Solved winload.exe digital signature not verified & boot manager loop

[sek505]

So, when I started my laptop this morning I got the error:

"A recent hardware or software change might have installed a file that is signed incorrectly or damaged....... error 0xc0000428."

I hit 'Enter' and it takes me to the screen to select an OS and the only one available is Windows 7 Home Premium. I can either hit F8 to supposedly select advanced options or enter to boot Windows 7. There are NO tools listed or boot options listed like there normally is. I'm just able to hit 'enter' or F8 and both of them take me back to that orignal error screen. Basically, I'm stuck in a loop between those two.

I tried my Windows 7 recovery CD but it still just takes me to these two screens and I can't get out of it.

I have searched other forums and threads and there is help for this issue, but everyone is able to use their recovery CD and I cannot.

 

[Kaktussoft]

Boot from Windows 7 recovery CD. Then select "command prompt". Where is bootmgr file?

attrib c:\bootmgr
attrib d:\bootmgr
attrib e:\bootmgr

Is it on C,D or E? Assume on E

attrib  -s  -h   e:\bootmgr
del  e:\bootmgr

Now perform a "startup repair"

 

[Kaktussoft]

I have searched other forums and threads and there is help for this issue, but everyone is able to use their recovery CD and I cannot.

Why not? What happens if you try to boot from it ... do you see "press any key to boot from CD/DVD"?

 

[sek505]

Thanks for your response. When I put the recovery CD in it, it sounds like my laptop is accessing it, but then it still goes to that first error screen I was talking about. I usually am able to fix these issues, but I'm just stuck in this loop. I finally found the 4 recovery DVDs [not CDs] I made when I first got my laptop so I will try that tonight when I get off of work.

 

[Kaktussoft]

Thanks for your response. When I put the recovery CD in it, it sounds like my laptop is accessing it, but then it still goes to that first error screen I was talking about. I usually am able to fix these issues, but I'm just stuck in this loop. I finally found the 4 recovery DVDs [not CDs] I made when I first got my laptop so I will try that tonight when I get off of work.

put the win7 system repair disc in another pc... does it boot from it.... ?(just to test)

Does laptop boot from other bootable cd's/DVD's?

 

[sek505]

Yes it does and I finally figured out why I couldn't access my boot manager. For my laptop, apparently you have to hit ctrl+alt+del at the first screen in order for it to allow you to boot from a disc. Now I can access to command prompt...

 

[Kaktussoft]

Do what I wrote in #2

 

[sek505]

Thanks for your help!! Everything is back to normal now.

 

[Kaktussoft]

Thanks for your help!! Everything is back to normal now.

So deleting bootmgr and doing "startup repair" afterwards fixed it?
If so ... bootmgr was the problem.

Did you replace it prior to having problems?

 

[vict0rash]

Hello, I have this problem for 2 days. I have windows 7 Ultimate and Windows 8 Pro dual booted on the same HDD. Windows 7 is on C: drive and Windows 8 on D: (they have changed their places, this being the initial position .. Windows 8 recognizes the true D: drive as C. First installed was windows 7.

On the bootscreen i have windows 7 and windows 8 but if i click on windows 7, it says that error : winload etc. digital signiature cannot be verified. I tried what you said, i tried to do recoveries and all that stuff and didn't work. Has anybody got any ideas?

Thanx, and sorry for my bad language.

 

[Kaktussoft]

Forget about drive letters! They are just logical references to a volume. It is defined in registry so is difference in all windows instances.

Win8 is working? Do you have the win7 or win8 bootmenu?

 

[diacad]

Kaktusoft-

I tried your suggestion (get rid of bootmgr), but the "cannot verify digital signature" message for winload.exe still comes up. Do you have any other suggestions? Thanks!

 

[Kaktussoft]

Kaktusoft-

I tried your suggestion (get rid of bootmgr), but the "cannot verify digital signature" message for winload.exe still comes up. Do you have any other suggestions? Thanks!

Did you delete the right one? After deleting you tried a normal reboot....and then it said "bootmgr is missing"? After that you tried startup repair which replaced bootmgr and it gave you "cannot verify digital signature" on normal boot afterwards?

 

[Kaktussoft]

Did you use win7 or win8 startup repair?

 

[diacad]

Kaktussoft-

Thanks for the rapid reply.

Yes, I followed all the steps - got rid of bootmgr from the root of e:, then ran repair from proper win 7 disk (system is home premium 64), rebooted and got the exact same message. Very annoying, since this has apparently worked for others.

Here may be a clue. Getting rid of bootmgr was not easy. It gave me an "access denied" msg even when trying to change the attributes, so I had to boot from a linux CD to get at that file. This is a Dell machine, and perhaps has a special version of Win 7. I am trying to avoid wiping the disk and reinstalling Win 7, but that is what I will have to do unless you can give me something else to try. By the way, I have also tried the bootcfg command to no avail.

Do you think the file winload.exe is actually bad? Could it simply be replaced with a copy from another Win7 home prem 64 installation? Would it be worth trying?

 

[Kaktussoft]

sorry..indeed you can't delete bootmgr.

instead you can do

ren  bootmgr  bootmgr.old

That works for sure. But did you get "bootmgr is missing" after reboot (and not doing startup repair)?

 

[Kaktussoft]

also in recovery environment do:

e:
cd  \boot
ren  bcd  bcd.oud

Boot normally. You get error “Windows Boot Configuration Data File is Missing" now?
boot again in recovery environment and do a "startup repair" 3 times, with boots in between

 

[diacad]

Kaktussoft-

I can't rename these files in the command prompt session of the system recovery options. I get "access denied" messages in both cases. Should I try to do it again through my Linux boot cd? Or is there a way to override the "access denied" while in the command prompt session? attrib does not work, gives same "access denied" msg. The last time the so-called repair seemed to just replace the files, and the same behavior ensued.

I have run a memory check on the system. All seems well.

Maybe Windows 7 hates me because I hate it. But thanks for your persistence.

 

[Kaktussoft]

Did you try to rename when booted from system repair cd or install dvd? Then it should work. Anyway try it from linux. you still didn't tell me if you got bootmgr missing afterwards!

after you delete both files do from recovery environment command prompt:

bootrec/fixmbr
bootrec/fixboot

 

[diacad]

Kaktussoft-

I used my Linux disk to delete the bootmgr and bcd files. I did subsequently get the "bootmgr missing" msg. Them I went into the recovery environment and used bootrec as you suggest. Now it actually tries to boot (a little progress), but always goes immediately to the Startup Repair box. After "attempting repairs", it waits 30 seconds and reboots. Does this over and over. I have let it run for an hour or so with this cyclic behaviour.

Thanks for your help, but there must be something wrong which your fix does not cover. I am going to fish out salvageable files (documents and pictures) with Linux, do a fresh installation of Win7, and restore the salvaged files. This is very annoying and time consuming, so I was looking for an easier way. I have found there seldom is in these instances. I guess your method is worth a try first, but in this case it was not to be!