hal.dll missing

borderchild · Dec 19, 2007

Hi. A friend of mine has a Compaq desktop with Windows XP Professional. He is getting this error at startup:

"Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
<Windows root>\system32\hal.dll.
Please re-install a copy of the above file."

The computer will not boot up (even into safe mode). I've discovered by searching the web that he will probably need the Windows XP CD to repair the file or reinstall the OS.

My question is this. He does NOT have the Windows XP Professional disk since the computer did not come with it. The OS was already installed when he purchased the computer. Therefore, I was wondering if this particular file could be repaired off a Windows XP Home CD or if it has to be the Windows XP Pro CD. No one I know has a Pro CD, I have a Home CD and would like to know if that would work. If not, what are his other options?

Thanks!

TimW · Dec 19, 2007

It has to be the same as he has ...xp pro.

prometheos · Dec 19, 2007

A quick scan of the internet produced the following novel approach:

You need a CD of Windows XP. I do not believe it matters which Service Pack or whatnot. Any will do. You are going to reinstall Windows (regardless of version, you can install Windows XP next to another installation of Windows XP, it's dual-booting the same OS) to regenerate HAL.DLL.

Now, follow these steps.
1. Boot from the CD and start the installer
2. Choose to install onto the already formatted partition with the unbootable Windows, but opt to leave the existing filesystem and any other OSes alone. Choosing this will require you to create another folder for Windows to avoid writing over the existing installation (that it somehow sees now but not when the Repair "Scanning for previous installations of Windows" is run, argh!) I usually call the new folder "WINXP."
3. Install Windows as you would normally, you'll need a Product Key but you can actually use your personal key on someone else's computer with no danger to you losing it or being accused of piracy, I'll explain this later.
4. Boot the NEW Windows XP install. Do not "Activate" or "register," you're going to be deleting this copy of Windows from the machine if all goes well.
5. Edit the BOOT.INI on the hard drive from the original installation of Windows with the corrupted HAL if you messed it up like I did and had four OS entries in it, none of which worked. This usually happens when you try to use the method outlined in the InformationWeek article repeatedly and it does not work.
6. Go to C:\WINXP\system32\hal.dll (where "WINXP" is the folder you installed the second copy of Windows XP) and copy it from the new Windows to C:\WINDOWS\system32\hal.dll (or wherever you installed Windows XP originally, I use "WINDOWS" but some people use strange folder names for their XP) and overwrite any file there. The new hal.dll is uncorrupt and newly regenerated. The file is specific to each machine's hardware configuration and we needed to rebuild it. The installer did that for us with the new installation.
7. Try rebooting your computer to see if you can get into your OLD Windows installation. If you can, congratulations!
8. DELETE the "WINXP" folder (or wherever you put your new Windows install).
Click to expand...

The entirety of the article may be viewed here.
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borderchild · Dec 19, 2007

cool, thanks for your help!

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hal.dll missing

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