What's wrong with my Windows?

[anion]

I don't know exactly what's the main problem but here are the symptoms:

Windows Update is a mess. It usually gets stuck with checking if there are updates. And if it does detect that there are available updates, the downloading takes forever. My theory is that way back in 2015 (my laptop was only months old back then), when I was trying to avail the free Windows 10 update - which I failed to get - I messed up somewhere during the whole process.

And then sfc /scannow just gives me this:

I used this guide to try to fix that but:
1) I can't boot into safe mode. I didn't try that solution anymore because I know my laptop would just go into a bootloop. Last time I attempted to boot to safe mode, I had to use a bootable media thing using a USB flash drive.
2) DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth gives me this:

Since, DISM was giving me that error, I tried to use /Sources but:

I just have a Windows 8.1 Single Lanuage edition so there's now way I was wrong with the ISO file I downloaded. So, I did another search on how to fix that and this time, I used this guide.

On step 3 where I had to use DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup, it said the process was successful.

But on step 4, my understanding is that if you use this DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /AnalyzeComponentStore, then
the result shouldn't be recommending me to do a component store cleanup since I already did that on step 3

I was confused so I did another /StartComponentCleanup but the /AnalyzeComponentStore was still giving me the same results.

So, what do I do now guys? Please advice.

Edit:
I think I posted this in the wrong forum. It should be on the General Support. How do you move a post?

Edit:
Is it safe to try this: ? How To Repair Windows 8.1 Installation (The Easy Way) Given the condition of my current Windows install, if try that, would it break my computer?

 

[Bree]

....on step 4, my understanding is that if you use this DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /AnalyzeComponentStore, then the result shouldn't be recommending me to do a component store cleanup...

Regardless of whether it now says a clean up is recommended, your DISM RestoreHealth command said it had successfully repaired the component store.

That means that you should now be able to restart the PC and run SFC /ScanNow to repair what it could not repair the first time.

 

[Slavic]

That's right, sfc /scannow should fix (or at least try to fix) your problem. On the other side, what is wrong with your Windows 8.1 SL ISO? It's possible to download the appropriate version using the Windows ISO Downloader, select a version and language, then you can create a bootable flash drive and use it to re-install OS with keeping all current settings, if all other attempts to restore were unsuccessful. And even without such solution, a bootable drive with your OS version can be useful in many other ways.

 

[anion]

@Bree

Upon booting up my laptop today, I tried sfc /scannow and it worked I think.

But after that I tried /ScanHealth again and it said that the component store is repairable. I wasn't able to take a screenshot, sorry. So I tried /RestoreHealth both with and without /Source and they're still giving me the same errors found on my original post.

 

[anion]

That's right, sfc /scannow should fix (or at least try to fix) your problem. On the other side, what is wrong with your Windows 8.1 SL ISO? It's possible to download the appropriate version using the Windows ISO Downloader, select a version and language, then you can create a bootable flash drive and use it to re-install OS with keeping all current settings, if all other attempts to restore were unsuccessful. And even without such solution, a bootable drive with your OS version can be useful in many other ways.

I think the ISO I have right now is fine because I was able to use it to go out of the bootloop incident I mentioned in the OP. With that said, are you saying I should do this? How To Repair Windows 8.1 Installation (The Easy Way) Is re-installation and repairing the same?

 

[anion]

@Slavic Does the language of my original Windows installation matter? Maybe that's what's wrong with the ISO I downloaded? I'm not sure what the original language was. There are currently 3 languages on my laptop.

 

[Slavic]

About language: it would be better to use the same version as your installed language, otherwise you may get a mix of the files from different OS editions and a problem with scannow command. The main language is easy to see in the properties of explorer.exe file (Details tab, Language). If you doubt that it might be not the same as your original OS, look at the properties of other system files, like winver.exe. If you decide to repair your system, use the proper ISO; but if you completely reinstall OS, it's possible to use another language version because the keys and activation are language-independent. You always can add (or remove) additional language packs. Apparently your OS language is English (US), but need to check this.

And yes, you should try to do the less serious repairs whenever possible. Dism and SFC are the first choice, then the system repair (it's also called refresh) and finally, if nothing else helped, the re-installation. Again, the best option is the re-installation with keeping all settings and user files, while installation anew is an ultimate solution. Before any such action, don't forget to make a full system backup on the external drive and create a restoration media like a USB bootable drive with restoration program.

 

[anion]

About language: it would be better to use the same version as your installed language, otherwise you may get a mix of the files from different OS editions and a problem with scannow command. The main language is easy to see in the properties of explorer.exe file (Details tab, Language). If you doubt that it might be not the same as your original OS, look at the properties of other system files, like winver.exe. If you decide to repair your system, use the proper ISO; but if you completely reinstall OS, it's possible to use another language version because the keys and activation are language-independent. You always can add (or remove) additional language packs. Apparently your OS language is English (US), but need to check this.

And yes, you should try to do the less serious repairs whenever possible. Dism and SFC are the first choice, then the system repair (it's also called refresh) and finally, if nothing else helped, the re-installation. Again, the best option is the re-installation with keeping all settings and user files, while installation anew is an ultimate solution. Before any such action, don't forget to make a full system backup on the external drive and create a restoration media like a USB bootable drive with restoration program.

I just checked and you're right. It's English (US).

My concern is that since my Windows seemed to be corrupt because of all the various issues I've mentioned, is doing a repair as explained here How To Repair Windows 8.1 Installation (The Easy Way) will make my laptop worse? Because I assume there will be conflicts with the files. Or is that not how it works? Will the files from the ISO file overwrite those in my current installation?

 

[Slavic]

The serious disadvantage of repair or re-install from original ISO is that your system returns to the times of OS release, so you should apply all the patches again using Windows Update. It's quite long operation and sometimes requires several restarts. It can be avoided if you will be able to download the updates during the installation, but it's not always possible. Also some of your applications may stop to work and require re-installation and patching as well. On the other side, it's the best solution if the damage of OS is severe. Try to use SFC until you restore the normal functionality. If it doesn't work, try to repair the OS. It can also help if your OS is "poisoned" with remains of non-working or badly uninstalled programs or old Windows 10 components.

BTW, there is a good tutorial on this forum with long discussion after: Repair Install Windows 8.

Before making a full reinstallation, consider a way I mentioned above: create a full system backup (at least a backup of system partition), for example, with Macrium Reflect, and then re-install OS from ISO, apply all updates. You will see, whether the problems disappear or not, if they are due to bad drivers or damaged hardware components (quite unlikely, but possible). If you see that all is OK, install your usual programs and copy user files from the backup archive. Otherwise you can restore OS as before.

 

[anion]

The serious disadvantage of repair or re-install from original ISO is that your system returns to the times of OS release, so you should apply all the patches again using Windows Update. It's quite long operation and sometimes requires several restarts. It can be avoided if you will be able to download the updates during the installation, but it's not always possible. Also some of your applications may stop to work and require re-installation and patching as well. On the other side, it's the best solution if the damage of OS is severe. Try to use SFC until you restore the normal functionality. If it doesn't work, try to repair the OS. It can also help if your OS is "poisoned" with remains of non-working or badly uninstalled programs or old Windows 10 components.

BTW, there is a good tutorial on this forum with long discussion after: Repair Install Windows 8.

Before making a full reinstallation, consider a way I mentioned above: create a full system backup (at least a backup of system partition), for example, with Macrium Reflect, and then re-install OS from ISO, apply all updates. You will see, whether the problems disappear or not, if they are due to bad drivers or damaged hardware components (quite unlikely, but possible). If you see that all is OK, install your usual programs and copy user files from the backup archive. Otherwise you can restore OS as before.

It seems to be a lot of work lol. What's the worst thing that could happen if I don't fix those issues? I feel like I've had them since 2015 but only noticed them recently because I was tinkering with the sfc /scannow command.