to know what your BCD looks like.
So at the command prompt type bcdedit

All I want is to know the first 4 lines of the first entry under Windows Boot Loader. Or really just the drive letter to make sure it is C:. Where mine says {current} yours should say {default}.

 

bcdedit at cmd prompt

Windows Boot Loader
identifier <default>
device partition=c:
path \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description Windows 7

I'll go ahead and do the steps u listed since everything looks kosher so far and post back results for u.

 

You needn't bother as your entry already shows /System32/winload.exe.

I was expecting the path line to say /Windows/sytem32/boot/winload.exe.

The instructions I gave just add another entry like you already have. You are sure that the entry is as you posted and doesn't include the /boot folder?

I'm not sure what is going on here because it seems it shouldn't be looking for /Windows/sytem32/boot/winload.exe, so the questionis why is it giving you that file in your bootup error message?

 

sach, this is probably a dumb question, but when I type the 2nd command, it won't let me use the { } brackets. Instead it shows <current> and then I get the message:

The specified entry identifier is not valid. The parameter is incorrect.

Every k'board I've used, I simply press shift to type those brackets. What gives?

 

The 3rd line in Windows Boot Loader is for sure:

path \Windows\system32\winload.exe

I, too, was expecting to the the Boot folder there

 

Just hold off on those commands. It is very picky about the syntax, I don't know if it is the limited graphics or what but I have a lot of trouble using that command prompt. It should allow you to use the brackets, I'm not sure why it won't.

Do you see \Windows\system32\boot\winload.exe anywhere in the BCD?

 

Hold on a second I just reread your first post.

Was this message there on your Windows or did you start a recovery and then you get this error message? If you started recovery what were the screens you saw and the last one before reboot?

 

There is no \Windows\system32\boot\winload.exe in the BCD anywhere

And I'll hold off on those commands as I'm stuck there anyway. lol

 

I slapped in the recovery disk, Windows loaded files, then the msg appeared:
\Windows\system32\boot\winload.exe
The app. is missing or corrupt--dah, dah, dah

Windows itself boots normally and works normally (as well as Windows can, if that's normal--lol)

 

So Windows is working but you want to restore to factory.

When you boot from the disc it just shows the Windows is Loading files along the bottom of the screen and then gives you the error message, never having started any type of recovery or asked you anything--is that the situation?

 

Exactly sach

 

Ok, that's a whole different story. I'm not sure how to fix that. The error seems to mean that the disc isn't starting correctly. It should create a virtual drive X: and then use a temporary BCD to startup. It seems it is not loading up the winload.exe to that temporary drive which it needs to startup the recovery options.

I wonder what would happen if you booted from the Repair disc and when it asked for the keyboard selection, you ejected the disc and put in the first recovery disc. Then selected the keyboard. What would happen next?

I've got to run a few errands but I will take a look later for specific threads regarding the datasafe program and that error. I did notice you have a recovery partition on that HD is there any option in All Programs> something like Dell or Data Safe to start the recovery from within Windows?

I'll get back to you later.

 

OK sach. I appreciate all your efforts and I'll work on your suggestions and post back later.

 

sach, swapping disks before choosing k'board language wanted me to search for drive(s) that have a backup image.

Within Windows, DataSafe Local Backup had an option to restore to factory image and I chose that. PC rebooted automatically, then gave the error msg., but this time it made no reference to the Boot folder.

This time, \windows\system32\winload.exe is missing or corrupt.

Weird, no? We're startin' to have fun now.

 

I just had a thought sach. I d'loaded an .iso 90 dayTRIAL version of Win 7 Home Premium 64 bit from softpedia.com a few days ago. Do u think I'd botch things altogether by burning that to disk and install it, then try the recovery disk? Just a thought.

 

Sorry it took so long to post back--had a couple of appts. yesterday.

This a.m. I burnt the 90 day trial Win 7 to disk, booted from it, and got the option to install or repair pc. Didn't install cuz I'm curous as to your thoughts about that.

Instead, I chose Repair PC, and it took me to the usual System Recovery Options screen.

 

I'm back at it again today. Any new suggestions to fix this anyone? Getting desperate now. lol

 

This one apparently has us all stumped.

 

LOOKS LIKE THIS ONE BEAT ME. Concerning my post of 01.22.13, does anyone think I could install this trial version to create a new bootloader so that I won't get the winload.exe error, then try my recovery disk?

I've GOT to get this old pig out of here. I've had it almost 3 wks. now and still can't find a fix for winload.exe error.

Thanks so much for all your help thus far.