How to check and repair system files with SFC on Windows
To support me, you can subscribe to the channel, share and like the videos, disable your ad blocker or make a donation. Thank you!
Hello,
The SFC (System File Checker) tool is a system file checker.
It works on the command line and checks the integrity of system files
It ensures that no system files have been modified based on their digital signatures located in C:\Windows\System32\CatRoot\{F750E6C3-38EE-11D1-85E5-00C04FC295EE}
When to use SFC
When you:
- Have Windows errors or crashes
- Have unexpected behaviour (my last use case involved a laptop keyboard where some keys no longer worked, problem solved with SFC)
- Simply want to check the integrity of system files
Besides, Microsoft’s responses to Windows problems often include a system analysis with SFC.
SFC works on all versions of Windows clients (Windows XP, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10 and Windows 11) and Windows server (Windows server 2008, Windows server 2012, Windows server 2016, Windows server 2019, Windows server 2022).
SFC syntaxes and additional information
It is sufficient in a command prompt (cmd) or in PowerShell to execute the following command as administrator:
sfc /scannow
SFC instruments:
/verifyOnly: analyses the integrity of all system files (does not correct).
/scannow: analyses the integrity of all system files and repairs damaged files if possible.
/verifyFile: analyses a particular file (specify path).
/scanFile: scans and repairs a particular file (specify path).
Note: There are arguments for an offline mode that I won’t present here.
Examples:
sfc /verifyfile=c:\windows\system32\utilman.exe
sfc /scanfile=c:\windows\system32\utilman.exe
sfc /verifyonly
sfc /scannow
Once the analysis is complete a report is sent to c:\windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log.
It can be opened this way in a cmd or Powershell or Powershell:
notepad c:\windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log
If it finds corrupted items, but can’t repair them, then you’ll need to repair the component store which contains a backup of the healthy files in C:\Windows\WinSxS\Backup.
Video : How to check and repair system files with SFC on Windows
Related links
The difference between updates and upgrades
A video to explain the terms upgrade, update, quality update and functionality updateWindows - How to run a memory test to detect faulty RAM
Windows - How to run a memory test to detect faulty RAMFix an Active Directory sign-on approval relationship error
How to fix a sign-on approval relationship error in Active DirectoryHow to create a multiboot USB key with the Ventoy tool
It's useful to have a multiboot USB stick containing operating system images or troubleshooting tools that you can boot from if you need toHow to clean and repair the Windows Component Store
The c:\Windows\Installer folder contains installation files (in MicroSoft Installer, MSI, format) for software installed on your machine5 ways to achieve Windows recovery (WinRe) on Windows 10 and 1
5 ways to achieve Windows recovery (WinRe) on Windows 10 and 11
Follow me on
Support me
Last content
Powershell - Managing IP configuration of network interfaces
Powershell - Managing the status and configuration of network interfaces
Powershell and the Left Hand Side
Powershell - Managing disks, partitions and volumes
Powershell - Managing System Restore Points in Windows
Powershell - Playing with the Windows clipboard
Powershell - Changing the state of a computer (sleep, hibernate, shutdown, restart)
Powershell - Compress-Archive and Expand-Archive to create and extract ZIP archives
Powershell - Export-Csv versus Export-Clixml
Powershell - Overview of Where-Object basic syntax and its limitations