Boot manager failed to find OS loader

[Nuc!eoN]

Hi!
I have a dualboot machine with Linux and Windows 7 Premium SP1 64Bit using GRUB boot loader.
I hadn't started Windows a while and suddenly when I tried to load Windows, Windows started the recovery options and automaticly analyzed my PC. The Laptop rebooted several times but the issue persists. I looked into "Details" in the end of Analysis and it said:
Root cause found:
Boot manager failed to find OS loader.

I downloaded Windows 7 ultimate sp1 64bit burned it on DVD and searched google for the above problem. I found this: Recovering the Windows Bootloader from the DVD - EasyBCD - NeoSmart Technologies Wiki
Output:


The other two volumes are supposedly linux so it should have been succesful.

However Windows still can't start because of signature enforcement:


When I do F8 Winodws just redirects me again to this Error screen
I booted from my Windows DVD again and shortly after searching my HDD for partitions, there came a message that some problem was detected and that I have to restart to fix it. I didn't help and the message does not occur anymore.

I think this post might be useful:

The problem is that an older bootmgr cannot recognize a newer winload as genuine.
Being backward compatible, a newer bootmgr does recognize and accept the validity of an older winload.
What you appear to have done is downgrade your Winload, which could have unintended consequences, as it will no longer perform whatever upgraded functions were included.
What you should have done was upgrade your bootmgr by copying the newer version from the system which had the "invalid" winload signature.

Source: 'winload.exe' Windows cannot verify the digital signature for this file


I already tried to disable signature enforcement by doing:

[COLOR=#000000][FONT=calibri][I]bcdedit -set loadoptions DDISABLE_INTEGRITY_CHECKS[/I][/FONT][/COLOR]

But the output is somthing like "System cannot find the file specified". I suppose it's only possible when logged into windows.


What should I do? Please help!

best regards
Nuc!eoN


EDIT: Should I try this uhlik.sk | ReadyDriver v2 (EN) - uhlik.sk - Uhlikova osobná stránka ? But it's for Vista actually.
Or maybe this Driver Signature Enforcement Overrider 1.3b ? But since I can't start windows, I'd need to do it from a Windows live-Cd, wouldn't I?
Related: Driver Signature Enforcement error screen cant be cleared, even - Microsoft Community


EDIT2: Please move to "Windows Support" Subforum

 

[mqudsi]

Moved.

This error generally indicates your version of bootmgr is older than the one your kernel requires. It has nothing to do with *driver* signatures.

 

[Nuc!eoN]

But why? Is it because I did those steps:

bootrec.exe /fixmbr
bootsect.exe /nt60 all /force
attrib -h -s C:\boot\BCD

del C:\boot\BCD
bootrec.exe /rebuildbcd

without my Windows 7 DVD being totally up to date (although it's SP1)?

It has nothing to do with *driver* signatures.

But hasn't it actually? My understanding is that the winload.exe signature is "too new" for the "old" bootmgr (or the other way round). At least this is how terry explained it.. So I thought deactivating Windows Signature Enforcement might help. Would you aggree?

Btw in the meantime I've burned a Win7 PE disk, so I can play around with this. I repeated all steps but to no avail...

Do you know any way how to fix this (without reinstalling Windows)? I'm not a PC noob, I will follow evey advice you give me.


PS: Sorry for the late response, I didn't see your post.
BTW thank you so much for your answer!

 

[Terry60]

That thread you quote applies to trying to boot one Windows OS with the bootmgr of an older different OS. e.g. W7 booted from Vista, W8 booted from W7.
Your problem is quite different. That's W7 bootmgr failing to recognize it's own version of Winload, not Winload from a newer OS.
Hard to say what the problem is, but since it's the first thing that bootmgr has to look for, if there's a general problem with the OS being corrupted in some way, Winload is normally the subject of any error message.
Fix winload and it's quite likely to fail on the first driver it tries to load subsequently, and so on and so on. (I once spent a couple of weeks on and off trying to fix a broken Vista, error by error just as an exercise in stubbornness before finally reinstalling it. It was only used every few months just to update its fixes, so I didn't need it in a hurry)
Try running chkdsk /r against your W7 partition. It might sort out problems which have corrupted some of your files.

 

[Nuc!eoN]

I have started Startup repair two times and from the second time on it was a bit different. The repair tool clearly states that it cannot repair windows:

Statup Repair cannot repair this computer automaticly
Sending more information can help Microsoft create solutions.

Then I could choose if I want to send the infos to MS. I clicked on details and the content was:

Problem Signature:
Problem Event Name: StartupRepairOffline
Problem Signature 01: 6.1.7600.16385
Problem Signature 02: 6.1.7600.16385
Problem Signature 03: unknown
Problem Signature 04: 12
Problem Signature 05: ExternalMedia
Problem Signature 06: 1
Problem Signature 07: MissingOsLoader
OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.1
Locale ID: 1033

After I've run it again "Problem Signature 04" changed to "11" instead of "12" - does that mean there is one problem less?

When I click "View diagnostic and repair details" it says:

[...]
Root cause found:
-------------------------
Boot manager failed to find OS loader.

Repair action: File Repair
Result: Failed. Error code = 0x5
Time taken = 6022ms

Repair action: Boot configuration data storage repair
Result: Failed. Error code = 0x490
Time taken = 234ms

Repair action: System Restore
Result: Failed. Error code = 0x1f
Time taken = 271145ms

Now I will try chkdsk....

Addendum

I have run chkdsk C: /r but it was pretty unimpressing:

The only message of interest was:

CHKDSK discovered free space marked as allocated in the master file table <MFT> bitmap.
Correcting errors in the Volume Bitmap.
Windows has made corrections to the file system.

in Stage 5, but I doubt this is related to my problem The behaviour is unchanged.

 

[Nuc!eoN]

Since every recovery method failed - is there a way to reinstall Windows 7 without losing data? I mean like "upgrading" Windows without upgrading it (simply a repair installation)? Backing up all data through a Live CD would be quite time-consuming.

 

[Terry60]

More time consuming than the 3 months since your last post ?
Unfortunately XP's "repair install" was deleted in Vista and subsequent Windows.
Your best bet is (like my experience mentioned in #4) probably to admit defeat, back up the personal data to external media, factory reset the PC, reinstall your apps and reinitialize them with the saved data sets.

 

[scr4bble]

solution

More time consuming than the 3 months since your last post ?
Unfortunately XP's "repair install" was deleted in Vista and subsequent Windows.
Your best bet is (like my experience mentioned in #4) probably to admit defeat, back up the personal data to external media, factory reset the PC, reinstall your apps and reinitialize them with the saved data sets.

I had this problem too (it is problem with changed HW configuration without editing a registry) - this solution helped me a lot (a post from Yostage) - hope it helps someone.
windows 7 - Missing autochk program during boot - Super User