SFC /SCANNOW Command - Run in Windows 8

How to Run "SFC /SCANNOW" Command at Boot or in Windows 8 and 8.1​

   Information

The SFC command scans the integrity of all protected system files and replaces incorrect versions with correct Microsoft versions.

This tutorial will show you how to run the sfc /scannow command at boot or in Windows 8 to attempt to repair corrupted or modified system files.

   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/tap on Start, and set to Manual.

Services - Start, Stop, and Disable in Windows 8

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

If SFC is unable to repair corrupted system files because the store (source) is corrupted, then you could run the Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth command to fix Windows component store corruption, then afterwards try running the SFC scan again.

   Warning

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.

CONTENTS:

• Option One: To Run SFC /SCANNOW Command at Boot
• Option Two: To Run SFC /SCANNOW Command in Windows 8
• Option Three: How to View Only the "SFC" Scan Results from the CBS.LOG

OPTION ONE

To Run SFC /SCANNOW Command at Boot

1. Open a command prompt at boot.

2. In the command prompt, type diskpart and press Enter, then type list volume and press Enter. (see screenshot below)



3. Make note of the drive letters for your boot drive (ex: 350MB "System Reserved" partition) and Windows 8 drive, then type Exit and press Enter. (see screenshot above)
NOTE: If you do not have a "System Reserved" partition, and are not multi-booting with another operating system, then the boot drive and Windows 8 drive may be the same drive letter.

4. In the command prompt, type the command below and press Enter. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: You will see a blinking cursor at the prompt until finished. This will take a while to finish running though.


sfc /scannow /offbootdir=C:\ /offwindir=D:\windows

   Note

You will need to substitute the drive letter of the partition/volume where your system boot files are stored in the offbootdir=C: part of the command above instead.[

You will need to substitute the drive letter of your Windows 8 partition/volume in the offwindir=D: part of the command above instead.

5. When the scan is complete, hopefully you will see an all is ok message like below.




6. Close the command prompt, and restart the computer to start Windows 8.

   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 times restarting the PC after each time to completely fix everything that it's able to.

If not, then run the Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth command to repair any component store corruption, restart the PC afterwards, and try the sfc /scannow command again.

If still not, then you could do a refresh of Windows 8, or run a System Restore using a restore point dated before the bad system file occured to fix it. You may need to repeat doing a System Restore until you find a older restore point that may work.

When running SFC offline (at boot), SFC logging in the CBS.log file is not supported to be able to create a sfcdetails.txt file in OPTION THREE below.

OPTION TWO

To Run SFC /SCANNOW Command in Windows 8

1. Open an elevated command prompt or elevated PowerShell.

2. In the elevated command prompt or PowerShell, type sfc /scannow and press Enter. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: This may take a while to finish running.



3. When the scan is complete, hopefully you will see an all is ok message like the bottom screenshot below.
NOTE: Luckily SFC was able to repair my corrupted system files automatically.

   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 times restarting the PC after each time to completely fix everything that it's able to.

If not, then run the Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth command to repair any component store corruption, 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 could do a refresh of Windows 8, or 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 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 THREE

How to View 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.

When running SFC offline (at boot) in OPTION ONE, SFC logging in the CBS.log file is not supported to be able to create a sfcdetails.txt file.

1. Open an elevated command prompt or elevated PowerShell.


2. In the elevated command prompt or PowerShell, copy and paste the command below and press Enter.
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. When finished, 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:

If you have to many files that are corrupted, then run the Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth command to repair any component store corruption, restart the PC afterwards, and try the sfc /scannow command again.

If you only have a few, then you could manually extract a new copy directly from your Windows 8 installation DVD or USB thumb drive, or ISO file if in a virtual machine.

Extract Files from Windows 7 Installation DVD

That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Refresh Windows 8 and 8.1
• How to Reset Windows 8 and 8.1
• How to Use DISM to Fix Component Store Corruption in Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012

 

[f14tomcat]

oh well thanks for your help guys

at least the ones on c:\windows\fonts\ are good, checked the SHA-1 was correct with the ones i extracted the files from the install.wim with 7-zip

problem is this 0 byte ones, no point replacing them since they are like compressed, or maybe i'll try the ones from another pc.

setup.exe had http://i.hizliresim.com/P5jVk7.png

Here's the fonts from my box, if you want them.....View attachment 59862

I had trouble getting that attached. Hope it went through!

 

[webtax]

oh, those are the regular ones, i'm looking for the ones from winsxs (my folder is named C:\Windows\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft-windows-f..pe-palatinolinotype_31bf3856ad364e35_6.3.9600.16384_none_40623d4fcf72ad3d ), they weight a little less, they are probably a compressed version

 

[webtax]

lo and behold, manually putting the files there worked (had to edit permissions of the folders to be able to)

thanks for your help guys

 

[mcmjuly]

I think I need help

Hello Shawn and Thank you for these great tutorials. This is my first time asking for help, although I use your tuts all the time. I don't understand why I can't get the Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth command to work for me (I've used it before o.k. I'm trying to get things straight before Windows 10). I also can't run the sfc /scannow at boot. I'm not sure which volumes to use? I've attached the sfcdetails.txt and a screenshot of my diskpart volumes. Do you think you could help me? Thank you in advance.

View attachment sfcdetails.txt

 

[Brink]

Hello mcmjuly, and welcome to Eight Forums.

From your sfcdetails.txt file, it appears that the issue is with files from the KB3068708 update. You might see if uninstalling and reinstalling the update may repair theses files.

Windows Update - Uninstall an Update - Windows 7 Help Forums

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/25343-windows-update-check-install-windows-8-a.html

 

[mcmjuly]

Thank you so much for your help. Appreciate it. I'll try doing what you suggest. You are very smart.

 

[mcmjuly]

Well, I uninstalled and reinstalled still getting the same "corrupt files" message when running sfc /scannow. Did some looking around and found out that KB3068708 is an optional update, that basically tracks everything you do on your pc. Microsoft says in this article that this update will indeed cause sfc to throw a "corrupt files" message, when there is actually no file corruption at all....a false positive? https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3068708 I uninstalled and ran sfc again, still got corrupt file issues....however, you will see in the link provided KB3022345 is pretty much the same thing as KB3068708. The later was created to replace the former. I think I might try uninstalling the KB3022345 and see if it removes the error....or maybe I'll just not worry about it. What do you think?


Well, I guess the above info is correct. When I uninstalled both updates (which are both optional updates): I got a clean bill of health in /scannow:

 

[Brink]

 

[theoldfarter]

@mcmjuly.Thanks for letting us know the fix. I am also getting ready for Windows 10. Your link is dead. Here it is: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3068708

 

[Austinomical]

It does not work for me. Says windows resource protection could not start the repair service. I have tried everything to fix it, including the enable trustedinstaller and all that. I can not get it to run.

 

[Brink]

Hello Austinomical, and welcome to Eight Forums.

See if setting the service to "Automatic" and restarting the computer may get it to run.

Are you getting an error when trying to start the service?

 

[Austinomical]

So I got it to work, what you said helped. But now after it has finished scanning it says: Windows resource protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them. Details are included in the CBS.Log windir\Logs\CBS\CBS.log.

 

[Brink]

Good news so far. You can now go through the items listed in the note box at the bottom of OPTION TWO to see if it may help SFC repair the files afterwards.

 

[Kemals]

SFC could not fix somethings, i ran it 5 times. I did run DISM RestoreHealth which did fix somethings but SFC still says there are corrupt files. I'm uploading my sfcdetails and hopping someone will help.

View attachment sfcdetails.txt

 

[Brink]

Hello Kemals, and welcome to Eight Forums.

It looks like you have the same related issue that below should solve.

The Tech Cookbook – Windows 7 update (KB3022345) causing corrupt files

 

[Kemals]

Hello brinks and thanks for the welcome.

I did the fix on the link you posted but the corruption is still there. I have attached my latest sfcdetails.

View attachment sfcdetails.txt

 

[Brink]

Since the files SFC falsely reports as mismatch belong to the KB3068708 update, uninstalling and reinstalling the KB3068708 update may hopefully repair them.

Windows Update - Uninstall an Update - Windows 7 Help Forums

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3068708

 

[Kemals]

That didn't help either.

 

[Brink]

Since it's a false report as being corrupted with a mismatch, it would be safe to leave it as is if you are not having any issues from it. Otherwise, you could leave the update uninstalled, and hide it to prevent it from being available again.

 

[Kemals]

I'm having another problem with the computer so i thought this was the cause.