system file checker

[rn02]

I'm running Windows XP Professional with Office 2003
Professional. I had a driver install that did not go well
back in April that caused some problems (minor but
annoying) with my MS Office applications (mostly Outlook).
System Restore could not fix at the point I attempted to
use it, and other efforts to fix have not been successful.
I'm wondering if running System File Checker might provide
an opportunity (identifying and replacing a corrupted
or "incorrect version" system file), and wonder what if
any risks there may be in using the tool. I'm familiar
with SFC and its behavior with Windows 98; does it work
pretty much the same in Windows XP? Any insight would be
appreciated. Thanks.

 

[davetest]

I'm running Windows XP Professional with Office 2003
Professional. I had a driver install that did not go well
back in April that caused some problems (minor but
annoying) with my MS Office applications (mostly Outlook).
System Restore could not fix at the point I attempted to
use it, and other efforts to fix have not been successful.
I'm wondering if running System File Checker might provide
an opportunity (identifying and replacing a corrupted
or "incorrect version" system file), and wonder what if
any risks there may be in using the tool. I'm familiar
with SFC and its behavior with Windows 98; does it work
pretty much the same in Windows XP? Any insight would be
appreciated. Thanks.

No it doesn't work anything like windows 98 version
In 98 the system calculated a checksum for each file
and then compared them to the actual files when sfc was run.
It told you if there was a mismatch and it was up to the *user*
to determine what if any action to take. *Very* confusing.

In XP windows *knows* what the current version should be and
is able to detect any file that gets replaced with a wrong
version and in most cases will replace it with the correct
one from the dllcache. When it is unable to do this, it
may ask for the xp Cd or equivalent (such as an i386
folder on the harddrive)

SFC /SCANNOW is the usual command that's run, and it causes
XP to check *all* protected files with the Catalog information
and to replace any that are incorrect using the method mentioned
above. Straight from the horses mouth:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;310747&Product=winxp

I have never heard of this procedure causing a problem.

Dave

 

[rn02]

Thank you for the insight on XP system file checker. Can
SFC /SCANNOW be started from the "Run" command, or do I
need to go to the command prompt? If it has to be the
command promt (I've never used it), do you just type
SFC /SCANNOW at the C: prompt? Thanks again for the
guidance.

 

[Michael D. Alligood]

It can be started from the RUN command line.

--
Best of luck!

Michael D. Alligood
MCSA, MCP, CCNA, A+,
Network+, i-Net+, CIW A, CIW CI