Question Winload.exe – 0xc0000428

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Archangel_M

Member
Mar 29, 2020
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Okay, so, a couple of weeks ago I returned home from being out of town. My computer needed to restart to install an Avast update, but upon rebooting I ran into this issue as pictured below:

A recent hardware or software change might have installed a file that is signed incorrectly or damaged, or that might be malicious software from an unknown source.
If you have a Windows installation disc, insert the disc and restart your computer. Click "Repair You Computer," and then choose a recovery tool.

Otherwise, to start Windows so you can investigate further, press the ENTER key to display the boot menu, press F8 for Advanced Boot Options, and select Last Known Good. If you understand why the digital signature cannot be verified and want to start Windows without this file, temporarily disable driver sginature enforcement.

File: \Windows\System32\Winload.exe
Status: 0xc0000428
Info: Windows cannot verify the digital signature for this file.


20200317_202122_HDR[1].jpg


I managed to get into the BIOS screen here, as shown below:

received_565272280747965[2].jpeg



The problem is that I no longer have the installation disk (it's Windows 7 Ultimate x64 version), because it along with half my belongings was stolen by a former roommate who is now in prison on unrelated charges. It's unrecoverable. As well, the product key that I had written down is also gone. I'm at a loss for what to do. I sent away for a 1Tb flash drive so I could at least try to recover my files from the main hard drive, but I have no idea how to do that. I know absolutely nothing about Linux, Ubuntu, or any other non-Windows system, and I really don't know anything about Windows except how to use it. Obviously I'm in a real bind. Windows 7 was discontinued and is no longer supported, so I have no way to buy a legal copy. I just want to be able to boot up my computer and retrieve my files. What can be done?
 

Archangel_M

Member
Mar 29, 2020
54
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I didn't say YOU were the one messing with me, just sharing some anecdotes.

You need a USB flash drive for the Linux Mint 19.3 "Distro" (OS) to boot off of, and you'll need a secondary HDD or flash drive to store your data onto.

Using A PC (not your messed-up one), download Linux Mint 19.3 64-bit Cinnamon edition, from www.linuxmint.com . (Should be a 3-4GB sized ISO file.)

Using that same PC, use a program called Rufus, which can be found for download at https://rufus.ie/ , get the Portable one.

After plugging in the flash drive, and downloading the ISO, and running Rufus (may require UAC Administrator privileges), then click on the disc icon near the top of the window, navigate to the ISO, double-click in the Explorer file-picker window, and make sure that the proper USB drive is highlighted at the top (the one that you want to wipe out and use for the bootable OS), then click START at the bottom, and wait for the progress bar to finish.

Edit: If it prompts you to write it in "ISO mode" or "DD Mode", select "DD Mode".

It will tell you it's finished, and then CLOSE Rufus, select Safe Eject Hardware, select your USB drive, pull it out, and then plug it into your messed-up PC, and boot off of it. That may entail hitting a BIOS hotkey for a "Boot Menu", or going into the BIOS and selecting to boot off of USB first.

When you're booted into Linux, hopefully (it may take a few minutes, booting off of USB), then you should see a desktop. You can plug in your external backup HDD or flash drive then, and it should show up.

You should be able to click on the file-folder in Linux Mint, find the Windows OS filesystem, and see if you can see and copy files. The user files are stored under \users\(username) .

Linux Mint's UI is a LOT like Windows (7), so you shouldn't be too confused.

Edit: OK, if someone is going to be a grammar-nazi, and mark one of my posts down, for my (*correct, in informal English, as I noted) usage of a word, and they can't even make a boot drive, I'm out of here. GL!

I'm half Polish. Poles comprised half of the 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust and 4.2 million of the 11 million total who were killed therein. Don't you DARE call someone a Nazi simply because he or she respects proper grammar and can count.

As for your instructions, again, I know nothing of Linux. I know nothing of how to boot a Windows operating system with a flash drive on which Linux is installed. Where would I even begin? You're talking gibberish to someone assuming he knows what you're talking about. It's like someone who speaks only Greek trying to lecture someone who doesn't speak Greek on why he should be able to understand Greek. it's nonsense.

Someone recommended this forum to me as a source for help trying to get my computer back up and running. He'll be disappointed to know how utterly useless an endeavor this was.
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,571
10,206
126
Don't you DARE call someone a Nazi simply because he or she respects proper grammar and can count.
I didn't call you a Nazi, with a capital N. The term "grammar-nazi", in the USA at least, on online forums, just means someone whom is a stickler for, and nit-picking, about grammar.

Edit: BTW, read this:

Heaven forbid, you watch the soup-nazi episode of Seinfeld. (He's a Jew, btw, as is basically all of the main cast.)

Edit: Btw, read the grammar-related article that I linked. I wasn't grammatically incorrect. And you DID NOT indicate your gender, nor your preferred pronouns, until posts AFTER I had written that sentance. I guess you expect everyone to be mind-readers, AND able to teleport to your location to fix your PC for you. I guess "Pray for PC miracle" is your only option, if you can't follow simple directions...
 
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VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,571
10,206
126
Someone recommended this forum to me as a source for help trying to get my computer back up and running. He'll be disappointed to know how utterly useless an endeavor this was.
I gave you instructions, on how to do so, in the SECOND POST of this thread. So did @DrMrLordX , and so did @ArisVer . If you can't follow simple directions, or a YouTube HowTo video, then I'm sorry, you need more hands-on PC support, than a tech forum can give you. I really don't know what you were expecting. Remote support?

I mean, both of us getting "Salty", probably isn't going to help things. I realize that you're in a bind. But it's not our problem/fault that your old roomie stole your Windows 7 install DVD.

Someone did give you info how to make a new Windows 7 boot USB. However, if you have access to a PC with a DVD drive, with Win7 specifically, I would highly recommend burning the Win7 ISO to DVD directly (you can use ImgBurn on Windows, it's freeware).

The reason being, is that one time, I tried to use the USB bootable version of Win7 to do a "Automatic Repair" of a Win7 system, or maybe it was a "Boot Repair", and it ended up modifying the USB drive, rather than the OS on the HDD on the system I was working on. With a (read-only) DVD bootable version of Win7, that didn't happen.
 
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Archangel_M

Member
Mar 29, 2020
54
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Turn on the computer. Repeatedly press the F8 key. IF you can get the advanced boot options, check to see if the "Last known good configuration (advanced)" option is available. If it is, select it and pray to whatever god you worship that it works. It probably won't, but it is worth trying.

If it results in the same error, power off, turn back on, and repeatedly press the F8 key again. Try booting using the "Safe Mode with Networking" option. If it boots, go to the Avast website and download their Avast Uninstall Utility. Run it. Shut down and restart and pray again.

If none of this works, you are stuck with a repair reinstall or a clean reinstall. Which, will require you follow the instructions I gave you earlier to recover your Windows 7 product key.
I did that. Nothing. I got the BIOS screen I showed in my original post by repeatedly hitting the DEL key. F8 did nothing. Last Known Good Configuration in the advanced menu did nothing. There was no option shown on screen for going into safe mode.
 

Archangel_M

Member
Mar 29, 2020
54
0
11
I didn't call you a Nazi, with a capital N. The term "grammar-nazi", in the USA at least, on online forums, just means someone whom is a stickler for, and nit-picking, about grammar.
Aaaand welcome to my block list. Again, you do NOT get to call someone a Nazi, especially someone whose kinsmen were slaughtered by the Nazis. if you don't like someone correcting your poor grammar, then use proper grammar. It really is that simple. Do not treat me like an imbecile when 1. you can't even count, and 2. you demonstrate you don't even know how to communicate on an adult level.
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,571
10,206
126
I did that. Nothing. I got the BIOS screen I showed in my original post by repeatedly hitting the DEL key. F8 did nothing. Last Known Good Configuration in the advanced menu did nothing. There was no option shown on screen for going into safe mode.
The "F8" he was talking about, was the Windows Bootloader F8 hotkey, and NOT a BIOS hotkey. You DO NOT hit "DEL" and go to the BIOS menus, before hitting F8.

Some BIOSes use F8 for a function, such as a boot menu, or (in older Gigabyte boards), for some restore feature. Those can be tricky, hitting the Windows Bootloader Hotkey rather than the BIOS Hotkey.

Timing is everything! You want to wait until AFTER the BIOS has finished POSTing and displaying menus, but during/before Windows 7 tries to actually load, you want to get it in during the boot-loader portion.

And yes, I know that I said that I was going to bow out, but I really am trying to help, and I was not trying to insult you, however you managed to take things. You really need to get the chip off your shoulder.
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,571
10,206
126
As for your instructions, again, I know nothing of Linux. I know nothing of how to boot a Windows operating system with a flash drive on which Linux is installed. Where would I even begin? You're talking gibberish to someone assuming he knows what you're talking about. It's like someone who speaks only Greek trying to lecture someone who doesn't speak Greek on why he should be able to understand Greek. it's nonsense.
Do not treat me like an imbecile
LOL. Since I'm "blocked", I might as well bow out for real this time. Try not to be too much of an entitled Jew with a victimhood complex online, k?

(Can't believe that someone who's been a Windows' user since 1990 and presumably online for most of that time, has never heard the term "grammar-nazi". And somehow, he equates it with Nazi, with a capital N.)
 

Steltek

Diamond Member
Mar 29, 2001
3,309
1,046
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If you can't get the advanced boot menu using the F8 key, something is totally hosed. You were continuously typing F8 (just like for the BIOS when you hit DEL) and not just holding it down? And, you did it beginning as soon as the display turned on?

If the answers to all of those questions were 'Yes', you will have to do some sort of repair install. Which means, you will have to go through the process I previously described to recover your Windows 7 product key.

BTW, I updated that prior post with a new download link for a newer utility download and changed the instructions accordingly. If you can't do this, you'll have to have somebody work on the system that can do it as I can't make this process any simpler.
 
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VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,571
10,206
126
If you can't get the advanced boot menu using the F8 key, something is totally hosed. You were continuously typing F8 (just like for the BIOS when you hit DEL) and not just holding it down? And, you did it beginning as soon as the display turned on?
Pretty sure, that the way he was describing it, all he knows how to do to get something on the screen, is to hit DEL first to go into BIOS. THEN he was trying to hit F8, inside BIOS. I think.

I tried to explain it to him the best that I know how, and he flaked out and blocked me. LOL.

Edit: And for the record, I didn't start this feud, he got all upset that I referred to him using a third-party pronoun "them", which can be used for (gender-neutral) singular pronouns, as I documented with the linked article. (Edit: This was BEFORE he indicated his gender or preferred pronouns. He obviously expected me to be a mind-reader.) He continued to compound it by claimed that I wasn't a native speaker and writer of the English language, and then proceeded to mistake the term "grammar-nazi", for a "real Nazi" (with a capital N), and then blocked me, when I tried to link him the UD page on that term.

Either he never goes online, or has no grasp of online communities. I guess he figured that we could just "fix" his computer, "magically", without him having to understand anything, or put in any actual effort or perform tasks to do so.

Edit: Unless OP is just a troll, and created this thread to pick fights on purpose. His use of a religious-related username certainly speaks volumes to that theory.
 
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Archangel_M

Member
Mar 29, 2020
54
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If you can't get the advanced boot menu using the F8 key, something is totally hosed. You were continuously typing F8 (just like for the BIOS when you hit DEL) and not just holding it down? And, you did it beginning as soon as the display turned on?

If the answers to all of those questions were 'Yes', you will have to do some sort of repair install. Which means, you will have to go through the process I previously described to recover your Windows 7 product key.

BTW, I updated that prior post with a new download link for a newer utility download and changed the instructions accordingly. If you can't do this, you'll have to have somebody work on the system that can do it as I can't make this process any simpler.
Yes, I was continually hitting F8 the moment I turned on my computer. Just went to the first screen in the original post. When I'm in that BIOS screen, which menu do I go into to try to boot from last known good boot? F11? F12?
 

Steltek

Diamond Member
Mar 29, 2001
3,309
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Yes, I was continually hitting F8 the moment I turned on my computer. Just went to the first screen in the original post. When I'm in that BIOS screen, which menu do I go into to try to boot from last known good boot? F11? F12?

You can't do that from inside the BIOS.

Can you get back to the screen below? If so, do just as it says: Press ENTER as indicated to get the boot menu, then press F8 and see if that gets you to the advanced boot options screen. That is where the "Last Known Good" option is located.

1586397726523.png

This is what the Advanced Boot Options menu looks like. Use the arrow keys to highlight "Last Known Good Configuration (advanced) and hit ENTER.

1586398137625.png
 

Archangel_M

Member
Mar 29, 2020
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You can't do that from inside the BIOS.

Can you get back to the screen below? If so, do just as it says: Press ENTER as indicated to get the boot menu, then press F8 and see if that gets you to the advanced boot options screen. That is where the "Last Known Good" option is located.

View attachment 19358

This is what the Advanced Boot Options menu looks like. Use the arrow keys to highlight "Last Known Good Configuration (advanced) and hit ENTER.

View attachment 19361
I did exactly that (it was the first thing I ever tried when this happened weeks ago) and the only thing that happened was taking me back to the previous screen.
 

DrMrLordX

Lifer
Apr 27, 2000
22,700
12,652
136
I have my laptop, but it doesn't even have a gigabyte's worth of memory remaining on it.

That'll work. Do you mean the harddrive is mostly full? Can you temporarily delete something? Get an extra flash drive and copy some stuff onto it temporarily to free up room, if that's what you mean by it not having a gigabyte's worth of memory on it (if the only problem is it doesn't have a lot of RAM, you're fine: Rufus doesn't require a lot of RAM).

I was able to call up a BIOS screen, but from there I'm not sure where to go. How would I try to reboot from the last known good reboot? I think there was a section in BIOS where there was an option to do that, but nothing happened when i tried it.

Follow Steltek's directions.

Turn on the computer. Repeatedly press the F8 key. IF you can get the advanced boot options, check to see if the "Last known good configuration (advanced)" option is available. If it is, select it and pray to whatever god you worship that it works. It probably won't, but it is worth trying.

If it results in the same error, power off, turn back on, and repeatedly press the F8 key again. Try booting using the "Safe Mode with Networking" option. If it boots, go to the Avast website and download their Avast Uninstall Utility. Run it. Shut down and restart and pray again.

If none of this works, you are stuck with a repair reinstall or a clean reinstall. Which, will require you follow the instructions I gave you earlier to recover your Windows 7 product key.

This.
 

Archangel_M

Member
Mar 29, 2020
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That'll work. Do you mean the harddrive is mostly full? Can you temporarily delete something? Get an extra flash drive and copy some stuff onto it temporarily to free up room, if that's what you mean by it not having a gigabyte's worth of memory on it (if the only problem is it doesn't have a lot of RAM, you're fine: Rufus doesn't require a lot of RAM).



Follow Steltek's directions.



This.
The hard drive is mostly full, and there's no way to "temporarily" delete anything. I have nothing to copy files onto. The flash drive I thought was arriving next week apparently got sold out and the seller neglected to inform me. Thankfully, I didn't get charged for it, but now I have nothing on which to backup my files. I get paid tomorrow, so I'll try to purchase a thumb drive with at least 1TB again, but it'll still take weeks to arrive.

I pressed F8. It did nothing.
 

DrMrLordX

Lifer
Apr 27, 2000
22,700
12,652
136
Okay don't get a 1TB flash drive unless you really want one. You don't need anything that big. Just get a couple of 32GB flash drives. Very cheap, and perfect for the operation Steltek has in mind for you.
 

Archangel_M

Member
Mar 29, 2020
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Okay don't get a 1TB flash drive unless you really want one. You don't need anything that big. Just get a couple of 32GB flash drives. Very cheap, and perfect for the operation Steltek has in mind for you.
I actually saw a 1TB flash drive for $20 on Amazon, but it sold out fairly quickly. But I will definitely pick one up ASAP.
 

ArisVer

Golden Member
Mar 6, 2011
1,345
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I actually saw a 1TB flash drive for $20 on Amazon, but it sold out fairly quickly. But I will definitely pick one up ASAP.

You should stay away from that drive. Most likely it is a scam. Good working ones should cost at least 150$ (guesstimate).

Another option for you is to get an external storage disk, you could find 1-2 TB from 50-80$ (another guess). That way you could try copying your files BEFORE you try and fix you computer. Because if you try to fix your computer before you make a backup and everything goes south,,, well... it's your files and you are the one who wants them.
 

Archangel_M

Member
Mar 29, 2020
54
0
11
You should stay away from that drive. Most likely it is a scam. Good working ones should cost at least 150$ (guesstimate).

Another option for you is to get an external storage disk, you could find 1-2 TB from 50-80$ (another guess). That way you could try copying your files BEFORE you try and fix you computer. Because if you try to fix your computer before you make a backup and everything goes south,,, well... it's your files and you are the one who wants them.
I'll keep that in mind. Thanks.
 

Archangel_M

Member
Mar 29, 2020
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Even if I had the money to downgrade to Windows 10, the user interface is a sick joke and is unusable. I have no alternative but to keep using what I have, and if you can't or won't help me get it back up and running, then I'll just have to wait until quarantine is over and try to take it to a repair shop.
Okay, I was able to get a 64GB flash drive at CVS today. I downloaded both the Hiren's.BootCD.15.2.iso WinZip file and Rufus. I saved both onto the USB flash drive. I double-clicked on the Rufus file, selected yes to install updates as instructed, and am now waiting for something to happen. I tried locating the file you highlighted in red, but it doesn't appear to be showing up anywhere. Do I unzip the RAR file, or what?
 

Archangel_M

Member
Mar 29, 2020
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Okay. Here is how you can try to recover the Windows key from your dead Windows installation. Hope I'm remembering this correctly, as I haven't done it in ages.

To begin, download Hiren's Boot CD PE from here and save to a known location. Create a bootable USB flash drive using this file or burn the ISO file to a DVD (Win7 or Win10). Boot your system with this media -- you may need to go into the BIOS and change the system boot order so that it loads from a flash drive or CD/DVD Rom drive before the hard drive.

1) When you boot the computer, hit a key when prompted to boot from the flash drive/DVD drive and wait for the Windows desktop to load.

2) On the desktop, click on the 'Utilities' folder. In the window that pops up, click on the 'Security' folder, then the 'Keyfinders' folder. Double click on Produkey to run it.

3) When Produkey runs, hit F9. Several options will be displayed. Either the 2nd or 3rd option (can't remember which) will read “Load the product keys of external Windows installations from all disks currently plugged to your computer”. Select that option, and hit the Ok button.

4) If everything works right, Produkey should then display the Windows and any Office product keys present on the crashed Windows installation so you can write them down (or, if you used a USB flash drive, save them as a text file on the flash drive). You can then shut down your system and remove the flash drive or DVD.

Once you have the product key back, you can try to download a burnable copy of your Windows CD from
here. However, if it was not a retail CD, it will not let you do so and you'll have to pursue other avenues to get a CD.

EDIT: I updated the process to retrieve the Windows 7 keycode with a utility more up to date than the prior one. It does require a DVD instead of a CD to burn to if you choose that option, though.
Okay, I know you're trying to help, but the instructions you link to on LifeWire make absolutely no sense to me at all. I'm supposed to download the WinRAR file you linked to, but the only source I have is the flash drive I just bought. But from what I'm reading, Rufus will format the USB drive and destroy the file I just downloaded. What am I missing? And how can I retrieve my product key from a hard drive that refuses to boot up?
 

Steltek

Diamond Member
Mar 29, 2001
3,309
1,046
136
The file needs to be saved to a location different than the flash drive. You can put rufus on the laptop desktop if you wish (it can be run from anywhere).

In this case, more than one flash drive is going to be needed if you can't save the file at issue on your laptop (it doesn't have to be a huge one - 4GB will easily work). You will be writing the contents of the file you downloaded to the flash drive. It is a self-contained operating system that will be used to boot your desktop to access the hard drive and software you can use to recover the product key AND also software you can use to recover important files.

First of all, did you note the change in the original instruction post regarding the file to download (I told you about it at the end of post #33)? Just making sure you have the right downloaded file. Also, you said you are using a laptop. Does the laptop by any chance have a DVD burner on it and software to burn a DVD and, if so, do you have a blank DVD?
 
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Archangel_M

Member
Mar 29, 2020
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The file needs to be saved to a location different than the flash drive. You can put rufus on the laptop desktop if you wish (it can be run from anywhere).

In this case, more than one flash drive is going to be needed if you can't save the file at issue on your laptop (it doesn't have to be a huge one - 4GB will easily work). You will be writing the contents of the file you downloaded to the flash drive. It is a self-contained operating system that will be used to boot your desktop to access the hard drive and software you can use to recover the product key AND also software you can use to recover important files.

First of all, did you note the change in the original instruction post regarding the file to download (I told you about it at the end of post #33)? Just making sure you have the right downloaded file. Also, you said you are using a laptop. Does the laptop by any chance have a DVD burner on it and software to burn a DVD and, if so, do you have a blank DVD?
Okay, I *THINK* I managed to make the Rufus USB. I moved the files over to my laptop and used Rufus and the WinRAR file you linked to. But nothing's happening when I plug it in. I went into the BIOS to make the boot-disk USB-FDD, but it's still just taking me back to that initial error screen I posted in the O.P. What else do I need to do? How do I retrieve the product key from my desktop computer's hard drive when it refuses to boot up?
 

Steltek

Diamond Member
Mar 29, 2001
3,309
1,046
136
Okay, you have the right file.

Give me a few minutes to test something.