Win 8.1 won't start : windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe - missing or contains errors

A

Admaaaaa

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This is a continuation from a previous 'Windows Update' error (thread), issue i had previously had, found here > SFCFIX : Some corruptions could not be fixed automatically


Below i've copied the comment when the issue first started (towards the end of last week). There are a couple of responses after this post (which can be found on the link above) but essentially, this is the problem i've been having.

Admaaaaa said:
Hi Peter!

Unfortunately things have taken a turn for the worse. The disk started showing signs last week of failing entirely (as you had warned me last year it was starting to do). So i bought a SSD replacement drive (Crucial MX500 1TB). And planned to clone the failing drive to this one. In the mean time the 'old' drive stopped loading into Windows and so i used the Windows 8.1 repair disk i have, and was running check disk as the standard repair was failing to work. However, after running check disk it was telling me that there wasn't enough space on the disk to repair the problem files (it did seemingly repair quite a few), equally the System Restore points wouldn't work either. At certain points in the past few days the disk itself stopped appearing on the PC at all (wouldn't appear in BIOS or when within Windows Repair and it didn't sound like it was working at all) i gave it a bit of a shake and it came back to life but still wouldn't load into Windows.

So i installed the same OS (8.1) on the new SSD and installed the cloning software (Minitool Partition Wizard) and from the new SSD and using the cloning software i've been able to clone the old drive to the new SSD (removing the new OS i had installed on the SSD). But it's still failing to load into Windows (using the SSD) due to the same Windows Boot Manager error (which was stopping the old drive from loading).

file: \windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
status: 0xc0000098
Info: The operating system couldn't be loaded because a critical system driver is missing or contains errors.


Check disk now comes back 100% clean and i've tried to reset the boot records but still no use, SFC is finding corruptions that it cannot fix (i'm having to run it /offline as i cannot get into Windows itself, only through Windows Repair, command line), and the Windows Repair is still failing to resolve the problem itself. It did say it's created a CBS error file but being i'm having to do things through the Windows Repair i'm not sure how i could access it to attach here.

I have a Windows 10 installation CD ready that i want to upgrade the SSD to (from Windows 8.1) but i want it to upgrade and not overwrite (as i want all the files and programs i've been using). With the apparent problems with boot manager, would this be possible to just upgrade or is it likely to fail because of the corruptions/missing files?

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
Click to expand...
 
Update... i've attempted the following

  • SFC /Scannow - from command line. It runs to 100% then says "Windows Resource Protection could not perform the requested operation" but when i run the SFC Scan utility from the 'Microsoft Diagnostics Recovery and Tools Set' it comes back without any errors at all.
  • DISM - from command line. Can't get it to run, i keep getting "error 0x800f081f: The source files could not be found", there does however seem to be a little variation in the build versions. The 'Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool Version' is something like 9600.17483 while the 'Image Version' is 9600.19521. Not sure if that would be an issue here.

  • Trying to upgrade to Windows 10 via an installation CD - It won't upgrade through the installation media and want's me to boot into my Windows installation before attempting to upgrade

I am pretty much out of ideas as to what to try. From within 'Microsoft Diagnostics Recovery and Tools Set' i am able to access explorer and see all my files, if that's of any use to trying any fixes.
 
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Hi,

This sounds like something's not quite right elsewhere.

Please follow the instructions from this post and let us know the result.
 
bootrec /scanos
bootrec /rebuildbcd
Click to expand...

Ran these 2, restarted. No change.



diskpart - Opens the Disk Partitioning tool
select disk 0 - Will select your first hard drive (the one with the Windows partition on it)
list volume - Note the number of the partition that have no drive letter assigned to it, is of 260MB of size and have "FAT32" listed under the "FS" column

select volume X - X will be the number of your partition with a size of 260MB, the EFI System Partition one that you identified in the last command
assign letter=Z: - It'll assign the Z: letter to the EFI System Partition
exit - To exit the diskpart utility
Click to expand...

Started to go through the 2nd list. But when i 'list volume' none of my volumes are FAT32... they're all NTFS (picture below) and they all have drive letters assigned to them. So i stopped at this point until I could clarify the next step.

383881880_3436574426633214_4296343528361353390_n.jpg

Also, for the sake of clarity. I've added the error i'm getting (in image) below.

383863588_6662174523866084_8666766709073242802_n.jpg
In-case you were going to ask, i've checked in the system32 folder for 'ntoskrnl.exe' and it is there.
 
Hi...

I agree 100% with @PeterJ's assessment - POST #102 in prior thread re: starting out with a bad Windows 8.1 installation. While purchasing a new SSD was prudent, cloning your existing flawed Windows installation to the new SSD likely left you with a compromised Windows 8.1 OS residing on the new SSD.

Seeing the screen with the NTSTATUS error code 0xc0000098 was not surprising to me at all.

For info, ntoskrnl.exe is the Windows kernel. There are other copies of it elsewhere on your system that may be the same or different from the one you found. The others reside in a sub-folder of the \windows\winsxs folder. The others are primarily from Windows Updates.

From a Microsoft Answers forum thread, some things you may want to try, if not already done - Redirecting

Lastly for now -- to help prove to yourself that the problem is your Windows 8.1 OS installation, swap out the current SSD in your system with a different SSD or HDD; perform a low-level format with an app like KillDisk; install a trial version of Windows Server. Boot the system, go through the setup screens; allow ALL Windows Updates to download and install; install some favorite apps; test, test, test.

Windows Server and Windows OS itself are literally identical except that the non-server OS has the Server features turned off/blocked.

Windows Server Evaluation - usually 180 days - can be downloaded/installed to blank/formatted HDD/SSD -
Server 2019 - Windows Server 2019 | Microsoft Evaluation Center
Server 2022 - Windows Server 2022 | Microsoft Evaluation Center

Windows ISOs (NOTE: key code is needed) -
Windows 8.1 - Download Windows 8.1
Windows 10 - Download Windows 10

May I ask why you don't just reinstall Windows onto the new SSD?

I know that reinstalling all of your apps, customizing them, etc... plus redoing any registry edits is a PIA, but you may have to do just that.

My HDD ended up just about like yours did ~2 years ago and I got zero pleasure out of reinstalling everything. But having an SSD instead of an HDD is awesome!

Do you have a USB stick or DVDs with the OEM version of Windows that originally came with your system? The user manual mentions this, but no one, including me, really ever reads them.

If not, you will need to obtain the Windows OEM version that was installed on your system when new if you end up reinstalling Windows onto the new SSD. If you do, I would recommend doing a low-level format on the new SSD first.

I wrote this over 11 years ago and have tried to keep it updated. If you do go this route and need any help, please let us know.

OEM + Microsoft Windows Replacement Media (OS DVDs)

Regards. . .

jcgriff2
 
Hi Jcgriff2, thanks for the response.

I went through that thread you linked and rebuilt the boot. That's made quite a difference, i still cannot get into Windows but it's now turned the error screen blue from black (and is attempting to get me to try things like safe mode (which won't work) which was definitely not an option previously).

It comes up with ntoskrnl.exe as an initial error
383518110_952426109188649_5385515057654571811_n.jpg

But then (after pressing return) comes up with the below error.

383889770_144897745365910_9156812011246419515_n.jpg

I have checked in the system32 folder and it is there. When i attempt any of the options from the recovery at this point (boot into safe mode etc) it instantly goes back to this error screen.


I've gone back into the Win 8.1 RE and attempted to use the 'Start Up Repair' option and it failed, it created a srtTrail file which lists the root cause as "Registry is corrupt". It attempted to do a system restore of the registry but failed.
The 3 system restore points I had made in the last 6 months (when the disk was working as expected) did not come over with the clone (i did attempt them on the failing disk but they failed to work) or at least they aren't being found when i attempt to find the restore points through the new disk.

I've run SFC /scannow (as it's suggested as a solution to this error) but through the Win RE (SFC Scan program) it comes back as all clear (no errors) where as in command line it fails after hitting 100% with "Windows Resource Protection could not perform the requested operation", it shoots through to 100% in less than 2 minutes. Could this be due to the disk being write protected? And if so, should i remove the write protection?

I've also re-attempted chkdsk but that again shoots through pretty quickly and say's there are no errors. However this ends by saying it "Failed to transfer logged messages to the event log with status 50", which like above i believe could be due to write protection on the disk?

Any suggestions? It feels like a step forward or is it just because it now has an associated boot record?



I don't have any other spare harddisks i can do any testing on. I've updated the OS on this machine since i started using it at work (back in 2012), from Windows 8 to 8.1. So i don't have the original OS but i do have the 8.1 update disk which i'm using to access the Windows RE.



As for why i don't want to just copy over the loose files and install a fresh copy of windows, The system is a previous work's machine i still use at home. On the HD is an IDE (Eclipse) from a previous job that has all my connections to projects i've worked on and there's no way i could reconnect to them if i have to reinstall the IDE from scratch. Similar situation with the firefox and chrome settings and Adobe CS add-ons.
 
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I've been doing some additional digging. I'm no further along unfortunately. But I have been trying a few things, looking at various articles and I have some questions, apologies for what will be a pretty long post

The partitions in question,
X: BOOT
D: local drive



Most articles relating to errors with ntoskrnl.exe and wdf01000.sys seem to indicate that either SFC or DISM should resolve them but neither will seemingly run for me.

Dart.jpg

Here is the Dart that I have access to.

Running the SFC Scan from here always comes back telling me everything is fine (No corrupt system files were detected), it writes the log for this on X: where as i believe the problem is on D: (the main partition), is the scan running incorrectly?
I've also previously run the Solution Wizard which again comes back telling me there are no issues (No corrupt system files were detected). The Disk Commander i don't know enough about what this might do, to attempt any fixes using that.

I can get into Explorer though so i can at least dig around and see what's what.





So i've been running SFC/DISM and CHkDSK attempts via Command Line. Since swapping to the new disk it doesn't come back with any check-disk issues so i've stopped running it.

The following is what i'm seeing every time i run SFC
sfc_scanFail.jpg

I'm not sure if this is related, but in an attempt to get it working i renamed the old SFC file to CBS_old. But it never generates a new SFC file, is this why it's failing to run?
cbs_noLog.jpg


Using DISM i get the following
dism_scanFail.jpg

The image version's are slightly different, could this be the problem?

I have a CBS and DISM log that's been created on X: (i think this CBS log must be being generated from running the SFC Scan from within Dart). Is it worth me attaching both here? I have a DISM log on D: but it's dated back to before all the problems began (and was generated on the old disk).





Looking at alternative ways of resolving this.

On this thread (point 7) it talks about re-registering wdf01000.sys. But i'm not confident trying something like that without seeing if it's worth while first.

Another suggestion is to roll back the registry, as mentioned here (under method 11) however, having compared the system32/config and system32/config/regBack folders there's only 2 differences, the SOFTWARE and SYSTEM files are seemingly being updated every time i restart the machine and it kicks into the RE. So the rollback, these 2 files are dated back to the last time i must of successfully started up the other disk before it started having problems.

system32/config
reg.jpg

system32/config/regback
reg_regback.jpg


Is it worth attempting a registry rollback or could this cause more issues? The last thing i want is to lose access to the data entirely





I've looked into maybe software to try and help but those which claim to help fix Windows errors all require me to get into Windows itself (Fortect being one i see mentioned quite a lot).

I've had a look to see what would be lost should i choose to 'refresh' the installation through the RE but it's said it won't work either.

Quite a few seem to say checking out the Windows Logs could point to the issues but it's not generating a log, when i open up Computer Management from Dart i get the following error
noLogs.jpg

Why is a Windows Installation not set and can i set it to work in this instance?





As a last resort i'm not against doing a fresh installation with the Windows 10 CD i have but i have queries about doing so.
  • I'd need my Windows key from the 8.1 installation (i don't access to it), is there someway of me finding out what it is from the drive?
  • If i installed Windows 10 on a new partition on the SSD alongside 8.1 (so duel boot), would that allow me more options on fixing Windows 8.1 from within a fully working Windows 10?

I can at least get my files over using Explorer from within Dart, but i'm not sure it'll allow me to just import settings into newly installed programs and continue on as if nothing has happened and that is 100% of the reason i'd prefer to try and fix it rather than just start over and copy files in.




Apologies over the length of this post but more detail is always better, right?
 
Can you post the content of the SrtTrail.txt log?
 
Are there any suggestions as to where else i should also post this issue that might offer some additional help?
 
Apologies, I forgot to hit the post button.

If you're up for experimenting and have the time for it, assuming it's solely the registry files that contain corrupted data, you could create a backup of the current registry files and perform a registry rollback by copying the files in the RegBack directory in the system/config directory. If using the regback files Windows can boot, and SFC afterwards shows no corruption, that would indicate its only registry corruption.

Alternatively, your best and safest option is a reinstall of Windows.

Even though we have clues as to what might be the problem, we have no clue on the extent of it. Is it just those few that are mentioned or are there others and if so, how many? I am a little suspicious that more files than mentioned will give errors should we trace the exact registry keys/data corruption(s) for those files and fix it, assuming it's only the registry. We could make an attempt at finding the exact problem(s), but it's up to you to decide if you want to spend the time and energy into getting to the root of this.
 
Oh i am very much up for putting the time and effort into getting to the root of the problem. First step would be to attempt the reg rollback?

I was reading on the Microsoft forum that someone had posted they had updated their Windows installation from a clone and that it had started to throw up all kinds of errors (ntoskrnl & Wdf01000.sys were just 2 of a good 8+ they were getting).
They couldn't get SFC/DISM/Checkdisk or restore to get their system working. What did do it was to remove both sticks of RAM and re-seat just 1. After doing that they said it booted straight in. Could this be something i need to try? I've got 4x4gb's in mine though so not as straight forward as for this guy.
 
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Sounds like what they attempted showed either a possible defect stick or a possible defective slot.

Yes, the first step is to attempt the registry rollback.
 
Ran the regback (i did a backup before hand from the Reg editor in dart), which has overwritten the files but after restarting there's no change (still seeing the same screens and errors). What's suggested next?

Would it be of any use to use what is about 450gb's of free space still on the disk to create another partition and install the same OS again (creating a duel boot), and attempting to fix this broken one from a fully installed working version that has internet access and is on the same disk, or would that be a waste of time?
 
Could you run startup repair and have it generate a new srttrail log? I want to know what impact the regback files have.

@PeterJ, @Tekno Venus or @x BlueRobot, do either of you know if it's possible to use SFC in a recovery environment in these conditions successfully?
 
axe0 said:
Could you run startup repair and have it generate a new srttrail log? I want to know what impact the regback files have.
Click to expand...

Ran the scan (it failed pretty much immediately), I have attached both files. Which i think are identical to the previous one.
 

Attachments

Bit of an update. I was able to run SFC /Scannow tonight having seen someone suggest trying to start the Windows Module Installer service first (net start trustedinstaller). It actually ran the CBS but did find errors that it said it couldn't fix.

Annoyingly it won't log it (because logging isn't supported in offline servicing scerarios). So i attempted to run DISM straight after (thinking that having got the module installer working it might work) but it didn't, saying again that it can't find the source. But it did log the results (DISM that is) so i've attached what i believe is that file if that's of any use.
 

Attachments

Good work getting SFC/DISM working!

That's a little less than 130 corruptions, one of which is the backup for Wdf01000.sys. No mention of ntoskrnl though. Fixing that corruption is better left to the experts, we don't want to accidentally cause any additional problems.
 
To the experts? Which experts? Should i be posting these issues elsewhere? If so, any suggested forums i should be posting to?
 

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