[Solved] Winload.efi Missing After Clone | 4 Ways + 1 Tip

Winload.efi Missing or Contains Error After Clone

The Winload.exe file is the Windows operating system boot loader (an Extensible Firmware Interface(EFI) file) to boot the system correctly. In UEFI systems, it’s called winload.efi, and located at \Windows\System32\winload.efi or \Windows\System32\boot\winload.efi.

Sometimes, you might encounter other error codes associated with Winload.efi file, like error code 0xc000000e after cloning Windows 10, winload.efi error code 0xc000000f, winload.efi 0xc0000428, etc. This article will help you to resolve these winload.efi missing problems with detailed steps.

Possible Causes to Winload.efi Missing after Cloning

The Winload.efi missing error usually occurs after clone, after sysprep, after image, or even after Windows update. There are some factors that should be responsible for the Winload.efi file is missing after clone:

1. The incorrect registry key. The source disk and target disk own different ID for volumes and drive letter, so you have to change the registry key after cloning.

2. Improper UEFI settings. The UEFI and Legacy mode requires different boot files and algorithms. So, make sure you set up the correct settings for your destination disk.

3. The corrupted BCD files. Sometimes, cloning will damage the BCD store files, and then you will get this Winload.efi 0xc0000225 error message or other Winload.efi missing problems. Just repair BCD files first.

Therefore, how to repair the application or operating system that couldn't be loaded because of missing winload.efi? Don’t worry about it! We will provide the solutions to fix it quickly in Windows 7/8/10/11. 

4 Common Ways to Fix Winload.efi Missing Errors

If you meet Winload.efi missing errors after clone, to avoid this issue again when cloning hard drive, you can also choose a professional cloning software - AOMEI Backupper Professional. This tool supports cloning a boot drive to another drive, in addition to creating an installation disk to repair common hard disk problems.

AOMEI Backupper

Easy Windows Cloning Tool

• Intelligent clone: Only clone the used sectors. Therefore, it allows you to clone larger drive to smaller drive easily.
• Liveclone: Allows the disk cloning tasks to work in the background.
• Various storage paths: Supports cloning disk to the external hard drive but also internal disk, HDD, SSD, USB drive, network location, etc.
• SSD alignment: This feature can accelerate SSD reading and writing speed.

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Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7

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Besides, you might encounter other cloning problems, such as File:\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\BCD Error, Windows 10 BCD file missing, Seagate DiscWizard not cloning problem, Transcend SSD Scope not working for system clone, etc, this powerful software can still help you work it out. Download AOMEI Backupper Professional and use the cloning or creating bootable media features.

Besides, according to the causes, we offer the following specific solutions for you, just check it.  

Solution 1: Disable Secure Boot

The Secure Boot will stop your system from accessing the winload.efi file if you have a UEFI-based computer. So boot into BIOS or UEFI via F2, F8, F12, ESC, or DEL key (varies depending on your PC manufacturer), and find the Secure Boot option in BIOS or UEFI, and then Disabled it.

If the above steps are not working for you, try the next way.

Solution 2: Use DiskPart to Repair

1. Boot into the Windows installation media, then go to Repair your computer -> Advanced Options -> Troubleshoot -> Command Prompt.

2. Input these commands to fix winload.efi missing error in Windows 7/8/10/11:

• diskpart

• list volume

• select volume=n (where the n refers to volume number of the system reserved partition with "System" labeled)

• assign letter=m (m is the proper drive letter that is not in use)

• bcdboot c:\Windows /s m: /f uefi (Replace the letter "c" with the letter of your system partition with the "Boot" Label)

Now restart your computer to check if the winload.efi missing after clone is solved, if nothing helps try solution 3.

Solution 3: Check and Repair Windows System Files

1. Open Command Prompt with Windows installation media, then run the following command:

• sfc /scannow

Or input the following commands to fix winload.exe missing after the clone error:

• bcdedit /enum | find "osdevice" (to find the Windows installed partition drive letter.)

• sfc /Scannow /OFFBOOTDIR=C:\ /OFFWINDIR=C:\Windows (replace the C: with the Windows installed partition drive letter.)

Solution 4: Fix Corrupted BCD files

If the above ways are not working, try to fix the corrupted BCD files. You have to prepare a Windows 7/8/10/11 installation media, then boot into the Recovery Environment and rebuild the BCD store. If you don’t have a Windows installation disc, you could create one by yourself. Otherwise, refer to guide 2 and use the commands to fix corrupted BCD files.

Guide 1. Create a Windows installation disk

The powerful third-party media creation tool - AOMEI Backupper Professional will do you a big favor. Before repairing winload.efi missing or contains error after clone, please download AOMEI Backupper Professional to create WinPE bootable media. Besides, you could prepare a USB flash drive of at least 16GB and connect it to your computer. 

1. Open this software after installing, choose Tools -> Create Bootable Media on the main window.

2. Choose Bootable Disc Type: Linux – Create bootable disc based on Linux kernel or Windows PE – Create bootable disc based on Windows PE. And press Next to go on.

★Tip: You could check the option: Download WinPE creating environment from Internet.

3. Choose the USB Boot Device and hit Next to create a universal bootable USB.

★Tip: you could burn the WinPE to CD/DVD, or export to an ISO file as well. If you don't have a storage device, you could also create recovery environment. It will directly add AOMEI Backupper to Windows boot options, just act like the Windows bootable media, and is much easier.

After creating bootable media (just a few minutes), boot your computer from this media, then AOMEI Backupper will run automatically, then go to Tools -> Windows Shell Command. You can restore the system image or disk image created by AOMEI Backupper. 

2. Fix Corrupted BCD files with installation media

If you have a Windows installation disc, refer to this text.

1. Boot into Windows Recovery Environment from the installation media.

2. Choose Repair your computer -> Advanced Options -> Troubleshoot -> Command Prompt.

3. Then type the following commands to execute one by one to fix the Master Boot Record (MBR), Boot Sector, and BCD store:

• bootrec /fixmbr

• bootrec /fixboot

• bootrec /scanos

• bootrec /rebuildbcd

If the above steps not working, please try these commands below:
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

4. Restart your computer to check if you are successful.

1 Tip: Best Way to Avoid Missing Winload.efi After Clone

If you encounter problems continuously after or while cloning, you could use powerful hard drive cloning software for Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, 10, 11 - AOMEI Backupper Professional to clone the hard disk. 

• With the Disk Clone feature, you can clone all kinds of disks easily, such as clone HDD to SSD, clone NVMe to NVMe, etc. 
• If you clone boot drive to another one, the cloned drive remains bootable after cloning.
• It also has the ability to improve SSD disk performance, such as reading and writing speed, and prolong its lifespan.
• Besides, it is capable of cloning MBR disk to GPT without losing data, or vice versa.

All in all, you can easily clone the hard drive without winload.efi missing after clone or 0xc000000e after clone Windows 10. Here take clone Windows 10 to NVMe as an example. 

1. Choose Clone -> Disk Clone on the main console.

Tip: The Professional version of AOMEI Backupper supports cloning all the data disk and system disk, from MBR to MBR, MBR to GPT, GPT to GPT  (eg: clone NVMe to larger NVMe), and GPT to MBR. 

2. Choose the Windows system disk as the source drive to clone, and hit Next.

3. Select a larger HDD or SSD as the destination, and hit Next.

4. Preview the operations, and press Start Clone to clone hard drive in Windows 10. If your destination is an SSD drive, please tick SSD Alignment to optimize the reading and writing speed for SSD.

★Tips:
✍Sector by sector clone: Make sure your destination is equal to or larger than this source disk if check this option. It will clone all sectors of a hard drive including the empty sectors and bad sectors.
✍Edit Partitions: It helps to convert disk type (MBR or GPT) if the source disk and destination disk is different. Besides, it also can add unused space to all partitions or adjust the partition size manually.

After cloning, change the first boot device as the destination disk (the cloned drive) in BIOS if required, and then boot your computer to the cloned disk.

Of course, you are allowed to backup the entire hard disk to an image file, and then restore the image file to your destination disk, the same result as the cloned disk and will not meet the Winload.efi missing after clone issue in Windows 11/10/8/7.  

Conclusion

It’s easy to solve Windows\system32\winload.efi missing after clone or Winload.efi contains error problems according to the above solutions. Besides, winload.efi missing in Windows Server 2012 (R2), 2016, 2019, please try AOMEI Backupper Server to get fixed.

If you are an IT technician, just try AOMEI Backupper Technician Plus to enjoy more advanced features like system clone, universal restore, command line utility, dynamic disk volume clone, PXE Boot Tool, AOMEI Image Deploy, etc.