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windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:<Windows root>\system32\Hal.dll

Please reinstall a copy of the file above.
what should I do. 

windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:<Windows root>\system32\Hal.dll

Please reinstall a copy of the file above.
what should I do. 

Extracting hal.dll isn't going to fix it anyway and you don't fix it
from the Recovery Console. I'm sure you've seen this, but here is
information from the late MVP Alex Nichol:

That message is rather misleading. It happens because the boot.ini file that tells the boot where to look for 'Windows' is damaged, so it is looking for files in the wrong place - hal.dll just happens to be the first one it looks for. Set the BIOS to boot CD before Hard Disk. Boot the XP CD and, instead of Setup, take the immediate R for Repair. Assume any password requested is blank, and TAB over.

Use
Attrib -H -R -S C:\boot.ini
DEL C:\boot.ini
to delete the bad one
BootCfg /Rebuild

to search for Windows installations and make a new one.

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
<Windows root>\system32\hal.dll.
Please re-install a copy of the above file

Support.acer.com
Provide the SNID # from the back of the computer
$19.95 charge + tax and free ground delivery

There is no charge, if you are still under the one year warranty.

plz help me

could someone help me??

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
<Windows root>\system32\hal.dll.
Please re-install a copy of the above file

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
<Windows root>\system32\hal.dll.
Please re-install a copy of the above file

This laptop was built for me by a friend more than a year ago, and I have no CDs or documentation...I did have winXP on an older computer, and can probably dig out the CDs from that if that's what's needed (and if that would work). Is any WinXP CD acceptable, or does it have to be the one from the affected computer?

Thanks for any replies here or at Emma9999@ymail.com

I have one laptop Packard Bell with the operating system windows xp home.

Three months ago, this crashed and loss the operating system and I canīt to make anything:

In screm see:
" Caution: This hard disk may be infected by virus!"

or when restart or give enter:
Missing operating system.

What can I do?

I need your help urgent.

Thanks.

Unfortunately, when I put the recovery console CD in the cd drive, even after I restart the machine, the CD does NOT load. It simply goes right back to the error message screen. So how the heck do you get to the CD or anything for that matter, when as soon as you restart the machine I get this error message. If I strike one key on the keyboard, the machine restarts. Can anyone tell me step-by-step directions for a novice computer user on what to do here? Thank you in advance!

Problem: My USB cable attached to my PC. I unplugped it and re-install. Problem solved. Yahooooooooo!!

Thanks Andy!!!

Here is the SOLUTION!!!

Go to YOU TUBE and search:
How to fix-hal.dll is missing or corrupt in windows by Britec.

1)Press F2 for Setup utility
2)Use down arrow key and select Boot Sequence<>
3)From the 4 choices given I arrow down and stop at IDE CD-ROM Device
and press left arrow key to move to first choice. The rest of the
choices I uncheck by pressing the space bar.<>
4)Place Operating disk in CD-Rom. My OS is Windows XP Home Edition.
5)Hit the Esc key and enter to save changes and exit.
6)Press any key to boot from Operating System (OS)CD.
7)Let windows setup load files from CD
8)Select R, at recovery console.
9)You should now see: 1:C:\Windows
10)You'll be asked, "Which installation would you like to log onto"
Select 1 <>
11)Then you'll see: "Type administrator password:" I have none so I
just <enter>again.
12)You'll return to C:\Windows> TYPE bootcfg (hit spacebar)/rebuild
(should look like this, bootcfg /rebuild)
13)You will now see this message: "Scanning all disks for windows
installations Please wait since this may take a while." Took me
less than 10 minutes to scan.
14)You will now see, "Add installation to boot list? (yes/No/All)
Select yes.
15)Enter load identifier: (this is your OS on your computer.)Here I
type: Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition.<>
16)Now you'll see: "Enter O.S. Load Options:" TYPE /fastdetect (one
word)
17)You will return to the C:\Windows (remove your OS CD from your CD
tray) TYPE exit and <enter>
18)Hit F2 for setup (again!)
19)Scroll down to boot sequence and <enter>
20)Hit left arrow key to move up and select, Hard-Disk Drive C: press spacebar to re-check choice. I now unchecked the CD-Rom choice.
21)Hit the ESC key to save changes and exit.

At this point my windows XP loads as if nothing happened. It sadly disappears when I use it again and have to repeat these steps!!!
I'm currently looking to see what solution I find that will help me load it normally with out having to repeat these steps. Thankfully I can use my husbands computer to at least get this far. Hope this works for you all as well.

email me if you can help at

The "recovery" disk might have options to try to fix things, but it most likely wants to wipe all data and make your computer look like new so make sure you have a good backup of all your data. A "Linux boot CD" or "live CD" could be used to recover data and copy it to a USB drive, this CD boots to a GUI that isn't too complicated, like the "Ubuntu live CD", it has a file manager and it's all graphical. Just remember on a live CD you have to "mount" your hard drives in order to see them so look for that on one of the menus.

Remember, if you can move files around with a "live CD", you could copy a new hal.dll or any other file on to your PC from another HD or USB drive.

You should have a “recovery” or “restore” disk” that came with the computer, it should be easy to use. And many major vendors put stuff on a hidden partition on the hard drive, but if the hard drive crashes, the hidden partition goes bye bye.

If you don't have the recovery disk, you might be able to get a disk from the original PC vendor, possibly a download. Going to your PC's maker support website would be the first thing to do.

Sometimes you might find the drivers for restore in a folder called "drivers" or "I386" on your HD.

Just some ideas.

Sample Boot.ini File
This is a sample of a default Boot.ini file from a Windows XP Professional computer.
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect
This is a sample of the above Boot.ini file with a previous installation of Windows 2000 on a separate partition.
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT="Windows 2000 Professional" /fastdetect

I set everything up for it to boot from the recovery disc.
I put it in, it starts up, i press R for recovery options or whatever. It says "preparing options for recovery blahblahblah" loads. and then it says "GATEWAY please wait ..." and i can move around the mouse, but nothing els happens. and my computer just keeps restarting.

pleasepleaseplease help.

i really need help i havent had this computer long & this is my first laptop & i really cant afford another one.
so please help!

please help me i m in despreate need
souza_guzman_07@yahoo.com
email me at: or
erictripz@yahoo.com

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
<Windows root>\system32\hal.dll.
Please re-install a copy of the above file

i really need help and i dont feel like buying a new computer can somebody pleas help me!

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
<Windows root>\system32\hal.dll.
Please re-install a copy of the above file

i really need help and i dont feel like buying a new computer can somebody pleas help me!

\Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
<Windows root>/system32/hal.dll.
Please re-install a copy of the above file.

I dont have a backup disk and i dont know what to do. please email me at

After installing the software from the CD, and rebooting, got message that HAL.DLL was missing or bad.

So I did a repair install of Windows XP Home. During the install, it asked me to put in the ATI CD, which I did. However, it could not find all the drivers from the sub-directories on the CD, so I told it to look in c:\windows and then c:\windows\system32. It was then able to find the missing video device files.

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
<Windows root>/system32/hal.dll.
Please re-install a copy of the above file.

that why i dont have the Cd

Does anyone have any ideas as to what may be causing the probem?

More generally, if you see a dll name in uppercase, it is almost sure the dll file has been modified

I got these instructions from an Autodesk Forum...not sure what USERVA=3030 is or if it was necessary to put that....

CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Desktop Memory

DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard

Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

BFG Tech BFGR76256GTOCE GeForce 7600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card

And all the hardware seems to work just fine, however when I try to install windows XP on it, it'll finish copying the windows files from the cd, tell me to restart, and then display the

"Windows root\system32\hal.dll missing " message.

A lot of the solutions that were posted seem to use the recovery console, but I feel like that's more for systems that already had XP working before it went bad, because it doesn't work for me. CHKDSK hangs at about 8%. Also, I can't seem to format the hard drive unless i use the NTFS (quick) option. I can't do NTFS by itself.

We checked each of the components with another computer, and they all seem to work, so I don't think it's a hardware issue (though I feel like there is definitely something wrong w/ the hard drive).

I also tried 4 different XP Prof cd's, 3 of them hang at the loading windows screen, but one of them actually got past that, until the error with missing hal.dll. I know that CD is good because I've used it before.

So then i went out yesterday and got Norton Ghost 10.0 - i had it run all night copying my drive - said everything was copied successfully.

So today i went to boot from the copy and i got this message....

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
<Windows root>\system32\hal.dll.
Please reinstall a copy of the above file.

Type the following: expand d:\i386\hal.dl_ c:\windows\system32

After I did that, unfortunately I got a blue screen of death showing
Stop: 0x0000007B

Which MS has information at:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/324103

So I ran the recovery console, MS information at:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb%3ben-us%3b307654#3

I got to the Recovery console and ran chkdsk. It didn't find anything so I ran chkdsk p/ which found an error. I then ran chkdsk /f which takes a long time, but works.

Here's a repeat of Stephan's instructions. I changed the drive letter to show D: as that's what was on my system as the CD drive, and I updated the expand instruction. Hope it works for you!

1: Open the boot menu

2: Change the boot sequence (boot from CD-rom)

3: Place the windows set-up CD (XP Home or Prodoesn't matter )

4: Reboot

5: Run the set-up and hit R for repair

6: Select your drive (in most cases C:\Windows) and hit 1

7: Fill in your administrator password (in my case I had none, hit
enter)

8: Now the prompt field is visible

9: Type D:(or other letter depending on the letter of your cd/dvd)

10: When you see D:\ (then you are in the right folder)

11: Type the following: expand d:\i386\hal.dl_ c:\windows\system32

12: It works if you see the notification that the file has been expanded

13: Reboot your computer

14: Now you can start Windows again

-when u get that error, press enter or any key, the computer will
reboot, while rebooting keep pressing F2
-u should get this Message: Check System. then press F1 key
Press F1
-that should take to BIOS
-At the right side there's three blocs: Others - Boot Priority - System Date/time
-Go to Boot Priority using the Arrows (at the bottom of the page there's instruction how to move throughout the page, and change values)
-Now go to Boot Priority, u should have something like this: HDD-LAN-DFDD-CD_ROM
-Using space or Bksp, u should change that order in a way that u put CD_ROM in the first order Like This: CD_ROM-HDD-LAN-DFDD
(that means that ur computer will reboot from the CD first not from The Hard drive)
-when you're done press End, that will save the changes u made. Press Y to confirm
-automatically the computer will reboot ONLY now it will Reboot from The recovery CD that u already insert.
-follow the instruction as u would when u reinstall Applications and drivers for system recovery.

I have a problem with "System32/hal.dll". I don't know what to do? computer said "window could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt. Please help me.

When you go this path the Install examines the HD and finds a previous Version of the OS.

Now you can choose to fix the problem.

When finished you may have to re-install some software but you wont lose and data.

NOW !! make a Ultimate Boot CD for Windows.
http://www.ubcd4win.com/
Boot from the CD and make copies of boot.ini and hal.dll and store on the disk some where else.

First- Write in ENGLISH! This is the common language most of us understand. Some posts on here appear to be written by failing 2nd graders.

If you cannot spell the simplest words, maybe you shouldnt have a computer. Go back to school first.

1: Open the boot menu
2: Change the boot sequence (boot from CD-rom)
3: Place the windows set-up CD (XP Home or Prodoesn't matter )
4: Reboot
5: Run the set-up and hit R for repair
6: Select your drive (in most cases C:\Windows) and hit 1
7: Fill in your administrator password (in my case I had none, hit enter)
8: Now the prompt field is visible
9: Type E:(or other letter depending on the letter of your cd/dvd)
10: When you see E:\ (then you are in the right folder)
11: Type the following: expand e:\i386\hal.dl_ c:\windows\system32\hall.dll
12: It works if you see the notification that the file has been expanded
13: Reboot your computer
14: Now you can start Windows again
15: Suggestion do a system restore if possible two or three days before the error happend.

If R" repair and recovery doesn't work.
the next best thing is to boot in safe mode (hopefully it lets you)
and do system restore to the day before the error. This has helped me 4 times before.
Good Luck

Thanks a lot for all the information posted concerning this matter, it's helpful for my understanding. But my problem is quite different and I would like to have you experts great help.

I have two hard drives, one from Maxtor and nother from Western digital. I have Windows XP professional installed on both. After I installed the system on both a year ago, I had not problem switch back and forth. Since then I mainly used the system on western digital drive. I haven't started the maxtor system for more than half year. Yesterday I tried to install a program on Maxtor and right after I succefully started the system on Maxtor, it asked me to update. So I ran updates and got into a problem of not enough space. I was foolish for this because I originally just allocated 4G for the system on Maxtor and XP can easily use most of it. So, I stopped the updates. The reason I started the system on Maxtor is I want to install a program called AnyDVD. Before I restarted the system, I can access to all the drives, including all the partitions on both Maxtor and Western Digital. After the installation of AnyDVD, I re-started the system on Maxtor. Everything was fine except is asked me to check my western hard drive for format consistency. I originally formated maxtor in FAT32 and western digital in NTFS. So, I though it's ok to check. However, the checking was deleting my files, it says "...ophan record deleted..."with the number of files deleted. The rows running from the bottom to the up indicating hundreds, thousands file are deleted. So, I got concerned and I stopped the process by power off. Then I restarted the system on Maxtor, and skipped the checking part. It started succefully. However, I was not able to access Drive I, where all the system files on western digital drive resides. Yet, I can access to other two partitions on western digital. Now I wanted to start the system on western digital drive and got the same error:

"Windows root\system32\hal.dll missing, please re-install a copy of this file"

If you are getting the hal.dll error, most likely you have more than one hard drive/partitions. Don't think replacing it right away solves the issue. Majority of cases it wont. In fact if you do, your problem most likely wont be resolved and replacing the hal.dll you will have to reinstall drivers for all existing hardware.

Unplug all your secondary hard drives and leave your main harddrive connected. Boot up using a "BootCD" or some kind of NTFS boot floppy or whatever. Enough to get you to a dos prompt. Go to the root of your c:\ drive. You will see your BOOT.INI file. There is also a backup of this file, most cases called BOOT.BKK Rename the boot.ini to bootback.bak, then rename boot.bkk to boot.ini

Reboot the system. You should be good to go. If success, reconnect your other hard drives. Also make sure you are booting the correct drive thru bios boot priority.

Do this as a simple step first. If still having a problem. Boot directly from the XP CD, and choose R for recovery console. For those that say "I can't boot from CD...", go into your bios, and have your system boot from CD Drives FIRST. Reboot and leave XP CD in. You will see a quick "press any key to boot from CD". Hit a key. Wait till a minute or so after loading. Hit R for Recovery console.

Quick notes..before I continue. If you do decide to go this route. Make sure to leave all hard drives connected. Upon Recovery Console executing, it will scan hard drives for windows installations. If you have more than one installation, it will ask for which installation to log into. Please be sure to log into the primary installation. Also, if there is a main password. Make sure to have it handy. Your normal account password wont do. If you installed XP and created a password for 'Administrator', this is THE password you need.

After successfully login in to the installation. Do the commands.

Chkdsk /f
bootcfg /rebuild
fixboot
fixmbr

Reboot, and you should be good to go. Replacing the hal.dll is not a option. Even if you are getting the missing hal.dll error, I will bet you if you boot with a bootcd and manually check the windows\system32 directory, you will see a hal.dll file there. If for some reason you will just go ahead and want to try the replacing hal.dll file, at least rename the existing hal.dll file to hal.bak, then replace.

I did a restart on my computer and when it restarted it begain to say, Windows could not start because the follwoing file is missing or corrupt, Windows\system32\config\system...

I tryed hitting R at start up, but it does not respond, and yes i have the disk in! I also tryed f8 with safemode and every other option in the f8 settings. I also ran f10 but had no luck their!

Setup did not find any hard disk drives installed in your computer.

Make sure any hard disk drives are powered on and properly connected to your computer, and that any disk-related hardward configuration is correct. This may involve running a manufacturer-supplied diagnostic or setup program.

Setup cannot continue. To quit Setup, press F3

Is my hard drive just totally screwed? At the very least, is there somewhere I can take the computer to to have them recover my files? The thought of losing everything I have on there has me ready to cry (okay, I admit I've already cried about it several times). Please, someone have good news for me.

"Add installation to boot list? <yes/no/all>":
"Enter Load Identifier:"
"Enter OS Load Options:"

I selected yes, then after some research, I typed "Microsoft Windows XP Professional edition" into the Load Identifier. Finally, I entered "/fastdetect" for the OS Load Option and hit enter.

From what I've heard, this should be the final step, and all should be well, however, after I hit enter I got an Error that read "Failed to add the selected boot entry to the boot list"

I want to rebuild the boot.ini file but like I said, Windows won't allow me to do it because it can't find the install.

Has anyone encountered this problem?

FYI, I checked the BIOS and made sure the HD was recognized there.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

--Then pressed the R key
--typed bootcfg /list
--typed bootcfg /rebuild

then I selected yes to one of the questions
then there were a few more questions that i didn't really know what to put so at the WindowsC: I put exit and it took me back out and it looks like all is well again for my computer.

Im working on a friends computer,

xp home edition..

same problem you all are having and what im seeing

CONSTANTLY REPEATED is INSERT DISK do a Repair option from the Operating systems disk..

Well your all going throught the same problems and then some are getting into the os.. problems procedures..

Thing is this.

you need to get into your bios..

since your harddrive (master ) that runs your computer is not reading operative functions for the platform of Windows

you need to reconfigure your Boot disk

Which is operation of how your system is to boot,

Whats happening is your system is trying to boot from the harddrive which is pretty much a ghost in disquise so to speak till you can redirect the propper file to be read to get into the harddrive to run all other operations..

so there for..

examples of what your boot configurations may look like

Master (IDE Hard Drive)
Slave / or Secondary boot ( Removable diskette or Removable CD rom)

3rd Boot ( floppy disk) or another Removable CD drive.

what ever primary disk drive you use to load and install your programs with is the disk drive you want to point as

1st boot drive
disable all the others.. (suggest you keep harddrive as your 2nd boot..... temporarily
and run primarily off the one disk drive that you will be booting your operating system from..

and continue on to reboot..

you should at this point have some readings from the disk at this point and thus far

will enable you to run Reinstall/ Repair/ drawing blank..

on 3rd option..

though you want to run repair from here

once you have gone through this procedure you should have the file reinstalled, to the hard drive.

you will need to reboot when promted so.. once you do..

reset your bios to the original settings...

and you should be clear.

or at least one step further than you were, to getting into the other functions you may be having difficutlies with.

My computer suddenly crashed with the obvious root/system32/hal.dll error we're all dealing with. I am almost positive that my hard drive is pooched since it was making lots of the clicking/screeching sounds prior to crashing. Unfortunately, I never got around to backing up my files (stupid, I know). I would love to retrieve those files but am not sure exactly how. I've read every last solution on here and none of the obvious ones are working for me.

Some background. It's an HP Pavillion from 2001. It came with ME on it and we upgraded to XP right away. I have the system recovery disc from the ME setup and have been told that I will lose data if I use these discs. They boot up on startup. My XP Upgrade disc and a full version XP disc do nothing on startup. I have a 98 disc that boots up as well. I have attempted to take it to a computer shop to have it repaired but I have lost my XP license and they could do nothing without it.

If I install 98 and run the upgrade to XP, will I lose data?

My 98 disc is giving me the following choices:
1. Start setup from CD-ROM
2. Start computer with CD-ROM support
3. Start computer without CD-ROM support

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
<Windows root>\system32\hal.dll.
Please re-install a copy of the above file.

This assumes you can't boot at all or only have access to the command line.

First, the Recovery Console was not available after I removed Windows Vista. Unfortunately, it still offered it as a OS choice when I would boot up. If I selected Vista, I got an error, if I booted "Older Version of Windows" I got the hal missing error.

1 - I booted from the Vista RC1 DVD.
2 - I selected Repair.
3 - I launched the command prompt.
4 - At the command prompt, I switched to my boot drive (DOS command: cd c:) All your files should still be there.
5 - Change to the Windows directory (DOS command: cd windows)
6 - type boot.ini
6a - you should see the boot.ini file come up in notepad.
6b - Fix the file (Don't have time to go into how to rewrite the boot file, but if you google for "boot.ini", you should find some examples.)
6c - Save the new boot.ini file (you might not be able to overwrite this file because it is marked as a system and hidden file. Google for the DOS command "attrib". It lets you change the attributes on files from the Command line.)

Thanks

If you're still stuck hang in there Ed.

Cheers,

Your the bomb in my book.

desperate.

I hope I was some help.

mouse in San Antonio

I found this in the windows XP upgrade errors on the Microsoft website. It worked for me.

The problem arose when I installed The AOL firewall and was directed by them to remove my norton firewall to resolve a conflict. Then it happened. AOL, Norton-McAfee, and Microsoft are aware of this problem and all know that this is a very expensive problem to fix. However, before they are forced to solveee this programming issue, they are all making millions on us.

HP, my system's mfg is not innocent here either wanting to charge $45 to resolve this problem each time you call outside of a two week window.

Scroll down and check it out.

I've twice called HP Support, and both times I've been advised to perform a System Recovery. My screen gives me two cohices: System Recovery and Destructive Recovery. The Support operators insist these perform the same functions, that is they'll reinstall Windows XP but delete all data I had stored on my hard drive. Can a System Restore be done so that it doesn't delete my data? The Support operators say the only way is for me to create a back-up of my hard drive at a computer repair shop. HP doesn't provide XP install disks upon purchase (at least, according to them). MY previous computer was a Gateway Windows 98, and I regularly reinstalled Windows 98 and never lost hard drive data (all I needed to do was reset my internet connection, a small sacrifice).

If this is the first time you have seen this stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps:

the bios in this system is not fully acpi compliant. please contact your system vendor or visit http://www.hardware-update.com for an updated bios. if you are unable to obtain an updated bios or the latest bios supplied by your vendor is not acpi compliant, you can turn off acpi mode during text mode setup. to this, simply press the F7 key when you are prompt to install storage drivers. the system will not notify you that the F7 key was pressed, it will silently disable acpi and allow you to continue your installation.

The only problem with mine was, when it asked me to click on advanced options, there wasn't an advanced option to click on. If I would have pressed the alt +D key, then the prompt screen would have appeared. But mine started to format my hard drive instead. That is the only problem with these instructions that I have found faulty.

Best of luck...

This document applies to HP and Compaq Desktop PCs that come with Windows XP.
When Windows starts, the following error message appears:
" Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: <Windows root>\system32\hal.dll. Please re-install a copy of the above file."
Use the following steps to resolve this error:
Step 1: Opening a command prompt
This error prevents Windows XP from opening. This problem has to be addressed from a command prompt environment.
Use the following steps to open a command prompt environment:
Turn on the PC and press the F8 key repeatedly when the first screen appears.
The Windows advanced options menu appears.
Use the Up and Down Arrow and Enter keys to select Return to OS choices.
Select Microsoft Windows Recovery Console.
NOTE: If "Microsoft Windows XP Recovery Console" is not listed, restart the PC with a Windows XP CD, Recovery Console CD, or Recovery Tools CD in the top CD or DVD drive and open Microsoft Windows Recovery Console. If a Windows XP Setup screen appears when using Recovery Console CDs, press the R key to open the Recovery Console.

NOTE: If "Microsoft Windows XP Recovery Console" does not list and you do not have a CD with recovery console, try the following:

Turn on the PC, and press the F10 key repeatedly at the first screen.
At the Recovery screen, click Advanced Options.
Press the Alt + D keys at the same time to open a command prompt window and skip to step 5.
When the login prompt appears, press the number next to the windows version (minint or Windows) and type the logon password. Try pressing Enter if you do not know the password.
At the command prompt, type the following: diskpart
Press Enter, do one the following:
If a table of volume names appears, remember the drive letter next to the main drive volume name (usually D or H next to HP_PAVILION or PRESARIO) and press the Esc key.
If a diskpart prompt appears, type list volume, press Enter, remember the drive letter next to the main drive volume name (usually D or H next to HP_PAVILION or PRESARIO), type exit when done, and then press Enter.
NOTE: If the main drive volume name does not appear in the list, the PC needs to be recovered. For more information, refer to Performing a Full System Recovery in XP .

Not sure how I got this error, was installing a game and computer crashed. Prior to that had a problem with some Trojan.download virii (winepi32.dll was memory resident and could not be contained by Norton) that were difficult to remove and could not get Norton Internet Security 2005 to install new definitions files (always failed on Live Update).

Primary drive was (and still is) spinning very fast much of the time even though I am not running any programs that would cause stress (just internet connection and explorer at the moment). No other errors, clicking, skipping, ticking, high pitched sounds or other indicators of a failing drive.

1. boot from CD-ROM with windows setup disk in drive
2. recovery consule ("R")
3. chose installation (1: WINDOWS)
4. from command prompt
a) chkdsk /r (took 30+ mins / p4 2.8Ghz 1GB RAM)
b) bootcfg /rebuild ("yes" to save upon completion)
c) fixboot
d) fixmbr

4. Type chkdsk /r
5. When its finished run the following 3 commands:
>bootcfg /rebuild
>fixboot
>fixmbr

This worked - specifically the fixboot command which basically went through my drives, found all windows installations and populated the boot.ini file accordingly. My boot.ini file had been changed and this corrected it.

Many, many thanks,

I had this missing hal.dll error message after messing around trying to dual boot XP & Linux.

Tried the 'expand f:\i386\hal.dl_c:\...... ' commands in DOS as suggested somewhere - no joy. Not because its a bad suggestion, but because the HAL.DLL was not the problem.

I managed to fix the problem by following the below suggestion and rebuilding the boot files:

  From: Phunky-J on 01/01/2006
  Hi to all. Thought i would scour the net to find a solution...
  Ended up i found my own!
  I'm running XP Media Centre but that doesn't make a difference in this instance.
  1. First of all insert setup disc
  2. Reboot and load recovery console from setup
  3. My windows drive is f: so navigate to your windows drive by typing cd/ x: (x   being your windows drive letter)
  4. Type chkdsk /r
  5. When its finished run the following 3 commands:
  >bootcfg /rebuild
  >fixboot
  >fixmbr

This worked - specifically the fixboot command which basically went through my drives, found all windows installations and populated the boot.ini file accordingly. My boot.ini file had been changed and this corrected it.

Turns out I shouldnt have done 'xpand f:\i386\hal.dl_c:\...... ' cos it ended reseting the HAL.DLL file which meant I had to re-install every tiny bit of hardware in my rig ! What a mission!!

When I enter the fast config for the raid it says they are working. So I am at a loss.

So how in speaking to a three year old terms do I get it to recognize my hard drives? And keep the data on them if at all possible.

(Also A side note this did the bug three times in the last 2 days. Before I could just autofix it by using Norton's go back function. So hoping this doesn't mean my hard drives may be failing.)

Only a n00b would think that one solution would fix this problem. You can talk about the Hardware Abstraction Layer all you want and act like a wise guy jackass, but the fact is, boot.ini is certainly NOT the only cause of a corrupt HAL.

In a lot of the posts I have read on this topic, the problem actually looks like a bad hard disk. Chkdsk will not tell you if the disk is damaged. It finds bad sectors, and it cleans them (sets them aside). If chkdsk tells you all of your bad sectors are fixed, then they come back again, chances are your drive is going kaboom very soon.
Furthermore, many have stated that they heard a ticking from their drives before the error started. This is a prime suspect for bad hard drives. If your drive starts ticking consistently (not necessarily constantly, in many cases you will hear a high pitched noise every now and then lasting about 3 seconds followed by a loud tick), you need to get your data off of there immediately and replace the drive.

Another cause is faulty drivers. The HAL is the interface from Windows to your devices (think Device Manager). Your computer's entire hardware profile is described by the file, and if some bad driver comes along and flooks it up, that's it - that's the end. Replacing the file with that expand trick may in some cases allow you to boot into your computer (if your hardware layout is pretty bare bones) to get your data out, but it's by no means a fix. You will still have to redo everything.

There are many other causes as well.

So don't think for a minute that there is a single solution to this, or rather a single cause. You will frustrate yourself for days trying to figure out why 'bootcfg /rebuild' works for some people here and not for you. Surely you must be doing something wrong - not following the steps properly? - No. It's just that you have a different problem than them, and Windows doesn't describe your particular problem specific enough to distinguish it from theirs.

Then you don't have to pay, pay, pay for everything you need. It comes with spreadsheet programs, word processors and drawing programs, all on the FREE distro CDs with easy install!

im getting this same problem corrupt or missing file <windowsroot>\system32\hal.dll. and since i cant get my computer to start windows, i was wondering if anyone kne how to someone get onto my computer so i can back up my files before i reboot it or reinstall windows and lose everything

Please re-install a copy of the above file.

I have this dll missing shit.

I cannot fix it from previous posts as when i start with the recovery disk it goes straight into this recovery process and i have no option of pressing R to repair then it crashes

To solve this problem I used the XP Pro setup disk, and instead of hitting "R" for recovery, I hit "Enter" and just installed XP on the empty drive (I wiped the 2 files I mentioned earlier first). Seems to work fine now. At startup I don't get any prompts to choose between two OS, (Which can happen if you install an OS without wiping the other first - at least I did it with Win 2000 once - oops/learning curve). If you're ready to throw your machine out the window, try this approach and then relax.

To load from XP restore disk. Start your machine, open your d drive and insert the XP setup/recovery disk. At the bottom of the screen it will prompt you to press "del" - this will allow you to enter bios settings that enable you to try booting from a CD. For sequence use the cd drive, a drive, then the hard drive - for me that was d:,a:,c:. If your machine is already set up this way wait for the second screen, at the bottom it will say to boot from cd press any key. It's quick so keep your eye on the screen. Press any key. Wait for installations needed to run the disk and then you'll have the option to install, recover or exit.

I have been thinking for some time of upgrading from Windows XP Home to Professional. I have a laptop and desktop, and am doing digital imaging wiht 300-700MB files. Trying to immprove performance and ridding myself of somme unwanted programs, I corrupted this file. Since I can't find my Windows Home XP cd and I'm thinking of upgrading to XP Professional would this be an appropriate time and will the same tricks work?

Thanks all for your help,

I'm running XP Media Centre but that doesn't make a difference in this instance.

From the C:\Windows prompt, type

expand x:\i386\hal.dl_ y:\windows\system32\hal.dll

Perhaps his remedy works for some but not all...

"<Windows Root>/system32/hal.dll. file is missing...please install copy of file."

GOD it is so annoying. please i seriously need big help. *cry* any assistance wouldbe really helpful.

This is absolutely ridiculous. I have tried everything, again. Nothing seems to work.

The first time, I after chkdsk and attempting to fix/edit the boot failed I tried reinstalling WinXP over itself - big surprise, that didn't work. Then I tried installing it in a separate directory on the C:\ - also failed -- although this one actually completed the installation unlike my first attempt.

Next I installed WinXP from the D:\ - finally that worked albeit with no drivers ... I was able to at least save my information though (painstakingly moving it from the C:\ which was barely functional to the D:\ and burning it to a CD). I reformatted both drives in the hopes of starting from scratch.

Everything was working fine -- 2 weeks late -- unfuckingbelievably -- exact same error, and this time I hadn't put anything on my computer except an Microsoft Office Professional and AOL.

Now, when I run "chkdsk /p" I get the error message: "The volume appears to contain one or more unrecoverable problems" ... "chkdsk /r" is now stuck at 57% after 2-3 hours.

Does anyone know what the underlying problem is? Is this really as simple as the boot.ini file needing rewriting?

Is reformatting going to work, or do I need to fdisk this POS or something else?

ANY help at all would be greatly appreciated.

You saved my life. Before I tried your technic I couldn't access my hard drive or anything. After that windows still didnt open but I managed to re-install the windows to different directory. so now at least I am able to get my files back.

thank you sooo much.
so the lesson is GET YOUR BACKUP EVERYDAY!

I am a student and I am learning computers. I wanted to partition my drive with Acronis so that I can reserve 10g's to install Linux which is what I am currently learning. I got the <windows root>\system32\hal.dll missing or corrupt file error message also.

I was going to do the chkdisk fixboot that was listed until I got a message saying that it could mess up my system and I was not willing to risk it because all of my homework is on this PC.

I tried copy d:\i386\ha.dl_ c:\windows\system32 and I got "ACCESS DENIED".

I tried bootcfg /rebuild and I am back online. It worked. The /list was empty and rebuild found my 2 current XP installations (which I did with Partition Magic and not Acronis) and let me proceed with the rebuild. I am EVER SO THANKFUL!!

Attina

PS. LESSON OF THE DAY: BACK UP! BACK UP! BACK UP!!

:original message:

From: stan on 07/28/2004
For the Hal.dll file missing problem do this:
1.Insert and boot from your WindowsXP CD.
2.At the first R=Repair option, press the R key
3.Press the number that corresponds to the correct location for the installation of Windows you want to repair.
Typically this will be #1
4.Type bootcfg /list to show the current entries in the BOOT.INI file
5.Type bootcfg /rebuild to repair it
6.Type exit and take out the CD ROM

Fixed the missing hal.dll problem after trying several options.
This is what was posted:

From: LiSaV on 01/15/2005
It worked!

What I did:

first, start with the way this previous post started:
Insert the XP disk into the machine and turn it on. A message will appear asking you to press any key to boot to the XP CD. Press any key and the machine will boot to the CD. When the setup screen loads choose the option to repair the windows installation by pressing R.

(if necessary, take a crash course from windows website on dos mode before next step:)

in dos mode, type:
C:\>chkdsk /p [enter]
fixboot [enter]
Y [enter]
exit [enter]

Thankyou Lisav you saved me a heap of work!

I am using a Samsung Q20 with 256MB RAM (128MB on board + 128MB on slot). I visited my friend last night who is a computer supplier. I asked him to sell me a 512MB RAM. He then gave me one to replace the 128MB on slot. After I turned on again the laptop, it then went into a page saying that my Windows XP was not shutdown properly last time, and need to run CHKDSK. I let it to run CHKDSK and after some messages come out, the message "Windows root\system32\hal.dll missing" and system halted. Even after I replaced the 128MB RAM back to the slot, the laptop remains the same.

Do anybody have any idea why this situation come out from the above condition ???

I also had this problem! LiSav's (15.01.2005) solution worked for me. Earlier I had tried a variation on Keith's (09.10.2004) but access was denied.

I am not super computer savvy so I would like to know :

1. What caused the problem?

2. What have I done by fixing it using LiSav's (15.01.2005) solution? - replaced corrupt/missing file from XP disk or have I just just buried original file and started something new?

The only way I have found that works without fail is

always partition your harddrive say into c drive and d drive

load all programs and everything you can onto D drive (some programs will only load on C) then when windows crashes which it inevitably does you dont lose all your work because when you reinstall windows which always always always seems to be the only answer (and believe me I've tried everything) all your working files and most programs will be left on D drive and you will only have to reinstall the operating system and programs that force themselves on to c drive

people talk about searching the internet etc ...when the machine will not boot up you have no access to the internet....I have also never been able to get the repair system to work.

FINALLY
The message from LiSaV on 15/01/2005 looks as though it might work and I'll try that first next time I have the problem

What I did:

first, start with the way this previous post started:
Insert the XP disk into the machine and turn it on. A message will appear asking you to press any key to boot to the XP CD. Press any key and the machine will boot to the CD. When the setup screen loads choose the option to repair the windows installation by pressing R.

(if necessary, take a crash course from windows website on dos mode before next step:)

- also -

Whenever I try to connect to internet, a message tells me to "reinstall Media player."

What can be done to remedy these problems? What caused these problems? Please respond ASAP at the following e-mail address:

Talethea@wmconnect.com

Try using Recovery Console; Type: CHKDSK /R....

F ds doesnt fix the prob....

I suggest u think and ponder deep f u wna have ur files extracted from u hard drive.....which will cost $30.00 minimum...

HOWEVER, MY KEYBOARD DOES NOT WORK, THEREFORE I CAN NOT PRESS ANY KEY TO BOOT OFF THE CD, TO GET TO THE WINDOWS XP SCREEN.

any help would be greatly appreciated, just email me at:

The solution to this problem is quite simple. I had the same problem myself and thought I would end up having to reinstall XP. I checked a couple of websites to no avail but eventually came accross one with the solution. I don't have the link to the site but here's the solution.
You first need your windows XP disk.

Insert the XP disk into the machine and turn it on. A message will appear asking you to press any key to boot to the XP CD. Press any key and the machine will boot to the CD. When the setup screen loads choose the option to repair the windows installation by pressing R. It will then ask you what drive (the drive windows XP is installed on)you want to go to. Choose whichever drive this is...C,D or E, etc.
It will then ask you for and administor password. Generally this is blank so just hit return but if you created an administrator password when you first installed windows then use that one.
You will be then brought to the dos prompt of the drive windows XP is installed on. Lets say for arguments sake the drive windows is installed on here is C and the CD drive is D
So you will see C:\>
At this prompt type the following copy D:\i386\ha.dl_ C:\windows\system32\hal.dll

So it should appear on the screen as

C:\>copy D:\i386\ha.dl_ C:\windows\system32\hal.dll
Hit return and it will then ask you if you want to overwrite the file hal.dll if its there, type Y and hit return. It will then say ! file copied.
When this is done simply reboot your computer and it should boot up normally.
It worked for me perfectly.

Hi

The above link is a sure fire way to fix this problem. The only thing I would say is that the site says expand x:\i386\hal.dl_y:\windows\system32\hal.dll

This did'nt work for me. I instead did this.

At the dos prompt

copy x:\i286\hal.dl_ y:\windows\system32\hal.dll

It gave me the option to overwrite the corrupt and I said yes, then I merely rebooted my machine and it came up fine. You do however need an XP disk handy for it to work.

My system specs:
CPU - P4 Prescott 3.06Ghz HT
RAM - 1GB DDR
DVD - 8x DVD burner
HDD - 1x 80GB SATA & 1x 120GB SATA both with 8MB buffer

Booting using just WinXP floppy setup then Recovery Console does not work as WinXP does not load the required driver for the SATA drives.

My solution:
Produced a spare IDE HDD with Win98SE installed. Also got hold of the WinXP setup on CD. Changed boot sequence to boot from CD to load the setup and made IDE HDD the primary disk boot loader.

Booted from disk to load setup and pressed F6 to laod 3rd party drivers for SATA HDD. I got the Si generic drivers from the web.

Went to Recovery console and selected the IDE HDD console but I can already see the other SATA HDD.

From there changed the a file on the root folder of primary boot disk SATA HDD called "file010.chk" to hal.dll and moved this onto the windows\system32 folder.

Rebooted on safe mode to check boot.ini under XP. It took a while but XP finally showed up. Reboot again under normal and eureka! problem fixed.

4.Type bootcfg /list to show the current entries in the BOOT.INI file
5.Type bootcfg /rebuild to repair it
6.Type exit and take out the CD ROM

HAL.DLL Missing or Corrupt

If you get an error regarding a missing or corrupt hal.dll file, it might simply be the BOOT.INI file on the root of the C: drive that is misconfigured