24/4/2018 Use the System File Checker tool to repair missing or corrupted system files

Use the System File Checker tool to repair

missing or corrupted system files
Applies to: Windows 8.1, Windows 8.1 Enterprise, Windows 8.1 Pro, More

System File Checker is a utility in Windows that allows users to scan for
corruptions in Windows system files and restore corrupted files. This article
describes how to run the System File Checker tool (SFC.exe) to scan your
system files and to repair missing or corrupted system files. If a Windows
Resource Protection (WRP) file is missing or is corrupted, Windows may not
behave as expected. For example, some Windows functions may not work,
or Windows may crash.

Run the System File Checker tool (SFC.exe)

To do this, follow these steps:

1. Open an elevated command prompt. To do this, do the following as
your appropriate:
Hide All

 Windows 8.1 or Windows 8

 Windows 10, Windows 7, or Windows Vista
 

To do this, click Start, type Command Prompt or cmd in the

Search box, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as
administrator. If you are prompted for an administrator
password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click Allow.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/929833/use-the-system-file-checker-tool-to-repair-missing-or-corrupted-system 1/6
24/4/2018 Use the System File Checker tool to repair missing or corrupted system files

2. If you are running Windows 10, Windows 8.1 or Windows 8,

first run the inbox Deployment Image Servicing and
Management (DISM) tool prior to running the System File
Checker.  (If you are running Windows 7 or Windows Vista, skip
to Step 3.) 

Type the following command, and then press Enter.  It may take
several minutes for the command operation to be completed.

DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth

Important: When you run this command, DISM uses Windows
Update to provide the files that are required to fix corruptions.
However, if your Windows Update client is already broken, use
a running Windows installation as the repair source, or use a
Windows side-by-side folder from a network share or from a
removable media, such as the Windows DVD, as the source of
the files. To do this, run the following command instead:

DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

/Source:C:\RepairSource\Windows /LimitAccess
Note: Replace the C:\RepairSource\Windows placeholder
with the location of your repair source. For more information
about using the DISM tool to repair Windows, reference Repair
a Windows Image.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/929833/use-the-system-file-checker-tool-to-repair-missing-or-corrupted-system 2/6
24/4/2018 Use the System File Checker tool to repair missing or corrupted system files

3. At the command prompt, type the following command, and

then press ENTER:

sfc /scannow

 
 
The sfc /scannow command will scan all protected system files, and
replace corrupted files with a cached copy that is located in a
compressed folder at %WinDir%\System32\dllcache.
The %WinDir% placeholder represents the Windows operating
system folder. For example, C:\Windows.

Note Do not close this Command Prompt window until the

verification is 100% complete. The scan results will be shown after this
process is finished.

4. After the process is finished, you may receive one of the

following messages:

Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity

violations.

This means that you do not have any missing or

corrupted system files.

Windows Resource Protection could not perform the

requested operation.

To resolve this problem, perform the System File

Checker scan in safe mode, and make sure that the
PendingDeletes and PendingRenames folders exist
under %WinDir%\WinSxS\Temp.

Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files and

successfully repaired them. Details are included in the
CBS.Log %WinDir%\Logs\CBS\CBS.log.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/929833/use-the-system-file-checker-tool-to-repair-missing-or-corrupted-system 3/6
24/4/2018 Use the System File Checker tool to repair missing or corrupted system files

To view the detail information about the system file

scan and restoration, go to How to view details of the
System File Checker process.

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.

To repair the corrupted files manually, view details of

the System File Checker process to find the corrupted
file, and then manually replace the corrupted file with a
known good copy of the file.

More Information

How to view details of the System File Checker process

To view the details that included in the CBS.Log file, you can copy the
information to the Sfcdetails.txt file by using the Findstr command, and
then view the details in the Sfcdetails.txt. To do this, follow these steps:
1. Open an elevated command prompt as described in the previous
step 1.

2. At the command prompt, type the following command, and then

press ENTER:

findstr /c:"[SR]" %windir%\Logs\CBS\CBS.log >"%userp

Note The Sfcdetails.txt file contains details from every time that the
System File Checker tool has been run on the computer. The file
includes information about files that were not repaired by the System
File Checker tool. Verify the date and time entries to determine the
problem files that were found the last time that you ran the System
File Checker tool.

3. Open the Sfcdetails.txt file from your desktop.

4. The Sfcdetails.txt file uses the following format:

Date/Time SFC detail
The following sample log file contains an entry for a file that could
not be repaired:

2007-01-12 12:10:42, Info CSI 000000

repair member file [l:34{17}]"Accessibility.dll" of Acce
6.0.6000.16386, pA = PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE_MSIL (8), Cu
https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/929833/use-the-system-file-checker-tool-to-repair-missing-or-corrupted-system 4/6
24/4/2018 Use the System File Checker tool to repair missing or corrupted system files

VersionScope neutral, PublicKeyToken = {l:8 b:b03f5f7f11

neutral, TypeName neutral, PublicKey neutral in the stor

How to manually replace a corrupted system file with a

known good copy of the file

After you determine which system file was corrupted and could not be
repaired through the detail information in the Sfcdetails.txt file, find where
the corrupted file located, and then manually replace the corrupted file with
a known good copy of the file. To do this, follow these steps:

Note You may be able to get a known good copy of the system file from
another computer that is running the same version of Windows with your
computer. You may perform a System File Checker process on that
computer to make sure the system file that you intend to copy is a good
copy.

1. Take administrative ownership of the corrupted system file. To do

this, at an elevated command prompt, copy and then paste (or type)
the following command, and then press ENTER:
takeown /f Path_And_File_Name
Note The Path_And_File_Name placeholder represents the path and
the file name of the corrupted file. For example, type takeown /f
C:\windows\system32\jscript.dll. 

2. Grant administrators full access to the corrupted system file. To do

this, copy and paste (or type) the following command, and then press
ENTER:
icacls Path_And_File_Name /GRANT ADMINISTRATORS:F
Note The Path_And_File_Name placeholder represents the path and
the file name of the corrupted file. For example, type icacls
C:\windows\system32\jscript.dll /grant administrators:F.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/929833/use-the-system-file-checker-tool-to-repair-missing-or-corrupted-system 5/6
24/4/2018 Use the System File Checker tool to repair missing or corrupted system files

3. Replace the corrupted system file with a known good copy of the file.
To do this, copy and paste (or type) the following command, and
then press ENTER:
Copy Source_File Destination
Note The Source_File placeholder represents the path and file name
of the known good copy of the file on your computer, and the
Destination placeholder represents the path and file name of the
corrupted file. For example, type copy E:\temp\jscript.dll
C:\windows\system32\jscript.dll.

Last Updated: 21 Sep 2017

https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/929833/use-the-system-file-checker-tool-to-repair-missing-or-corrupted-system 6/6