Summary: The ‘lsass.exe Unable to Locate Component’ is an unexpected error message that occurs due to missing or corrupt lsass.exe process – a critical component responsible for authenticating users, generating access tokens, and more. In this guide, you will learn methods to fix this error.
While booting Windows, running an application, or performing an operation on a computer, users sometimes encounter error messages or pop-ups on their screens. The lsass.exe Unable to Locate Component is one such strange error message that prevents certain computer operations or applications from running.
This error message is displayed when the lsass.exe process cannot locate the required DLL file or components associated with the process. Let’s dive a bit further and learn more about this error in detail.
What is Lsass.exe?
The lsass.exe or Local Security Authority Subsystem Service is an important component/process of Windows whose primary functions include authentication of users logging in, enforcing security policies, handling passwords, and creating access tokens. This process is also responsible for writing Windows security logs.
It is a crucial system process, which, if forcibly stopped or corrupted, can cause errors with applications, resulting in lsass.exe Unable to locate component or application failed to start errors.
Methods to Fix the lsass.exe Unable to Locate Component Error Message
As a crucial system process, lsass.exe uses various system files and DLL files to run properly. File corruption or a malware mimicking it can also lead to Windows users seeing the lsass.exe Unable to Locate Component error message on their computers. However, one should not worry as this error pop-up is easy to fix using the methods explained below.
Method 1: Perform a System-Wide Virus Scan
Viruses or malware are notorious for corrupting files, replacing healthy copies with resource-intensive malware-infected mimics, or preventing applications & system files from interacting. Hence, it is always advised to have a reliable antivirus software installed on your computer to scan and remove any virus-infected files.
Method 2: Use System Restore While in Safe Mode
In some situations, the lssas.exe error message prevents users from logging into Windows. This happens when the damage done to the lsass.exe or the required system files by the virus is so significant that the error message gets displayed while Windows is booting up.
In such a scenario, try booting into safe mode to use the System Restore functionality to recover the lsass.exe process, followed by performing anti-malware scans. The antivirus scans will work and help you fix the lsass.exe Unable to Locate Component error message by recovering the process.
Note – To boot your computer into safe mode, press the F8 key (any other key displayed on the boot screen) during booting.
If your computer successfully boots into safe mode, use system restore to restore your computer to a previous healthy & error-free state. Here are the steps for this –
- Press WINDOWS + R and type Control Panel.
- Press Enter to open the Control Panel.
- Locate Recovery and click on it.
- Click on Open System Restore.
- It will open the System Restore wizard. Click Next to proceed.
- Click on the restore point that you wish to restore and select it.
- Click on Scan for affected programs to see which programs/applications will be removed upon system restoration. Click Close to return to the System Restore wizard.
- If you wish to proceed further with the selected system restore point, click Next.
- Click Finish to begin the system restore process.
Once the system restore process is complete, run an antivirus software to eliminate malware that has affected the lsass.exe. You can use the Windows Defender for this task.
Notes –
- If you are unable to access safe mode by pressing any key, chances are that damage to the system files due to a malware is severe. In this case, you can try Windows repair.
- If the lsass.exe Unable to Locate Component has made your computer unbootable and the data on it inaccessible, take the help of a professional data recovery software like Stellar Data Recovery Professional to safely recover your data from an unbootable computer.
Method 3: Run System File Checker
As mentioned before, the lsass.exe service is dependent upon system files for proper functioning. Hence, any system file getting damaged, corrupted, or missing can cause your computer to display the lsass.exe Unable to Locate Component error message.
To eliminate this error message, you can run the system file checker via the command prompt to fix or replace any damaged, missing, or corrupt system files. Here’s what to do –
- Press WINDOWS + R to open RUN.
- Type CMD and press CTRL + SHIFT + ENTER to open it as administrator.
- Inside the terminal, type SFC/scannow and press Enter.
Wait for the process to complete. Once the scan is over, exit the command prompt and restart your PC.
Method 4: Replace the Missing/corrupt DLL File
In majority of cases, the lsass.exe Unable to Locate Component error message shows when an application fails to load. This happens because a specific DLL file – oleaut32.dll goes missing. To replace this, you can take the help of Windows installation media to restore the missing DLL file and fix the lsass.exe Unable to Locate Component error message.
Note – You can download the missing DLL file from the following website. However, it is not recommended, as lsass.exe is an easy target for viruses.
To restore the missing oleaut32.dll using Windows installation media –
- Connect the Windows installation media and boot your computer.
- Go into BIOS and change the boot order to select the Windows installation media.
- Boot your computer from it.
- You’ll see the Windows installation screen. Click on Repair your computer. It will open the Windows Recovery environment.
- Click on Troubleshoot > Advanced Options > Command prompt.
- Execute the following command – cd c:\windows\system32.
- Now, execute – ren oleaut32.dll oleaut32.old to rename the existing file to oleaut32.old.
- Finally, execute the following command to the files from the installation media to your computer – copy X:\windows\system32\oleaut32.dll c:\windows\system32.
Replace X with the drive letter of your installation media.
- Type Exit and press enter to exit the command prompt.
- Change the boot order again to boot your computer normally.
Method 5: Reinstall the Associated Program
Some users faced the lsass.exe Unable to Locate Component error message while running an application. This could be due to bad/damaged application files. To get rid of the error message, you can try reinstalling the problematic application. If you have installed a video game using Steam or Epic Store, and seeing this error message while running the game app, try verifying the game files by going to the Steam or Epic Store library.
Error-Free Computer is the Way
The lsass.exe Unable to Locate Component is an annoying error message that can affect a computer in numerous ways. From rendering it unbootable to crashing applications, this unexpected issue can cause a lot of problems for the users. However, using the methods explained in this blog, you can easily get rid of it in no time.
