What should I do if Winload.efi is lost or damaged? [5 methods]

What is the Winload.efi file?
Winload. efi is an EFI (or Extensible Firmware Interface) file. The executable EFI file is suitable for UEFI based on computer systems and loads the file into the execution task of the computer boot loader. They contain important data on how the operating system boot process should proceed. Therefore, the Winload. efi file is crucial for successfully starting the operating system.

If Winload. efi is lost or damaged, Windows will encounter errors such as Winload. efi 0xc00000e that prevent it from starting properly and getting stuck on a blue screen, including some other error codes such as 0xc0000225 and 0xc000000 1. So what if Winload.efi is lost or damaged?

Blue screen winload.efi file missing
What situation will encounter the “Winload. efi Lost” error?
Usually, in the following three situations, you may encounter the problem of Winload.efi being lost and error 0xc00000e being unable to boot up during Windows startup:

You were unable to successfully update important system files (especially service pack installation) and Windows upgraded Winload.efi files.
The system files on the hard drive are damaged due to write errors, power outages, or virus attacks, and the operating system will be unable to locate the Winload.efi file.
Migrated the operating system to another hard drive, or replaced the computer motherboard.
What to do if Winload.efi is lost or damaged -5 repair methods
In order to complete the Winload. efi repair and correctly start Windows 11/10/8/7, we have collected the following methods that can be used to complete the repair.

✔ Method 1: Enable CSM (Compatibility Support Module) and disable Secure Boot (Secure Boot)
If your computer supports both UEFI boot mode (boot from GPT disk) and legacy boot mode (boot from MBR disk), you can try enabling CSM boot (compatibility support module allows legacy BIOS mode on UEFI systems) and disabling secure boot, then check if the problem is resolved.

Step 1. Restart the computer and continuously press F2, F8, or Del (the buttons may vary depending on the computer manufacturer) to enter the UEFI configuration menu. Enable compatibility (traditional) mode CSM Boot in UEFI settings (referred to as Legacy Boot in some versions of UEFI firmware).

Step 2. Then find the “Secure Boot” option. It is usually located in “Security”. Change its “Enable” to “Disable”. Save the changes and restart the computer.

Turn off BIOS security boot option
✔ Method 2: Check for system driver errors
If the previous method did not solve the problem of winload.efi loss, you can run the Chkdskxe tool to check if there are any errors on the system hard drive.

Step 1. Start the computer from the Windows installation DVD.

Step 2. On the welcome screen, click on “Repair Computer” in the bottom left corner.

Fix computer on Win10 startup
Step 3. Select “Troubleshooting” and then select “Command Prompt” (for Windows 11/10/8).

✍ Note: For Windows 7, you need to press any key when the “Press any key to start from CD or DVD” screen appears, select the language, keyboard layout, click “Next”, select the operating system, and then select “Command Prompt” followed by the “System Recovery Options” screen.

Step 4. In the command prompt window, enter “chkdsk c:/f” and press “Enter” to scan the C drive for errors and fix them.

✔ Method 3. Run the System File Checker to check the integrity of system files
What if Winload.efi is still lost or damaged and cannot be repaired? You can also use the SFC (System File Checker) tool to scan your Windows system files for damage and other changes. If it detects that a protected system file is overwritten by an incorrect file, it will automatically extract the correct file from the system backup and replace the incorrect file.

To run it, you can refer to the previous method of accessing the command prompt window and then execute the command: “sfc/scannow”. Or execute the command: “sfc/scan now/off boot=d: \/off windir=d: \ windows”.

Run the SFC inspection system
✔ Method 4: Reconstruct BCD and MBR
In many cases, the inability of Windows to boot up due to 0xc000000 e may be related to damaged MBR (Master Boot Record) and BCD (Boot Configuration Data). Therefore, rebuilding MBR or BCD is also worth a try.

After opening the command prompt window, run the following commands in sequence:

Bootrec/FixMbr: Fix damaged boot sectors on system partitions;
Bootrec/FixBoot: Overwrite the new boot sector on the system partition;
Bootrec/ScanOs: Scan disks with installed operating systems;
Bootrec/RebuildBcd: Rebuilds boot configuration data.
Then use the “exit” command to close the command prompt window and restart the computer to see if it can successfully start. If there is no help, you can run the following command to rebuild BCD for 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 have a Windows installation DVD, you can try the above method. If you don’t have it, you can use Aomei Partition Assistant to help you. You can use it to create a bootable USB drive on a functioning computer, then boot your computer from the USB drive and rebuild MBR in WinPE mode.

You can go to the download center or click the button to download and install the Aomei Partition Assistant, and then follow the steps below to fix it.

Free download of professional version

Win 11/10/8.1/8/7/XP

Step 1. Connect the empty USB drive to the working Windows computer. Start the Aomei partition assistant. Click “Create Startup Disc” on the main interface and follow the steps to create a bootable USB drive.

Creating a bootable disk
Step 2. Connect the created bootable USB drive to the computer with startup issues. After booting from the USB drive, you will enter the main interface of the Aomei Partition Assistant.

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

Choose to rebuild MBR
Step 4. Select the appropriate MBR type based on your current operating system, and then click “OK”.

Select the MBR type for reconstruction
Step 5. Click “Submit” and “Execute” to initiate the rebuild operation.

Submit MBR reconstruction operation
✍ Attention: You can also right-click on the system disk, select “Advanced”>”Check for Errors”, and then select “Check for Bad Sectors and Fix”.

✔ Method 5: Fix EFI bootloader
You can use some commands to manually repair the EFI boot loader.

Step 1. Open a command prompt through the Windows installation media.

Step 2. Execute the following command to assign a drive letter to the EFI volume.

Diskpart
List disk
Select disk
List volume
Then find a partition marked as ESP or EFI with a size of 100 MB.

Select volume #: Select ESP or EFI partition
Assign letter=k: (or select another available drive letter)
Now you can type “exit”. Then execute the following command to recreate the boot loader and copy files from the Windows directory.

Bcdboot c: \ Windows/sk:/f ALL (replace c: \ with your operating system drive letter)
After the operation is completed, restart the computer and check if the startup issue has been fixed.

epilogue
What should I do if Winload.efi is lost or damaged? In this article, you can find 5 effective methods to fix Windows 11/10/8/7 “Winload. efi Lost” startup errors. In addition, you can also use the free disk management tool in the article – Aomei Partition Assistant Professional Edition to easily manage your disks. Such as merging partitions, converting MBR disks to GPT disks, formatting USB drives, and so on.