Fail to boot: winload.efi missing; error 0xc0000359

I upgraded ok with the update and successfully activated windows 10. I downloaded both 32bit and 64bit to usb using media creation tool as I wanted to clean install Windows 10 64bit on my 64bit compatible machine although am currently running 32bit windows 7 as that's what I had to hand when I built the PC. If I attempt to boot 32bit from usb it returns the error winload.efi missing. If I attempt to boot the 64bit version it just returns to windows boot manager.
Frustrated, I opted for the "reset this PC" function in settings instead as an alternative to the clean install and the reset failed, hung, then returned to the screen "what would you like to do". Once I selected "turn off PC" and it restarted and automatically continued the reset only to fail a second time. This time I choose to "return to windows 10" but it just hung. I had to rollback to windows 7 with repair dvd.
With windows 7 now installed again, I still cannot boot from either the 32 or 64 bit option in windows boot manager when I select to boot from the USB. It either returns to the boot manager or returns the winload.efi missing error.
I have tried changing settings in bios to disable secure boot and fast boot but it makes no difference. I've read the Andre da Costa (sp?) wiki steps along with countless other how-to-clean-install windows 10 guides.


Thanks for any help.
mobo: ga-ha81m-dsv2
Error 0xc0000359 winload.efi

Thanks for your reply!
That makes sense but why will it not even boot from the 32bit version on the usb? I downloaded both As I suspected the 7/32 -> 10/64 would not work even after the in version upgrade.
I want to make use of the 64 bit capabilities of my PC, what is the correct procedure for installing a 64 bit version of Windows 10?

Or rather, there are people who have managed to migrate from w7 32 to w10 64 by doing the in-version upgrade and then clean installing with the 64 bit. I would just like to know what I am doing wrong.

topgundcp said:

Since your PC is already registered and activated then yes, you can wipe out your disk and do a clean install with 64 bit version.

The question is: How old is your PC ? reason I am asking because some PC with earlier version of UEFI firmware version cannot read the installtion USB formatted with NTFS, just FAT32. How did you created the installation media, straight from the website ? or you downloaded the ISO and create the bootable from some other software ?

Thanks for confirming that. At least I no that bit is right.

My PC is from 2015. F12->Setup shows that I have the option Uefi and Legacy as default. I understood that to mean that it would work from either. My Windows 7 is showing BIOS as the current selection.
Yes, I read about FAT32 so made sure that the USB was formatted accordingly. I created the media from the Website using the option to create a USB thumb.

I considered using Rufus but I honestly expected the MS media creation tool to do the job. So do you suggest downloading the 64bit as .iso and then using Rufus to create the bootable USB? Do I need to make any changes so that Uefi and not Bios is used? (I just tried changing to Uefi only but to no avail).

Thanks again for your insight. Much appreciated.

Of course, I could just do the in-version upgrade again and stop flapping but I am now confused why I can't even clean install the 32bit version. I would expect to be able to do that at least! I don't want to upgrade to Windows 10 and then have problems doing a clean install should I get issues later down the line.

Btw prior to the last attempt at booting, I downloaded the latest drivers for my motherboard, too.

Complete boot failure now after trying to boot from USB. Even after removing USB with Windows 10 ISO, PC will not boot back into Windows 7. Have had to re-image with Windows 7 again.

you've confirmed I am right to assume I can clean install the 64 bit windows 10. I guess I have some other issues (though w7 was running fine until I started messing about with it) and should leave well alone. I will just do the in-version upgrade again and be done with it. I've now spent over 24 hours trying to get this to work.

Thanks for your help.