Member Avatar for cascer1

Hello,

I just installed Ubuntu as a second OS on my system on a different drive than my Windows installation. But now, whenever I try and boot the windows installation, I get a blue screen saying that Windows couldn't load winload.exe. This error persists even when I unplug the hard drive that Ubuntu is installed on.

I had this error once before a few weeks ago (When I only had Windows installed), and that time just unplugging all my other hard drives and rebooting worked fine. This fix does not work now.

I'd love to follow the instructions on screen and press F8 to change boot settings or Enter to try again, but both buttons just make the screen refresh and don't actually change anything.

So, I tried to go in Ubuntu and at least recover files from the windows disk, so I could do a clean install of Windows. But then I noticed that Ubuntu didn't have access to the drive.. At first I thought it was because it was ntfs, but then I realized that this made no sense and remembered I had fast boot turned on in Windows (I think that's it), so the drive was locked and I couldn't get in without first disabling that setting in Windows. Too bad I couldn't do that.

Any help with resolving this issue would be greatly appreciated!

Oh, I almost forgot. Here's some specs on the pc:

  • Windows 8.1 Pro (Single user license, not OEM)
  • Windows is installed on a 250GB Samsung 840 EVO SSD
  • Ubuntu is installed on a 500 GB WD hard disk (pretty old disk)

Thanks again!

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by Slavi

Dani AI

Generated

The "Windows couldn't load winload.exe" text usually means the Windows boot loader cannot find or start the kernel loader (winload.exe / winload.efi). Typical root causes are a corrupted BCD, a missing/corrupt EFI entry, or a firmware-mode mismatch (UEFI vs Legacy). Because the Windows SSD stays unbootable with the Ubuntu disk removed, the fault most likely sits on the Windows drive/boot configuration rather than a simple inter-drive conflict. As suggested, repairing the boot configuration is the sensible first step; the sequence below gives a safe, ordered way to try recovery.

Start with Windows 8.1 install media -> Repair your computer -> Troubleshoot -> Advanced options -> Startup Repair. If that does not fix it, open the Command Prompt from the same recovery menu and, for legacy/MBR installs, run:

bootrec /fixmbr
bootrec /fixboot
bootrec /scanos
bootrec /rebuildbcd

If /rebuildbcd fails, back up and rebuild the BCD store:

attrib C:\boot\bcd -s -h -r
ren C:\boot\bcd bcd.old
bootrec /rebuildbcd

For GPT/UEFI installs recreate the EFI boot files instead. From the recovery command prompt use diskpart to assign a letter to the EFI (FAT32) volume, then run bcdboot:

diskpart
list vol
select vol <n>     # choose the FAT32 EFI volume number
assign letter=S
exit

bcdboot C:\Windows /s S: /f UEFI

If the above fails or the EFI entries look wrong, an Ubuntu live session can help: Boot-Repair (run from a live USB) has a "Recommended repair" that automates many fixes, and efibootmgr can inspect/reset UEFI order. Strong cautions: back up important data before modifying partitions or BCD; avoid forcing NTFS mounts that delete hibernation files unless data is already saved; and keep Windows and Linux installed in the same boot mode (both UEFI or both Legacy) to prevent repeat problems.

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Member Avatar for Qurbani

I found this according to the comments some of them got the problem some of them didn't maybe you ll lucky?

Member Avatar for Slavi

Qurbani, your link points to this thread.

Cascer, The trouble you are facing is because of windows 8.1 . It has security enabled so you won't be able to run another OS basically, however there is a way around. I had Kali Linux on my pc and installed Windows 8.1 a few days ago. After hours and hours trying to play with grub/windows loader to show me to switch between both and being able to boot into them I found somewhere around google about a program called openBCD(i think it was). Ran it and now it works like a charm I can switch between both. To begin with I'd run gparted (Linux partition program) to check the hard drives and make sure that both OS are still on there(to make sure you havent overwritten windows)). There are some great guides for how to install Ubuntu dual with windows 8.1. But basically in most cases from what I found was that windows 8.1 has some security enabled and in order to be able to dual boot them you have to disable it before installing linux. (wasn't the case for me as I had linux already on, and I am not on ubuntu)

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