Dual boot problem: unable to load winload.efi

I hope you can help me...let me explain.
I have a Windows Pro 24H2 system installed on an NVMe.
I purchased an SSD to install Windows 11 so I could have two identical operating systems.
Using the ISO USB drive, I installed Windows 11 on the second SSD drive, and the installation was successful. However, when I rebooted and chose the second drive from the boot manager, I always got the winload.efi error. I tried several times, but it didn't work.
So I disconnected the primary NVMe and installed Windows on the SSD. The installation was successful, and the system boots and works fine.
At this point, I have the NVMe with Windows as the primary drive and the SSD as the secondary drive.
I used EasyBCD to insert the line so it could be inserted into the boot manager. I rebooted the system, but unfortunately, when I select to boot the second SSD, the winload.efi error message still appears.
How can I fix it?

P.S.
If I enter the BIOS and select the second disk (SSD) as the boot disk, Windows boots normally.

The "winload.efi - 0xc000000e" error can be difficult to resolve, and the following instructions may not work in all cases.

Boot from the Windows USB flash drive. If the USB flash drive appears twice in the boot menu — once with the UEFI prefix and once without — you must choose the one with the UEFI prefix. The bcdboot command will automatically identify the FAT32-formatted EFI system partition when the USB flash drive is booted in UEFI mode.

Run the following commands at the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) command prompt.

For example, run both of the bcdboot commands below.

diskpart
list volume (check the volume letters of both Windows partitions)
exit

bcdboot d:\windows
bcdboot c:\windows

With both commands, bcdboot copies the boot files to the same EFI system partition, and creates or updates the Boot Configuration Data (BCD) store.

By default, BCDBoot moves the boot entry for the selected Windows partition to the top of the Windows Boot Manager boot order.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

How to use the BCDBOOT command on a UEFI/GPT system
Post #17.

Thank you, but since I'm not very experienced, I don't want to cause any damage... in my case, having the NVMe as the primary disk and the SSD as the secondary disk, as you can see from the image, what commands should I use?
Thank you.

I had to turn OFF Fastboot in my BIOS to get mine to dual boot Win 11 and Win 10.

In this video, i will guide on how to Fix Winload.efi is Missing or Contains Errors Message.

hispanico said:

Thank you, but since I'm not very experienced, I don't want to cause any damage... in my case, having the NVMe as the primary disk and the SSD as the secondary disk, as you can see from the image, what commands should I use?

Click to expand...

If you enter the wrong volume letter for the Windows partition, you’ll see this error:

"Failure when attempting to copy boot files."

This means you cannot do any damage with the bcdboot command.

You will also get the same error:
- if the USB flash drive was booted in BIOS mode, or
- if the EFI system partition is missing or not formatted as FAT32.

Commands:

diskpart
list volume (check the volume letters of both Windows partitions)
exit

Then run:

bcdboot X:\Windows (Windows partition on SSD)
bcdboot X:\Windows (Windows partition on NVMe)

(Replace X: with the correct volume letter.)

It does not matter which Windows partition you select first; you can change the order later in the dual-boot menu.

edit:

Typically, in a dual-boot installation of Windows, the computer has only one EFI system partition.

As shown in the image below, the bcdboot command works without the /s <volume letter> option, even if the computer has two EFI system partitions. In this case, both Windows installations still use the same EFI system partition, allowing you to choose which operating system to boot from the dual-boot menu.

flhthemi said:

I had to turn OFF Fastboot in my BIOS to get mine to dual boot Win 11 and Win 10.

Click to expand...

I disable FastBoot on my Aus Hero 870x and using boot manager now the windows on ssd load without any problem... THANK!!!!!!!!
So i dont know now if left Fastboot disable or follow the istructions of Celery.... whom I thank very much

​

Kira

If possible, temporarily modify the default language to English and post share links for scanning.





Run the V2 log collector > post a share link

zbook said:

If possible, temporarily modify the default language to English and post share links for scanning.

Add, Remove, and Change Display Language in Windows 10

How to Add or Remove Language Packs and Change Display Language in Windows 10

www.tenforums.com

Change Display Language in Windows 10

How to Change Display Language in Windows 10

www.tenforums.com

Run the V2 log collector > post a share link

BSOD - Posting Instructions

BSOD - Posting Instructions This will show you how to help provide needed information about your system and dump files. It will not contain any personal or sensitive information about you or your data. To get better help with your Windows BSOD issue, please read these instructions and follow...

www.elevenforum.com

Click to expand...

Here is


Thank
Kira

The log files were in a foreign language and could not be scanned or read.

When possible please use English as the default language.

Event[36816]
Log Name: System
Source: EventLog
Date: 2025-11-10T22:44:01.3880000Z
Event ID: 6008
Task: None
Level: Error
Opcode: N/A
Keyword: Classic
User: N/A
User Name: N/A
Computer: Home
Description:
The last unexpected system shutdown occurred at 22:42:08 at ?10/?11/?2025.

Event[36842]
Log Name: System
Source: Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Power
Date: 2025-11-10T22:43:46.5640000Z
Event ID: 41
Task: N/A
Level: Critical
Opcode: Information
Keyword: N/A
User: S-1-5-18
User Name: NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM
Computer: Home
Description:
System restart without a graceful shutdown. This error can be caused by a system hang, crash, or unexpected power failure.

kIRA

See if you can modify the default language so that log files can be scanned and read.

ChatGPT:

Short answer: Yes — on some systems, disabling Fast Boot in the BIOS can fix the “winload.efi – 0xc000000e” error, but only when Fast Boot is the cause of the boot-loader failure.

---

Why disabling Fast Boot sometimes helps​

Fast Boot (or Fast Startup) reduces initialization steps during boot. On some PCs, it also caches hardware/boot information.
This can cause problems when:

• Hardware configuration changes
• The boot drive order changes
• The EFI/BCD boot entries become inconsistent
• Windows updates modify bootloader files
• The system wakes from a pseudo-hibernation state with invalid boot info

When Fast Boot is on, the system may continue trying to boot using outdated/incorrect EFI paths, leading to:
Error: winload.efi – 0xc000000e (Required device is inaccessible)
Disabling Fast Boot forces the BIOS to perform a full hardware re-initialization and load the bootloader cleanly.

---

When this fix is likely to work​

Disabling Fast Boot may solve the issue if:

Scenario	Disabling Fast Boot helps?
You recently moved the boot drive	Often yes
You cloned the SSD	Sometimes yes
You changed SATA/PCIe settings	Yes
Hibernate/Fast Startup caused a corrupted session	Yes
Boot entries became stale	Sometimes

---

When it won’t help​

If the error is caused by:

• Corrupted BCD store
• Missing EFI partition
• Damaged winload.efi file
• Dead SSD
• Wrong UEFI/Legacy boot mode
• Secure Boot conflicts

…then disabling Fast Boot won’t fix it.

Click to expand...

Please run Tuneup plus > post a share link into the newest post

I'll try to follow Celery's advice.

So I'll try to describe how to proceed, if that works. I don't need to repair the boot, if I understand correctly, but I need to insert the correct instructions to use the boot manager... right?

The boot to repair is that of my main NVME disk (see my image posted above).
I start the computer with the USB stick with Windows.
I select repair computer and then Command.
I type the command diskpart and then list volume to see the disks present.

exit.

P.S. Do I need to assign a letter to the drives first, since in my case the EFI partition is hidden, or is it not necessary?

Then I type
bcdboot 0:\windows
bcdboot 2:\windows
This way, I should have the correct boot in the boot manager of the main NVME disk, to boot the system from either the NVME disk or the SSD.

Is it okay if I proceed this way?

Thanks again.

zbook said:

Please run Tuneup plus > post a share link into the newest post

http://[URL]https://www.tenforums.c...-files-use-bsod-debugging-tuneup_plus_log.zip

[/URL]

http://[URL]https://www.tenforums.c...h-files-use-bsod-debugging-2.html#post2177966

[/URL]

http://[URL]https://www.tenforums.c...488-batch-files-use-bsod-debugging.html#Part3

[/URL]

Click to expand...

Here is it

Kira

hispanico said:

Do I need to assign a letter to the drives first, since in my case the EFI partition is hidden, or is it not necessary?

Click to expand...

You can use the bcdboot command without the /s and /f options.

Microsoft: "UEFI: BCDBoot copies the boot files to either the EFI system partition, or the partition specified by the /s option."

BCDBOOT <source> [/s <volume letter> [/f <firmware type>]]

<source>
- Required.
- Specifies the location of the Windows directory to use as the source for copying boot-environment files.
- Check the volume letter of the Windows partition with diskpart's "list volume" command.

/s <volume letter>
- Optional volume letter for the target system partition where the boot files will be copied.

/f <firmware type>
- Optional firmware type for the target system partition. Determines whether to copy UEFI or BIOS boot files. Used with the /s option.

If the /s option is not used, the system partition is automatically identified. Use /s only when targeting a non-default system partition.

hispanico said:

bcdboot 0:\windows
bcdboot 2:\windows

Click to expand...

You’re not following my instructions. Please don’t use the “list disk” command; use the “list volume” command instead. You must enter the volume letter (drive letter), not the volume number.

Boot from a Windows 11 installation USB flash drive. If the USB flash drive appears twice in the boot menu — once with the UEFI prefix and once without — you must choose the one with the UEFI prefix. The bcdboot command will automatically identify the FAT32-formatted EFI system partition when the USB flash drive is booted in UEFI mode. Automatic system partition detection depends on whether the system is booted in UEFI or BIOS mode.

- Press Shift+F10 to open command prompt or select "Repair my PC" > "Next" > "Troubleshoot" > "Command Prompt".
- Run the following commands:

diskpart
list volume (check the volume letters of both Windows partitions)
exit

bcdboot X:\Windows
bcdboot X:\Windows

Replace "X" with the correct volume letter (drive letter).

For example:

bcdboot c:\windows
bcdboot d:\windows

It does not matter which Windows partition you select first; you can change the order later in the dual-boot menu.

With both commands, bcdboot copies the boot files to the same EFI system partition, and creates or updates the Boot Configuration Data (BCD) store. It also updates a Windows Boot Manager entry in the NVRAM — if the /s <volume letter> option is used, then this entry is not created.

Celery said:

You can use the bcdboot command without the /s and /f options.

Microsoft: "UEFI: BCDBoot copies the boot files to either the EFI system partition, or the partition specified by the /s option."

BCDBOOT <source> [/s <volume letter> [/f <firmware type>]]

<source>
- Required.
- Specifies the location of the Windows directory to use as the source for copying boot-environment files.
- Check the volume letter of the Windows partition with diskpart's "list volume" command.

/s <volume letter>
- Optional volume letter for the target system partition where the boot files will be copied.

/f <firmware type>
- Optional firmware type for the target system partition. Determines whether to copy UEFI or BIOS boot files. Used with the /s option.

If the /s option is not used, the system partition is automatically identified. Use /s only when targeting a non-default system partition.

Boot from the Windows USB flash drive. If the USB flash drive appears twice in the boot menu — once with the UEFI prefix and once without — you must choose the one with the UEFI prefix. The bcdboot command will automatically identify the FAT32-formatted EFI system partition when the USB flash drive is booted in UEFI mode. Automatic system partition detection depends on whether the system is booted in UEFI or BIOS mode.


You’re not following my instructions. Please don’t use the “list disk” command; use the “list volume” command instead. You must enter the volume letter (drive letter), not the volume number.

diskpart
list volume (check the volume letters of both Windows partitions)
exit

bcdboot X:\Windows
bcdboot X:\Windows

Replace "X" with the correct volume letter (drive letter).

For example:

bcdboot c:\windows
bcdboot d:\windows

It does not matter which Windows partition you select first; you can change the order later in the dual-boot menu.

With both commands, bcdboot copies the boot files to the same EFI system partition, and creates or updates the Boot Configuration Data (BCD) store. It also updates a Windows Boot Manager entry in the NVRAM — if the /s <volume letter> option is used, then this entry is not created.

Click to expand...

Ok sure...so i repeat the procedure in this way

I start the computer with the USB stick with Windows.
I select repair computer and then Command.
I type the command diskpart and then list volume to see the volume letter present.

exit.

Then I type
bcdboot 1:\windows
bcdboot 5:\windows
This way, I should have the correct boot in the boot manager of the main NVME disk, to boot the system from either the NVME disk or the SSD.

So now is correct ??

Thank
Kira

hispanico said:

So now is correct ??

Click to expand...

Yes.

It looks better now!

edit:

If bcdboot displays an error message, replace the "volume number" with the "volume letter":

bcdboot L:\Windows
bcdboot C:\Windows

You can change the order later in the dual-boot menu.

Celery said:

Yes.

It looks better now!

edit: If bcdboot displays an error message, replace the "volume number" with the "volume letter".

You can change the order later in the dual-boot menu.

Click to expand...

Okay, I'll try this evening.
For the boot order, I'm referring to the Windows Boot Manager (not in the BIOS of motherboard), Do I use EasyBCD?

Kira