Damaged system files can cause application errors, system crashes, blue screens, and overall slow performance. Fortunately, there is an easy way to check and repair those corrupted system files in Windows 10 and 11 with the SFC Scannow command.
Every activity you perform, or program and application you use, relies on a large number of system files. Therefore, even if just one of these files necessary to run a program or application is corrupted, you will encounter difficulties. To fix this, you only need to run the System File Checker your Windows computer.
Check and Repair Windows Corrupted Files
Here’s how you can use the SFC Scannow command to scan for and repair corrupted system files in Windows 10 or 11:
1. To start off, type CMD in the Start menu and select “Run as administrator.”. This will open the Command Prompt as an administrator.
2. Then, enter the command SFC /scannow and press Enter.
3. When the system scan begins, you can follow its progress. Then, when it gets to completed, you will see if it was successful or not.
Alternatives to SFC Scannow command
You can also use some of the following commands instead of “scannow” with the SFC repair tool:
1. SFC /verifyonly. Unlike the SFC /scannow, SFC /verifyonly command verifies corrupted Windows system files without attempting to repair them.
Type the command SFC /verifyonly in the Command Prompt window running as an administrator and press Enter key on your keyboard.
The System File Checker will verify all the files files and will show you if any are corrupted.
2. Scan a specific file with SFC. In case you dont hace the time to scan all system files, you have the option to check for a specific file. This will analize if the file is damaged and will fix it if needed:
In the Command Prompt running as an administrator, type the following command SFC /scanfile="file_path" and press Enter.
Replace “file_path” with the path of the file you are going to scan.
3. Verify a specific file. You may also analyze a specific system file using the SFC /verifyfile command. This command will verify the specified file to check if it is damaged, but it does not repair it.
Open the Command Prompt as an administrator, type the command SFC /verifyfile="file_path" and press Enter key.
Remember to replace “file_path” with the path of the file you want to scan.
Make system files check on Windows startup
You can also scan and repair damaged system files without logging into Windows:
All you need to do is boot your computer using Windows installation media.
Then, open the Command Prompt and type the command to run the scan.
sfc /scannow /offbootdir=<drive_name>:\ /offwindir=<drive_name>:\windowsNote that the term “drive_name” represents the alphabetical letter indicating the drive.
Getting the SFC scan logs
After an SFC scan is complete, it will log the results into a text file, which you can obtain as follows:
1. Type CMD in the Start menu and select “Run as administrator” to open the Command Prompt as an administrator.
2. Now type the this command and press Enter in your keiboard.
findstr /c:"[SR]" %windir%\logs\cbs\cbs.log >sfcdetails.txt
3. Now go to This PC > Windows (C:) > Windows > System32. Here you will find the text file called “sfcdetails” in the System32 folder.
4. Open the “sfcdetails” file, and it will display all the details of the SFC scan process.
What the Windows System File Checker can do:
The System File Checker (SFC) is a Windows repair tool that you can use from the Command Prompt (CMD) to detect any damaged files on your PC. If it finds corrupt files, it will attempt to fix and restore them.
This is a tool you can use if you are encountering problems while using your Windows PC. Below are all the possible results you could get when doing an SFC scan in Windows:
- If SFC does not detect any damaged files, you will see the following message: “Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.”
- If damaged files are detected and all of them are repaired, you will see the following message: “Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files and successfully repaired them.”
- If the scan detects damaged files but can only repair some of them, you will see the following message: “Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to repair some of them.”
- If it encounters a problem, it will show the following message: “Windows Resource Protection could not perform the requested operation.”
That’s all you need to know to repair Windows 10 and 11 corrupted system files using the System File Checker and the SFC Scannow command. If the problems persist, you can consider to make a system restore or factory reset Windows.