Windows 7: Inconsistant SFC /Scannow Results

Running Windows 7 Ultimate x64 SP1

Ran an SFC /scannow to see what would come up, and I received a notice about two related to Microsoft speech recognition. SFC stated the files could not be repaired, so I went ahead and pulled new copies off of my DVD and replaced them, and then rescanned.

The rescan still showed the same files as corrupt (but now also showed some .ttf fonts corrupt). I pulled the fonts off and replaced them, and then checked the DVD to compare the file properties of the two speech files. Both the ones on the HD and the DVD were identical.

Tried again, rescanned, and again the same speech files came up in the log but also a new set of different files.

Long story short, everytime I run a /scannow, I seem to get different corrupt files coming up, eventually disappearing after a few runs, though the speech recognition files keep coming back.

Are these false positives in SFC?

As an aside, I have next to no problems with my PC. Everything runs well, no Windows errors for anything, play games without issue... it's probably one of the most stable builds I've ever run.

I'm attaching my sfcdetails file with a couple different runs (all on the same boot). A subsequent reboot may come up with different files.

Lastly, one thing to note, my Windows drive is on an OCZ Vertex 2 SSD using the Sandforce controller. I had a theory that the Sandforce's (which saves writes wear on the MLC by compressing files) compression may be screwing up the hash values. I haven't seen anything on the OCZ forums to suggest this is a fact, though.

Thanks for any help/insight!

Hello JetBlack and welcome to Seven Forums.

Several years ago (back in 2000 to be exact) people were questioning Dell if SFC gave false positives. Short answer: Yes it can and presumably, still does. From a Dell forum:

System File Checker - Desktop General Hardware Forum - Desktop - Dell Community

I think the best course of action is the old axiom: if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Might be worth running chkdsk.

Hello JetBlack, welcome to Seven Forums!


If you would like to try an sfc /scan that runs 'outside' of Windows, have a look at this tutorial at the link below; though I agree, "if it ain't broke don't fix it".


SFC /SCANNOW : Run in Command Prompt at Boot

Thanks for the replies:

@marsminar - I'm beginning to think I should leave well enough alone, but I'm such a tinkerer

@kado857 - I should have mentioned I ran CHKDSK without issue.

@Bare Foot Kid - I saw that posted before, and the only thing I was worried about was that I was using SP1 and I wasn't sure if the recovery CD I made will be good enough as the Win 7 DVD will not load (it recognises it is the wrong version).

But if this is basically the same scan, but without bits of Win 7 in the background mucking things up, I'll give it a try.

**I did have a thought last night but didn't verify it yet: Does CRC also take into account the file's dates? I assume it would. When I compared those speech files, there was a different created date on the HD compared to the DVD.

Also, where does Win 7 store it's checksums? Is it possible to override and say tell Windows to accept a new checksum as valid?

Create a system repair disk from the installed Windows 7 SP 1 and you'll be golden.


How to Create a Windows 7 System Repair Disc

Previous threads, Which I can't locate at the moment, have suggested the the pre-SP1 repair disk is still OK.

There's one way to find out, boot it, you'll know soon-enough!

Now I think about it I have done a Windows Restore with a pre-SP1 repair disk since SP1 and a System Restore. So yes it's OK.

For the purpose of SFC, there should be no difference whether you use the pre-sp1 or the post-sp1 repair disk. Reason being that either repair disk will depend on the winsxs folder on the hard drive for good copies of files.