Sfc /scannow

[Roman King]

I would like to now under what situation I should use sfc/scannow.
When I had lots of problem with my computer, I could use sfc /scannow.
But I do not know what exactly sfc/ scannow does.
Please enlighten me. Thanks. Roman

 

[John John]

If you think system files have been overwritten or damaged or that they
may be mismatched running SFC could fix things.

Description of the Windows File Protection feature
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/222193

John

 

[Gerry]

Description of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 System
File Checker (Sfc.exe)
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;310747

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Roman King]

How can you tell system files were overwritten or corrupted?

Roman

 

[John John]

That is the $64,000 question! ;-)

If you get error messages telling you that dll's are missing you might
want to run the command. If you are having problems and if Windows or
Internet Explorer are not running properly you might want to run the
command.

John

 

[Frank Saunders MS-MVP IE,OE/WM]

I would like to now under what situation I should use sfc/scannow.
When I had lots of problem with my computer, I could use sfc /scannow.
But I do not know what exactly sfc/ scannow does.
Please enlighten me. Thanks. Roman

It isn't
sfc/scannow
it's
sfc /scannow
The difference is essential!

 

[Roman]

John,

You're absolutely right: $64K question.

Life is so much depending on computer, it is nice to know how to trouble
shoot when problem starts.
There are all sort of problems associated with computers.
The problem could be caused by software, hardware, or overwriting system
files.
To laymen, if we know the situation when we could fix certain problems
simply by running sfc/ scannow, that could save time and money before
bringing computers to shop.
That is my question.

Roman

 

[John John]

It's the kind of thing where you go through troubleshooting steps and as
you progress along if nothing seems to fix the problem you then move up
the scale of possible fixes. If you are at the point in the
troubleshooting and repair efforts where you think that you need to send
the machine to a repair shop then you could certainly try running SFC,
it won't hurt anything to try it! If running SFC doesn't fix things
then you have to move up the scale of fixes again, at that point maybe a
System Restore can fix things or maybe your options are getting scarce
and you may have to resort to a repair install. There is no cut and dry
answer to your question, all I can say is start with the obvious easy
suggested fixes to the problem at hand, if the easy fixes don't work
then try the more elaborate (or less palatable) fixes.

John

 

[Roman]

What you said here makes a lot sense.
How about check with repair?
What does that fix?

Roman

 

[Gerry]

Roman

Before you move on regarding System File Checker. A lot of problems
resolve down to problematic drivers or memory. Where this is the case
you often do not know which it is so you work through the easier
solutions. If your Window XP CD contains the SP2 update using System
File Checker is an easy task. It's not easy if your original Windows XP
CD is pre SP2 as you need a slipstreamed CD to run System File Checker.
A slipstreamed CD is a CD where the contents of the original XP CD and
the SP2 update have been merged.

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[John John]

Hi Gerry;

If you don't have a slipstreamed cd or if you don't have one at all (you
only have a service partition or a "restoration" cd) you can just change
the "SourcePath" in the registry and change the location of files so
that SFC will look in the i386 folder instead of the cd.

http://www.pchomecall.org.uk/support/sfc.htm

Regards;

John

 

[Gerry]

John

I take your point. Nevertheless just inserting a single CD is much
simpler than point it to a folder when the user may not be sure where it
is. The link you provided would appear to have been written before the
SP2 update. The path for the i386 folder on this machine is different
to that described in the Article. It is
C:\windows\ServicePackFiles\i386.

Thanks for reminding me of i386.


--
Regards.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Roman King]

John,

Since I did not have a slipstreamed SP2 CD, I did not try sfc /scannow when
I had problems with HDs two weeks ago.
Upon reading your post, I made a slipstreamed CD yesterday by following Paul
Thurrott's instruction.
I also created slipstreamed SP2 CD for my Dell computer (for home use).
Thanks again for the suggestion about slipstream.

Regards,

Roman

 

[John John]

You're welcome. It's a very good idea to have a CD with the same
Service Pack, if you ever need to do a repair install you will need it
anyway, so it's best to be prepared. One less hassle to deal with when
disaster strikes!

John

 

[Roman King]

John,
I have a related question for you.
A minor problem started when I started to make SlipStream SP2 disks

We have two Dell computers at home ( for my self and wife).
Mine is XP Pro SP1 and my wife, XP Pro SP1a.
While copying the XP Pro SP1 disk to a hard drive (at c:\xp\i386), one
file could not be read.
That was I386\LANG\SIMSUN.TT_ (5,321,389).
What I did was that I copied the same file from my Wife's XP SP1a disk and
pasted to c:\xp\i386. The file size was the same between two XP disks but
the date was different.
Then, SP2 was integrated without any hitch.

I wonder whether the replacement of the Simsun.tt_ from a different XP would
matter when I use the slipstreamed disk for sfc/ scannow or reinstalling
windows?
(I feel that the original XP SP1 probably cannot be used for installing
windows because of the corrupted file).

Regards,

Roman

 

[John John]

Generally, copying files from a different computer wouldn't make any
difference providing that it is the same Windows version and same
service pack level. I can't be 100% sure but I don't think that it will
make too much difference because when you slipstream SP2 the files in
the i386 folder will be replaced with the ones from the newer SP2, but I
don't know if that particular file will be replaced.

Being that both of the computers are Dell and if both cds are the same
Windows version (Home, Pro or MCE), if the cd from your pc is giving you
problems you can just create the new slipstreamed cd using the cd from
your wife's computer, the cd will work for both computers, if you need
to reinstall just don't use the same key for both computers. The
Product ID key is unique to each computer, the rest is the same and the
cds are identical providing that the Windows version is the same.

John

 

[Roman King]

Both CDs are the same WinXP Pro but the difference is SP1 (for my CD) vs.
SP1a (for my wife).

if you need to reinstall just don't use the same key for both computers.
The Product ID key is unique to each computer, the rest is the same and
the cds are identical providing that the Windows version is the same.

I have done reformatting and reinstalling XP a lot on my office computer
(this is not Dell) but not on Dell computers, because Dell computers have
been very stable and reliable. The last time I reinstalled XP Pro SP1 on my
Dell computer was about 2 or 3 years ago. So my memory is very fuzzy at
this moment on how I re-installed XP on Dell.

But I clearly recall that I once tried to install my wife's XP SPIa (because
hers is newer than mine) on my Dell computer but it refused to install. If
typing in Product ID key is required, I probably used my Dell's key not my
wife's Dell Key. That could be the problem.

BTW, does installing XP on "Dell" Computer requires typing in product key?
I don't remember.

Regards,

Roman

 

[John John]

BTW, does installing XP on "Dell" Computer requires typing in product key?
I don't remember.

I don't know, someone else may have the answer.

John

 

[John]

I don't know, someone else may have the answer.

John

I do.
And yes, when you install XP, you must provide a product key.

Why?

Because when you activate Windows, the activation process detects whether you have already
installed XP with that product key. If so, then it will say 'This product has already being
activated'. That is because it thinks that you are installing XP on another computer, which
of course, is illegal.

 

[John John]

I do.
And yes, when you install XP, you must provide a product key.

Why?

Because when you activate Windows, the activation process detects
whether you have already installed XP with that product key. If so, then
it will say 'This product has already being activated'. That is because
it thinks that you are installing XP on another computer, which of
course, is illegal.

With large OEM's and System Lock Preinstallation (SLP) activation is not
required, so I don't know if you are required to key in the Product ID
number if you install on Dells when you use a BIOS locked cd. If you
say yes then I trust you have experience with Dell systems concerning
this issue. I have some IBM Intellistations here and when I reinstall
the operating systems using the Service Partition or the IBM restore
disks, I do not need to enter the product ID numbers, nor do I need to
activate after installation. I haste to point however that the
installation does not use real OEM (Windows) cd, they use "Recovery
Disks" or the Service Partition.

John