SFC /SCANNOW Command - System File Checker

How to Repair Windows 7 System Files with System File Checker​

   Information

The sfc /scannow command (System File Checker) scans the integrity of all protected Windows 7 system files and replaces incorrect corrupted, changed/modified, or damaged versions with the correct versions if possible.

   Tip

If you get the Windows Resource Protection Could Not Start the Repair Service error when trying to run SFC, then make sure that the Windows Modules Installer service is enabled, click on Start, and set to Manual.

Services - Start or Disable

OR

Copy and paste the command below in the elevated command prompt, and press Enter. After the Windows Modules Installer service has started, try running the SFC command again

net start trustedinstaller

   Note

The KB3022345, KB3035583, and KB3068708 updates will cause SFC to give you a false mismatch message in SFC for files related to these updates.

You can safely ignore these results in your SFC details since it will not affect SFC from being able to repair other system files.

   Warning

Be aware that if you have modified your system files as in theming explorer/system files, running sfc /scannow will revert the system files such as explorer.exe back to it's default state. Make the appropriate backups of your system files that you have modified for theming if you wish to save them before running sfc /scannow.

:note: For the updated Windows 10 tutorial, please see - SFC Command - Run in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Tutorials

CONTENTS:

• Option One: To Run the SFC /SCANNOW Command at Boot
• Option Two: To Run the SFC /SCANNOW Command in Windows 7
• Option Three: How to See and Read Only the "SFC" Scan Results from the CBS.LOG

OPTION ONE

To Run the SFC /SCANNOW Command at Boot

1. For how, see METHOD TWO at this link: SFC /SCANNOW : Run in Command Prompt at Boot

   Note

Using OPTION TWO below is recommended if able.

If you would like to get help with your SFC issue, then be sure to upload and attach your sfcdetails.txt file from OPTION THREE below in your post.

OPTION TWO

To Run the SFC /SCANNOW Command in Windows 7

1. Open an elevated command prompt or an elevated PowerShell, and do step 2 or 3 below for what type of scan you would like to run.


2. To Scan and Repair System Files
NOTE: Scans the integrity of all protected system files and repairs the system files if needed. Please see red WARNING box at the top of this tutorial.
A) In the elevated command prompt, type sfc /scannow, press Enter, and go to step 4 below. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: This may take a little bit to finish.


3. To Only Verify if the System Files are Corrupted
NOTE: Scans and only verifies the integrity of all proteced system files only. This command will not change your system files as in the red WARNING box at the top of this tutorial.
A) In the elevated command prompt, type sfc /verifyonly, press Enter, and go to step 4 below.
4. When the scan is complete, hopefully you will see all is ok like the screenshot below.

   Note

• If SFC could not fix something, then run the command again to see if it may be able to the next time. Sometimes it may take running the sfc /scannow command 3 or more times to completely fix everything that it's able to.
• If not, then download and run the 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) System Update Readiness Tool for your same installed 32-bit or 64-bit Windows 7, restart the PC afterwards, and try the sfc /scannow command again.
• If still not, then try using OPTION ONE above to run the sfc /scannow command at boot.
• If still not, then you can attempt to run a System Restore using a restore point dated before the bad file occured to fix it. You may need to repeat doing a System Restore until you find a older restore point that may work.
• If still not, then you can use the steps in the TIP box in the OPTION THREE section below to manually replace the files that SFC could not fix if there are not to many fix.
• If there are to many files to manually fix, or you prefer not to use OPTION THREE below, then you could do a repair install without losing anything.

If you would like to get help with your SFC issue, then be sure to upload and attach your sfcdetails.txt file from OPTION THREE below in your post.

5. When done, close the elevated command prompt.

OPTION THREE

How to See and Read Only the "SFC" Scan Results from the CBS.LOG

   Note

When SFC runs, it logs it's actions into the C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. The steps in this option will show you how to see only the specific SFC entries with the [SR] tags in this CBS.log. This can be helpful to show you what files SFC could not fix automatically if you wanted to try and manually replace them.

1. Open an "elevated command prompt" (right click -> Run as administrator).

2. In the elevated command prompt, copy and paste the command below, and press Enter. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: This will place a sfcdetails.txt file on your desktop with only the SFC scan result details from the CBS.LOG in it.

findstr /c:"[SR]" %windir%\Logs\CBS\CBS.log >"%userprofile%\Desktop\sfcdetails.txt"

3. Close the elevated command prompt.

4. Open the sfcdetails.txt file on your desktop to see the SFC scan details in the CBS.LOG.

5. You can safely delete the sfcdetails.txt file afterwards if you like.

   Tip

If you need to replace a corrupted system file that SFC cannot fix, then this will show you how to by extracting a new copy directly from your Windows 7 installation DVD.

Extract Files from Windows 7 Installation DVD

That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Run the System File Checker in a Command Prompt at Boot
• How to Do a System Restore in Windows 7
• How to Do a Repair Install to Fix Windows 7
• How to Run Disk Check in Windows 7
• How to See Windows 7 Reliability and Problem History with Reliability Monitor
• How to Extract Files from the Windows 7 Installation DVD
• How to Troubleshoot a Problem by Performing a Clean Startup in Windows 7 or Vista

 

[ozelot]

the first times i ran sfc it wasnt installed
than i downloaded and installed it, restartet and ran sfc again, and again....
the findstr command to create the desktop sfcdetails.txt didnt work for me
i got the msg that the file sfcdetails.txt could not be opened.
no file was created on desktop
so i tried to work around and read out the log file in an other way.
so i just copied the cbs.log on the desktop and suddenly i could open it

i just found another thread dealing with almost all the symptoms of my dvd-rom problem.

DvD drive (BD-ROM Drive (I) not reading disks

i will follow that lead and if it works i wont mind that sfc file report. maybe its some kind of false alert.
but i still wonder why im not able to create that sfcdetails.txt file....

 

[Brink]

From you log below, SFC says that it cannot repair the "PINTLGB.IMD" file of Microsoft-Windows-IME-Simplified-Chinese-Core. This would be for your Simplified Chinese language.

Are you having issues from this? If not, then I wouldn't worry about it.

CSI    00000320 [SR] Cannot repair member file [l:22{11}]"[B]PINTLGB.IMD[/B]" of Microsoft-Windows-IME-Simplified-Chinese-Core, Version = 6.1.7601.17514, pA = PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE_AMD64 (9), Culture neutral, VersionScope = 1 nonSxS, PublicKeyToken = {l:8 b:31bf3856ad364e35}, Type neutral, TypeName neutral, PublicKey neutral in the store, hash mismatch
 
CSI    00000322 [SR] Cannot repair member file [l:22{11}]"PINTLGB.IMD" of Microsoft-Windows-IME-Simplified-Chinese-Core, Version = 6.1.7601.17514, pA = PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE_AMD64 (9), Culture neutral, VersionScope = 1 nonSxS, PublicKeyToken = {l:8 b:31bf3856ad364e35}, Type neutral, TypeName neutral, PublicKey neutral in the store, hash mismatch
 
CSI    00000323 [SR] This component was referenced by [l:202{101}]"Microsoft-Windows-Foundation-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~6.1.7601.17514.WindowsFoundationDelivery"
 
CSI    00000326 [SR] Could not reproject corrupted file [ml:520{260},l:62{31}]"\??\[B]C:\Windows\IME\IMESC5\DICTS[/B]"\[l:22{11}]"[B]PINTLGB.IMD[/B]"; source file in store is also corrupted

 

[ozelot]

actualy im just fine without it
but thanks for your help and support.
so my system files are not the cause of my problems.
one loose end tied up.

 

[Brink]

Nar, that wouldn't cause the issue you are having with your BD-ROM. If you like, you might create a separate thread in the Hardware & Devices forum area to see if we may be able to help with it.

 

[ozelot]

Ok,
but first im going to check on the advice provided by this other thread i found here in the sevenforum.
the solution sounds promising. i "just" have to open up my laptop and check the cable connections of the ROM. If it doesnt work i will open a new thread.
Thanks for all the information provided! You saved my day!

 

[Brink]

You're welcome. I hope it's just a loose cable connection.

 

[Clovis5119]

Hi Brink,

You're impressively active on this thread! Hope you can help me

I'm trying to run the System File Checker but I am experiencing the following error:
"Windows Resource Protection could not start the repair service."

I have checked my Windows Modules Installer and it is enabled, but the SFC still does not run. Unfortunately, that's as far as my Googling skills take me. Any ideas?

Awaiting your response

 

[Brink]

Hello Clovis, and welcome to Seven Forums.

See if you may be able to manually "Start" the Windows Modules Installer service. If it does, then see if you are able to run the SFC scan.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[Clovis5119]

Hello Clovis, and welcome to Seven Forums.

See if you may be able to manually "Start" the Windows Modules Installer service. If it does, then see if you are able to run the SFC scan.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

I can indeed manually start the WMI and have checked that it is actually running when I attempt to run the SFC scan.

Unfortunately I still have the same error :huh:

 

[Brink]

In that case, you might see if you may be able to do the SFC scan at boot using OPTION ONE instead.

 

[Clovis5119]

So I've made an interesting discovery.

My keyboard is completely unresponsive in the Startup Options screen. I tried plugging it in different USB ports but to no avail. But it works fine otherwise.

This could be related to the previous BSOD errors I was having related to Hidclass.sys after running Driver Verifier, which - I think - means I'm having issues with USB drivers. But I have no idea how I would go about resolving that problem, as those seem strangely difficult to update/fix.

I know this is not on-topic with the thread, but do you have any recommendations for me?

 

[Brink]

Do you have an old PS/2 keyboard that you could use temporarily to see if you are able to run a SFC scan at boot with?

If not, then you could try doing a system restore (at boot if needed) using a restore point (if available) dated before this issue to see if it may help before having to move on to more drastic measures.

 

[djbillyd]

SFC /SCANNOW Command

This is an awesome thread! Man! Brink, I wanna be just like you when I grow up!!!:roflmao:

 

[Clovis5119]

Do you have an old PS/2 keyboard that you could use temporarily to see if you are able to run a SFC scan at boot with?

If not, then you could try doing a system restore (at boot if needed) using a restore point (if available) dated before this issue to see if it may help before having to move on to more drastic measures.

Hi Brink,

I was able to launch the command prompt at boot but the SFC scan still returned the same error.

I doubt a system restore will be of much use. I had been having regular BSOD issues (at a rate of about 1 per 2 days) since I built this PC. After figuring out how to read my minidump files, I found that almost all were being caused by my Network driver, which I have since updated, causing a drastic reduction in the rate of crashes.

The BSODs since always return one of the the following errors and usually occur during boot or very shortly after boot: PFN_LIST_CORRUPT, MEMORY_MANAGEMENT, DRIVER_IRQ_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL. I ran Memtest and the Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool but both came out clean. I also made sure that my RAM was receiving the proper voltage and that all of my drivers were up to date.

Yesterday I tried to run Driver Verifier but it caused the PC to crash upon each boot attempt until the OS automatically forced a system restore to two days prior. I found that the crashes were being caused by a Daemon Tools driver and removed the application.

I then tried to run Driver Verifier again. This time the computer could boot to the Desktop but would then crash within 5 seconds of doing so, reporting an DRIVER_VERIFIER_IOMANAGER_VIOLATION (Hidclass.sys) error.

And that's basically where I am right now.

 

[Brink]

Clovis,

You might consider doing a clean install to start fresh.

Otherwise, you might post in the BSOD Help and Support forum area to see if we may be able to help with that issue.

 

[Clovis5119]

Hi Brink,

I was able to run the System File Checker.

Once the process was completed, SFC reported there were some files it could not repair.

I followed the directions in Option Three to find the files the system could not repair, but sfcdetails.txt turned out empty. I've attached a copy of CBS.log to this post.

Thoughts?

 

[Brink]

Hello Clovis,

Did you run SFC at boot, in Safe Mode, or in Windows 7? If not in Windows 7, then you may not get a log file.

If you are still getting BSODs, then I would recommend to post a new thread BSOD Help and Support forum area to get that sorted first.

http://www.sevenforums.com/bsod-help-support/96879-blue-screen-death-bsod-posting-instructions.html

 

[Clovis5119]

Hello Clovis,

Did you run SFC at boot, in Safe Mode, or in Windows 7? If not in Windows 7, then you may not get a log file.

If you are still getting BSODs, then I would recommend to post a new thread BSOD Help and Support forum area to get that sorted first.

http://www.sevenforums.com/bsod-help-support/96879-blue-screen-death-bsod-posting-instructions.html

Ran it in Safe Mode.

 

[Brink]

Ah, that's why there's no log then.

 

[Joeaa]

Did a sfc /scannow . I got the file using copy cbs.log a.txt
Question: How can I read it. What tells me what was replaced.
or what was not replaced?

It said, it was successful
Joe