Advapi.dll Missing

Hi all, I have a problem with my PC and it is stopping many of my programs from running, simply put when I try to run a program, Windower for example (but it is many others), I get the error:

"The program can't start because C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\advapi32.dll is missing from your computer. Try reinstalling the program to fix the problem."

Has anyone had experience with this error before?

Have you tried "sfc /scannow" in Command Prompt? advapi32.dll is a Windows file so it's probably been deleted or corrupted somehow.

yeah, even though it completed, nothing changed.

Instead of me guiding you down all the paths, this article seems to sum up the majority of what I'd tell you anyways lol, give all of this a try.

Odds are though you'll probably at the very least need to refresh your OS.

I can't reset my computer, I can't run the "Refresh Windows Tool" because of advapi32.dll.

I get this whole feeling I'm going to have to do a fresh install of Windows.

Not even in safe mode??

Nah, no luck in safe mode, I'll do a fresh install tomorrow, the bulk of my data is on a separate drive so it's not horrible, I'll have to reinstall everything though.