bootcamp: Missing HAL.DLL (MBP)

[smash0r]

After the initial dos based copy phase of the Windows install, I'm getting the following error on a black screen:

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

Booting into recovery console shows that the file is indeed there, reinstalling from scratch did not change the error. Removing the boot.ini from c:\ and running bootcfg /rebuild and fixboot does not remove the error...has anyone else experienced this? And more importantly, has anyone moved past it?

[smash0r]

Well, I reinstalled a third time for S&G and it came out OK this time. Third time really is a charm.

[Mflanagan]

Have you tried renaming the old Hal.dll then replace it with a new one?
using a bootdisk

[Andy M]

I've seen this problem before on regular PCs. Likely your XP CD is corrupt/scratched. Try a different CD if you can.

[ArmyGroo]

I have tried 4 seperate new cd's and they all come up with the same problem.

I am not sure what to do anymore. Searching all the forums I can find for a solution.

[kirreip]

how did you partition? did you only use the bootcamp application to partition? the bootcamp firmware expects only one windows partition and it has to be on c: if you have two fat32 partitions or a fat32 and NTFS partition BEFORE you install Windows, it won't work and you will get this missing hal.dll.

try to erase any second windows partition and reinstall windows again.

[Zepp]

I had this same problem happen to me also. It was after I tried reformating my windows partition.
I had deleted all the partitions except the existing OSX partition. From the XP install CD I created a new partition and formated it as NTFS, however every time the installer tried to do its reboot after copying files to the new partition, I got the missing hal.dll error.

To fix it, all I did was boot back into OSX and use the bootcamp assistant to resore the drive back to a single OSX partition, then ran the bootcamp assistant again and got it to re-create the partition ready for an XP install.

[Ancyent]

i'm just experimenting the same problem with the hal.dll file .. i will trie with Zepp's way & see if it works

[zarmanto]

I wasn't part of this discussion when it took place eighteen months ago, but just to clarify one point... The problems as described here were probably caused when someone tried to delete the FAT32 partition and create a new NTFS partition in its place. The key to getting Windows successfully installed on an IntelMac is that you should resist the urge to delete the partitions which were created by the BootCamp Assistant -- but you can still reformat an existing partition, to get your NTFS volume.

Also, a more in-depth analysis of what's going on under the hood can be found in Billbear's Quad-boot thread (http://forum.onmac.net/showthread.php?t=2793).