When DLL file is missing or corrupt, opt to recover Windows

Barclay Tcareva

Updated On - February 20, 2020

With the technological advancement, every organization or individual wants to remain upgraded or updated with the latest available version of the operating system or the tool that he is using. The reason being the newer version is equipped with additional features and provide improved facilities to its users. Generally, when the user opts to upgrade the version of windows or any other application, it is recommended that he should maintain a back up of the data stored on the computer since any error can occur during the up-gradation process which could lead to data loss.

Now, let us consider a real-life scenario which will help to understand the issue more clearly. A user attempted to upgrade his current version of Windows to Windows XP and end up receiving the following error message:

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:

Windows\System32\Hal.dll

The above mentioned error occurs when the DLL file somehow becomes either corrupt or damaged. In addition, the case can also be that the Boot.ini file contains incorrect entries.

Well, this error can be resolved by recovering Windows with the help of recovery CD. Following steps needs to be followed:

1. Insert the CD and enter the recovery console by booting the CD.
2. Provide the administrator password and hit ‘Enter’
3. On the command prompt, type’ bootcfg /list’
4. When the entries of current Boot.ini file end appearing on screen, type ‘bootcfg/rebuild’ and hit ‘Enter’.
5. Follow the instructions that appear on screen
6. Press Y if following message appears:

Total Identified Windows Installs: 1

C:\Windows

Add installation to boot list? (Yes/No/All)

1. A message asking to ‘Enter Load Identifier’ appears where the user should enter ‘Microsoft Windows XP Professional’ or ‘Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition’ as per requirement and thereafter hit ‘Enter’.
2. Type ‘/fastdetect’ when ‘Enter OS Load options’ appear and then hit ‘Enter’.
3. Exit Recovery Console

On restarting the computer, a message appears : ‘Please select the operating system to start’ where the user can choose the appropriate option. Though, recovery of Windows suffices the need and resolves all the errors but in some cases it might not prove successful. In such situations, the operating system needs to be formatted again but it will lead to loss of all the data present in the partition.

If the user has maintained a backup, then there exist no issues as after formatting the data can be recovered back easily. But in the reverse scenario, where the user does not have any back up then the option that can provide data recovery is a third party software for Windows recovery. The user must choose a commercial tool by making sure that it is compatible with the version of windows that is installed on the user’s computer.

Recoveryfix for windows is efficacious software for this purpose which extensively scans for the lost data using its three effective modes of recovery. It recovers windows data from both physical as well as logical device. Moreover, the software is even empowered with the techniques that recover data from external storage devices.