SFC not working

[Terry Pinnell]

I've successfully used sfc /scannow may times in the past, including
on this XP Pro (SP2) PC. But this time something very odd is
happening. After progressing for a few minutes I'm asked to insert the
CD. But then I get a message telling me it's the wrong one! I tried a
backup I have with same result. This is an OEM 'Recovery' CD (from
MESH UK), but as I say I've done this OK before. And the same was the
case on my previous PC, on which I ran SFC many times over several
years.

As a related question, I'm not clear why it needs the CD at all, as I
have copied all the entire folder to C:\I386. Why isn't SCF reading
the files from there please?

 

[Paul]

I've successfully used sfc /scannow may times in the past, including
on this XP Pro (SP2) PC. But this time something very odd is
happening. After progressing for a few minutes I'm asked to insert the
CD. But then I get a message telling me it's the wrong one! I tried a
backup I have with same result. This is an OEM 'Recovery' CD (from
MESH UK), but as I say I've done this OK before. And the same was the
case on my previous PC, on which I ran SFC many times over several
years.

As a related question, I'm not clear why it needs the CD at all, as I
have copied all the entire folder to C:\I386. Why isn't SCF reading
the files from there please?

I managed to get it to run on mine, just yesterday. This is what Windows
was set to by default.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup

ServicePackSourcePath E:
SourcePath E:

I changed the drive letter, to point to the hard drive that had the
i386 folder, and then it worked. (I changed it back to E: when
it was finished.)

Something strange I noticed, about the whole lengthy procedure,
is I ran the Performance plugin, and plotted disk byte writes
per second, and disk byte reads per second. The two plots were
almost identical, which implies the "sfc" thing just copies
the files ? I don't know what that means. I thought this was
supposed to be a check, in which case only the disk byte reads
graph should show activity.

Paul

 

[Terry Pinnell]

I managed to get it to run on mine, just yesterday. This is what Windows
was set to by default.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup

ServicePackSourcePath E:
SourcePath E:

I changed the drive letter, to point to the hard drive that had the
i386 folder, and then it worked. (I changed it back to E: when
it was finished.)

Something strange I noticed, about the whole lengthy procedure,
is I ran the Performance plugin, and plotted disk byte writes
per second, and disk byte reads per second. The two plots were
almost identical, which implies the "sfc" thing just copies
the files ? I don't know what that means. I thought this was
supposed to be a check, in which case only the disk byte reads
graph should show activity.

Paul

Thanks Paul, appreciate your help. Just before seeing your post I
found these two entries.

Key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup
Values:
C:\I386
C:\PROGRAM FILES\MOVIE MAKER
C:\DOCS\DOWNLOADS\03.04.2008_IIYAMA_DRIVERS\IIYAMA DRIVERS\LCD
MONITOR\PROLITE E2403WS\PLE2403WS
D:\

(D is my CD drive.)

Key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion
Value:
C:\I386

I'm puzzled by some of the entries in that first one (particularly
MovieMaker - what does that have to do with Windows installation
files?)

But C:\I386 is in both, so I'd have expected that to run OK ;-(

Does yours ask for the CD at all?

I'm stumped and I'm about to give up for tonight...


14 June 2009, 19:28 UK time

 

[Paul]

Thanks Paul, appreciate your help. Just before seeing your post I
found these two entries.

Key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup
Values:
C:\I386
C:\PROGRAM FILES\MOVIE MAKER
C:\DOCS\DOWNLOADS\03.04.2008_IIYAMA_DRIVERS\IIYAMA DRIVERS\LCD
MONITOR\PROLITE E2403WS\PLE2403WS
D:\

(D is my CD drive.)

Key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion
Value:
C:\I386

I'm puzzled by some of the entries in that first one (particularly
MovieMaker - what does that have to do with Windows installation
files?)

But C:\I386 is in both, so I'd have expected that to run OK ;-(

Does yours ask for the CD at all?

I'm stumped and I'm about to give up for tonight...


14 June 2009, 19:28 UK time

I think you'd want to look at the

ServicePackSourcePath
SourcePath

entries, which you can see when you click the Setup key.
That is what worked for me. Apparently, the disk letter
is enough, to help it find i386 or whatever.

I do have one other key under setup,

Installation Source

which it appears a Logitech product left in there.
I don't think that is a very appropriate place for
some application to be littering.

Paul

 

[Gerry]

Terry

Is the Service Pack on the CD and your computer the same? If not that is
why you are having no joy.

Why do you want to run System File Checker?


--


Hope this helps.

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

 

[Terry Pinnell]

Terry

Is the Service Pack on the CD and your computer the same? If not that is
why you are having no joy.

Why do you want to run System File Checker?

Paul, Gerry: Thanks for the follow-ups. I eventually succeeded shortly
after midnight. In the SysOpt forum I was pointed to a couple of
articles:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/897128/en-us
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/900910/en-us

The second of those articles seemed at first sight to describe my
situation accurately:
"You are prompted to insert a Windows XP SP2 CD when you try to run
the System File Checker tool on a Windows XP SP2-based computer"
I followed the instructions but still get asked to insert my CD, and
doing so still prompts the same error message.

I wasn't too surprised because on checking I found I do not have a
folder called C:\Windows\ServicePackFiles

I then tried changing that key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup
to C:\I386
but still got the same bad result.

Eventually I tried changing it to plain C:\ and the process ran its
(very lengthy) course without interruption.

Squares with your point, Paul, about the drive letter being enough. In
fact my experience seems to imply it's positively *wrong* to specify
the folder in full. Yet I'm sure that's what I've been doing
successfully for years.

Anyway, I'm going to file these notes and leave it alone now!

No point getting into detailed reasons for running it here, Gerry. In
brief, a video editor program is giving me serious problems suddenly
and SFC is just one of many steps I tried. Hasn't solved it.

---------

But, at risk of switching topics, can I raise one directly related
question please. When I bought my last PC from MESH I chose XP Pro
instead of Vista. But it was then on SP2. I would now like to update
to SP3, But if I use Windows Update to do that via a download, the
'Recovery CD' I received from MESH will be out of date. If I ever
needed to recover I would presumably then have to revert to SP2 and
then update all over again.

I gather there are 'slipstream' CDs that can do this, but I'm not
confident of making one myself. Can they be purchased or downloaded,
in a form I can use without further hassle please?

 

[Gerry]

Terry

A Recovery CD invariably takes you back to the system starting point.
Before using it back up all data files or recover the data files to
removable media.

I have never seen slipstreamed CDs available for purchase. You can buy a
Windows XP SP3 update CD, just as you could buy a Windows XP SP2 update
CD. These were mainly for users with slower internet connections. Your
local small computer repair shop would probably slipstream for you. If
you try slipstreaming the important thing to do is to test the result to
see it works. No good later when you need to use it.

--


Hope this helps.

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

 

[Paul]

---------

But, at risk of switching topics, can I raise one directly related
question please. When I bought my last PC from MESH I chose XP Pro
instead of Vista. But it was then on SP2. I would now like to update
to SP3, But if I use Windows Update to do that via a download, the
'Recovery CD' I received from MESH will be out of date. If I ever
needed to recover I would presumably then have to revert to SP2 and
then update all over again.

I gather there are 'slipstream' CDs that can do this, but I'm not
confident of making one myself. Can they be purchased or downloaded,
in a form I can use without further hassle please?

There is a standalone version of SP3. The one I have stored on disk
here is WindowsXP-KB936929-SP3-x86-ENU.exe . So you don't have to
download it over and over again.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...a8-5e76-401f-be08-1e1555d4f3d4&DisplayLang=en

Paul

 

[Gerry]

Paul

Did you read this note:

This installation package is intended for IT professionals and
developers downloading and installing on multiple computers on a
network. If you're updating just one computer, please visit Windows
Update at http://update.microsoft.com .

I am unclear how this enables System File Checker to be run?


--


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