SFC in XP Home asking for XP Pro CD

[Tis I]

This has got to be a bug in XP Home!
I've had a problem in a client's PC, where the C drive partition got
completely screwed up. Anyway, fixed that but in the event log there are
lots of System File Protection warnings.

So, at a command prompt running SFC /scannow a dialog appears asking for
the XP Pro CD.

Now just to confirm, I am definately using XP Home, and definately have the
XP Home CD in the drive. This PC has only ever had XP Home on it, and XP Pro
has never been anywhere near it (to my knowledge).

I have had a gander in the knowledgebase, but not seen anything that matches
this.

Should I risk putting the XP Pro CD in the drive?

 

[Tis I]

BTW this is Service Pack 2, and the CD is a SP2 OEM CD originally used to
install this system.

 

[Steve N.]

BTW this is Service Pack 2, and the CD is a SP2 OEM CD originally used to
install this system.

It's not peculiar to XP Home. Same trouble in XP Pro and Win2K for that
matter. It's not really a "bug" but SFC cannot be relied upon 100% to do
what it was intended to. You could copy the i386 folder from your CD to
the root of the hard drive and in the registry point the Setup
SourcePath to C:\

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup]
"SourcePath"="D:\"

SFC /Scannow would likely then procede without nagging you for a CD, but
might not replace system files anyway. That's been my experience.

Steve

 

[Tis I]

Ahhh right ... interesting.
That's seems to have done the job. Thanks.
I copied files to the D drive.... that reg key already set to D: as the CD
drive was D: when I set the PC up. Just copied the i386 folder and voila.

Thank you Steve.

(still having that CHKDSK problem though ;-) )

BTW this is Service Pack 2, and the CD is a SP2 OEM CD originally used to
install this system.

It's not peculiar to XP Home. Same trouble in XP Pro and Win2K for that
matter. It's not really a "bug" but SFC cannot be relied upon 100% to do
what it was intended to. You could copy the i386 folder from your CD to
the root of the hard drive and in the registry point the Setup SourcePath
to C:\

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup]
"SourcePath"="D:\"

SFC /Scannow would likely then procede without nagging you for a CD, but
might not replace system files anyway. That's been my experience.

Steve

 

[Tis I]

I'm curious about the System File Checker.

If it's comparing the files with the originals... if the system has had an
update, like Service Pack 2, or Windows updates etc, then the versions are
likely to be different. What happens then?

BTW this is Service Pack 2, and the CD is a SP2 OEM CD originally used to
install this system.

It's not peculiar to XP Home. Same trouble in XP Pro and Win2K for that
matter. It's not really a "bug" but SFC cannot be relied upon 100% to do
what it was intended to. You could copy the i386 folder from your CD to
the root of the hard drive and in the registry point the Setup SourcePath
to C:\

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup]
"SourcePath"="D:\"

SFC /Scannow would likely then procede without nagging you for a CD, but
might not replace system files anyway. That's been my experience.

Steve

 

[bumtracks]

You may be prompted to insert a Windows XP Professional CD when you run the
System File Checker tool in Windows XP Home Edition
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;897128

 

[Steve N.]

Ahhh right ... interesting.
That's seems to have done the job. Thanks.
I copied files to the D drive.... that reg key already set to D: as the CD
drive was D: when I set the PC up. Just copied the i386 folder and voila.

Thank you Steve.

You're welcome.

(still having that CHKDSK problem though ;-) )

Sorry, that was another thread, right?

Steve

Tis I wrote:

BTW this is Service Pack 2, and the CD is a SP2 OEM CD originally used to
install this system.




This has got to be a bug in XP Home!
I've had a problem in a client's PC, where the C drive partition got
completely screwed up. Anyway, fixed that but in the event log there are
lots of System File Protection warnings.

So, at a command prompt running SFC /scannow a dialog appears asking
for the XP Pro CD.

Now just to confirm, I am definately using XP Home, and definately have
the XP Home CD in the drive. This PC has only ever had XP Home on it, and
XP Pro has never been anywhere near it (to my knowledge).

I have had a gander in the knowledgebase, but not seen anything that
matches this.

Should I risk putting the XP Pro CD in the drive?

It's not peculiar to XP Home. Same trouble in XP Pro and Win2K for that
matter. It's not really a "bug" but SFC cannot be relied upon 100% to do
what it was intended to. You could copy the i386 folder from your CD to
the root of the hard drive and in the registry point the Setup SourcePath
to C:\

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup]
"SourcePath"="D:\"

SFC /Scannow would likely then procede without nagging you for a CD, but
might not replace system files anyway. That's been my experience.

Steve

 

[Steve N.]

I'm curious about the System File Checker.

If it's comparing the files with the originals... if the system has had an
update, like Service Pack 2, or Windows updates etc, then the versions are
likely to be different. What happens then?

Files are updated in the dllcache, where Windows File Protection looks
first. WFP is ovbiously imperfect (no software is perfect), which is why
you got prompted for the CD; WFP is _supposed_ to keep current protected
files in the dllcache, when it can't find one there it looks to the
Setup SourcePath.

For more information about WFP and SFC read this article:

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/winlogo/drvsign/wfp.mspx

Steve

Tis I wrote:

BTW this is Service Pack 2, and the CD is a SP2 OEM CD originally used to
install this system.




This has got to be a bug in XP Home!
I've had a problem in a client's PC, where the C drive partition got
completely screwed up. Anyway, fixed that but in the event log there are
lots of System File Protection warnings.

So, at a command prompt running SFC /scannow a dialog appears asking
for the XP Pro CD.

Now just to confirm, I am definately using XP Home, and definately have
the XP Home CD in the drive. This PC has only ever had XP Home on it, and
XP Pro has never been anywhere near it (to my knowledge).

I have had a gander in the knowledgebase, but not seen anything that
matches this.

Should I risk putting the XP Pro CD in the drive?

It's not peculiar to XP Home. Same trouble in XP Pro and Win2K for that
matter. It's not really a "bug" but SFC cannot be relied upon 100% to do
what it was intended to. You could copy the i386 folder from your CD to
the root of the hard drive and in the registry point the Setup SourcePath
to C:\

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup]
"SourcePath"="D:\"

SFC /Scannow would likely then procede without nagging you for a CD, but
might not replace system files anyway. That's been my experience.

Steve

 

[Tis I]

LOL! nice one.

Thanks 'bumtracks'.

 

[Tis I]

Sorry, that was another thread, right?

Yea, it seemed to get lost in the millions of other posts.... oh well.

I'll live.

Time for a new faster hard disk ;-)

 

[Tis I]

Will have a read of that tomorrow... thanks again.

I'm curious about the System File Checker.

If it's comparing the files with the originals... if the system has had
an update, like Service Pack 2, or Windows updates etc, then the versions
are likely to be different. What happens then?

Files are updated in the dllcache, where Windows File Protection looks
first. WFP is ovbiously imperfect (no software is perfect), which is why
you got prompted for the CD; WFP is _supposed_ to keep current protected
files in the dllcache, when it can't find one there it looks to the Setup
SourcePath.

For more information about WFP and SFC read this article:

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/winlogo/drvsign/wfp.mspx

Steve

Tis I wrote:


BTW this is Service Pack 2, and the CD is a SP2 OEM CD originally used
to install this system.




This has got to be a bug in XP Home!
I've had a problem in a client's PC, where the C drive partition got
completely screwed up. Anyway, fixed that but in the event log there
are lots of System File Protection warnings.

So, at a command prompt running SFC /scannow a dialog appears
asking for the XP Pro CD.

Now just to confirm, I am definately using XP Home, and definately have
the XP Home CD in the drive. This PC has only ever had XP Home on it,
and XP Pro has never been anywhere near it (to my knowledge).

I have had a gander in the knowledgebase, but not seen anything that
matches this.

Should I risk putting the XP Pro CD in the drive?


It's not peculiar to XP Home. Same trouble in XP Pro and Win2K for that
matter. It's not really a "bug" but SFC cannot be relied upon 100% to do
what it was intended to. You could copy the i386 folder from your CD to
the root of the hard drive and in the registry point the Setup SourcePath
to C:\

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup]
"SourcePath"="D:\"

SFC /Scannow would likely then procede without nagging you for a CD, but
might not replace system files anyway. That's been my experience.

Steve

 

[cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)]

SFC cannot be relied upon 100% to do what it was intended to.

On that: Is SFC smart enough to check monitored files that ChkDsk or
AutoChk "fixes" (crosslinks, truncation "repair")?

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Gone to bloggery: http://cquirke.blogspot.com

 

[Steve N.]

On that: Is SFC smart enough to check monitored files that ChkDsk or
AutoChk "fixes" (crosslinks, truncation "repair")?

Good question.

I'm not sure but I don't think it does, WFP and SFC only appear to
monitor for file replacement according to the MS articles I've read.
Here's one:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/d...s/wfp/setup/about_windows_file_protection.asp

There is no mention of monitoring for file corruption, although in the
Win98 version of SFC it does claim to check for missing or corrupted
system files in addition to file replacement.

If it was really protecting important system files I think it ought to
include monitoring ntdetect.com and ntldr too, but it doesn't, it only
monitors files based on extention that are present in a protected directory.

Sadly, WFP and SFC seem to have paled in comparison to Win98 versions
much the same as CHKDSK/AUTOCHK have with regard to Scandisk.

Steve

 

[cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)]

Good question.

I'm not sure but I don't think it does, WFP and SFC only appear to
monitor for file replacement according to the MS articles I've read.

That's my take, too. It's somethingto be wished, though.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/d...s/wfp/setup/about_windows_file_protection.asp

That looks pre-XP, i.e. similar territory as...

http://cquirke.mvps.org/9x/sr-sfp.htm

....which covers srsfp.sfp and FILELIST.XML that AFAIK are common to
both SR and SFP in WinME. What are the equivalents in XP?

There is no mention of monitoring for file corruption, although in the
Win98 version of SFC it does claim to check for missing or corrupted
system files in addition to file replacement.

I'd want to know more about that - MD5, perhaps?

If it was really protecting important system files I think it ought to
include monitoring ntdetect.com and ntldr too, but it doesn't, it only
monitors files based on extention that are present in a protected directory.

Yep. There's a case to be made for protecting Boot.ini too.

Sadly, WFP and SFC seem to have paled in comparison to Win98 versions
much the same as CHKDSK/AUTOCHK have with regard to Scandisk.

SFP is most aggressive in WinME, where it does real-time replacement
on change, for a wide range of files; I think XP matches that. Win95
original would replace a few key files if detected changed at startup
(mainly a matter of defending Winsock against Win3.yuk-era
proprietaryware) and Win98 added the manual SFC.

I've had little hands-on with this stuff other than defeating it in
WinME so that certain unwanted system files could be renamed away, as
risk management (SHSCrap.dll, WScript.exe, CScript.exe, MSHTA.exe)

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Gone to bloggery: http://cquirke.blogspot.com