If you are unable to boot your Windows, it probably means that your computer is unable to load Winload.exe. This is probably not a good thing and not always can you get your operating system back on track. What we can do is enter the Recovery Environment (RE), and try checking if the boot files are corrupt. If they are, we can try fixing them using the command prompt. Furthermore, we can also check if there is any problem with your hard drive.
Solution 1: Repairing Corrupt Boot files
The first and foremost thing you should check if you are having problems booting your computer is your boot files. Boot files usually get corrupt after a potential Windows update. If the update was complete halfway or it got stuck, there are chances that your boot files have become corrupt. We need to run the chkdsk command to fix any discrepancies. We will be running the command prompt in RE and try doing all the operations from there. Windows cannot repair itself because the boot parameter is corrupt. No recovery will fix it for some reason even though the recovery tools are present.
If check disk utility only scans your computer and doesn’t perform any fixes, you need to execute the following command: System file checker (SFC) is a utility in Windows which allows users to scan and restore corruptions present in their operating system. It is integrated with Windows resource protection, which protects folders, registry keys, and critical system files as well.
Solution 2: Using Bootrec (bootrec.exe)
Bootrec is tool provided by Microsoft in Windows recovery environment (also called Windows RE). When your computer fails to boot successfully, Windows automatically starts in RE. This environment has several tools that can potentially fix your computer such as Command Prompt, Startup Repair etc. We will try using Bootrec using the command prompt and see if this fixes the problem for us.
bootrec /fixboot bootrec /scanos bootrec /rebuildbcd Each command should give you a confirmation that the operation completed successfully. Now reboot your system and hopefully, the problem will be solved.
Solution 3: Disabling Network Drivers
A recent update to the Windows operating system in early 2018 broke many network drivers in many devices across the globe. The reason why this happened is unknown. The users faced the same problem under discussion that they were unable to boot their operating system successfully. What you can do to solve this problem is to boot your computer in safe mode and disable ALL the network drivers. When you have successfully booted up, you can revert the drivers to a previous version.
Note: If you already know which software caused this mess, you can boot into Safe Mode, uninstall/disable the software and then try booting the normal way.
Solution 4: Using Command Prompt to Restore
If all the above solutions don’t work as expected, you use the command prompt to restore your Windows. We will first backup some files and then proceed. We have listed down each step comprehensively. Make sure you follow each and every step and do not even skip a single one as it can render the PC unusable.
If you have already used this solution before, make sure you use another name instead of ‘backup’ such as ‘backup1’. MD \backup Make sure that you use the same name which you initialized in step 4. In this case, we are using the name ‘backup’.
dir You will see a bunch of items with numbers before them. If you don’t see numbers and there is a string of zeroes, you cannot continue with this solution. Instead, you have to use System Restore. The above command has copy following with (star dot star), then a space and then (dot dot). When prompted, type “A” to indicate All. Note: Do note that this method might render a ‘few’ features of Windows. This is very rare but if it happens, you can always search our forums for fixes. The problems are mostly very minute, nothing of critical nature.
Solution 5: Backing up your Data and doing a System Restore
If you cannot restore your computer manually in the solutions mentioned above, you will have to back up your data manually in RE and then do a system restore. Do note that the backup we do will not be automatic and you will an external hard drive or USB to copy the files into.
Once you have backup up your data, you can start doing a system restore on your computer. For you to perform a system restore, you must have a restore point configured already. Normally, Windows automatically creates a restore point when there is an update or when you install a new feature.
Note: As you can see, there is also an option to Go back to the previous version of the update. If you know with certainty that an update broke Windows, you can try going back to the previous version and see if this does the trick for you.
Last Resort: Installing Fresh copy of Windows
If you are not able to boot your computer normally using the steps mentioned, you need to install a fresh copy of Windows on your computer. There is still a way you can keep your information intact. For Windows to install, it needs a drive where you will be installing the installation files. You can either install Windows on a separate drive when the options comes. This way the old drive will still have the data and if it is accessible later on, you will be able to copy it to the new drive and format it accordingly. You can check out our detailed article on how to install Windows 10.
Tip:
You can enter the recovery environment by inserting a USB or Disk with Windows installation media and selecting “Repair this computer”. This can be used when you are unable to enter RE in the steps above.
Fix: Windows 11 Won’t Boot After Enabling Secure BootApple Mac With ARM CPUs Instead Of Intel’s x86 Chips Won’t Allow Running Windows…Fix: Cloned SSD Won’t BootFix: Windows Does not Boot after the Windows Hypervisor Platform is Enabled
