DISM Scan - "The Component Store is Repairable" Problem

Steve C · Saturday at 2:14 AM

My desktop PC is running fine. I ran sfc /scannow which showed no problems. I then ran the command Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth on my desktop PC as a maintenance check which reported "The Component Store is Repairable". I then ran Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth which completed successfully. However, this created a new problem - when I switched from my user account to my admin account then back to my user account the PC hangs requiring a forced reboot.

I had to recover the PC using my last Reflect backup. Why is this happening when the DISM Restoreheath command is meant to correct any problems?

wiganken · Saturday at 2:34 AM

Some say that you should have run restorehealth before sfc, not after. Try running sfc /scannow again so that it uses the new restored health as a base.

Steve C · Saturday at 2:52 AM

wiganken said:
Some say that you should have run restorehealth before sfc, not after. Try running sfc /scannow again so that it uses the new restored health as a base.

I did run sfc /scannow after running restorehealth which showed no problems. However, the problem of the PC hanging when switching accounts required me to recover from the backup.

XxXxX · Saturday at 3:19 AM

in a admin power shell please try
Repair-WindowsImage -Online -RestoreHealth

then
sfc /scannow

thats from a 'Brinks' tutorial.

Repair Windows Image Component Store in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to repair Windows image component store corruption in Windows 11. If a Windows image becomes unserviceable, you can use the DISM (Deployment Imaging and Servicing Management) tool or Repair-WindowsImage cmdlet to update the files and correct the problem. For...

www.elevenforum.com

best of luck, Steve ..

Steve C · Saturday at 3:25 AM

XxXxX said:
in a admin power shell please try
Repair-WindowsImage -Online -RestoreHealth

then
sfc /scannow

thats from a 'Brinks' tutorial.

Repair Windows Image Component Store in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to repair Windows image component store corruption in Windows 11. If a Windows image becomes unserviceable, you can use the DISM (Deployment Imaging and Servicing Management) tool or Repair-WindowsImage cmdlet to update the files and correct the problem. For...

www.elevenforum.com

best of luck, Steve ..

Thanks. I don't see how that command does anything different to Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth also mentioned in the tutorial which I already used.

XxXxX · Saturday at 3:31 AM

hopefully someone with greater knowledge will be able to answer that for you.
best of luck, Steve ..

wiganken · Saturday at 8:13 AM

Steve C said:
I did run sfc /scannow after running restorehealth

That's not what your OP stated? You wrote: -

Steve C said:
I ran sfc /scannow which showed no problems. I then ran the command Dism

I meant you to run sfc a second time after restorehealth: -

wiganken said:
Try running sfc /scannow again

BTW - Good luck. Hope you get it sorted.

Steve C · Saturday at 8:58 AM

wiganken said:
That's not what your OP stated? You wrote: -

I meant you to run sfc a second time after restorehealth: -

BTW - Good luck. Hope you get it sorted.

That's what I said - sfc /scannow showed no problems both before and after running restorehealth.

Winuser · Saturday at 9:32 AM

You could try doing a repair install.

Steve C · Saturday at 9:33 AM

Winuser said:
You could try doing a repair install.

I could but all is working OK. Update 25H2 will be effectively a repair install anyway.

Winuser · Saturday at 9:43 AM

Steve C said:
I could but all is working OK. Update 25H2 will be effectively a repair install anyway.

I reread post #1 and realize that you only asked why and not for a solution. I'm sorry I supplied a possible fix and not an actual answer to your question.

gunrunnerjohn · Saturday at 10:00 AM

wiganken said:
Some say that you should have run restorehealth before sfc, not after. Try running sfc /scannow again so that it uses the new restored health as a base.

You most certainly should run DISM first to restore health, the SFC /SCANNOW uses that image to "fix" your system files. If the image is corrupt, that can nuke the system! You need to know your system image is good before using it to replace files in your running system.

Steve C · Saturday at 10:14 AM

gunrunnerjohn said:
You most certainly should run DISM first to restore health, the SFC /SCANNOW uses that image to "fix" your system files. If the image is corrupt, that can nuke the system! You need to know your system image is good before using it to replace files in your running system.

That is counter to advice normally posted here which is to run sfc /scannow then use the DSIM commands if there is an issue sfc cannot fix.

Mighty CGPT says:

You're right to question that post — it oversimplifies how DISM and SFC work, and it’s not entirely accurate.

Here’s the real relationship between DISM and SFC:

SFC (System File Checker) scans protected system files on your live Windows installation.
If it finds any corruption, it tries to replace them with good copies from the Windows Component Store (WinSxS) — also called the "system image".
But SFC does not rely on the system image being perfect. If the files in WinSxS are good enough for repair, it uses them.

This scans and repairs the Windows Component Store itself.
If the Component Store is corrupt (e.g. broken or missing manifests, payloads, metadata), SFC might not be able to fix system files properly.
DISM uses Windows Update or a local source (like a mounted ISO) to restore damaged files in the Component Store.

“SFC uses the image to ‘fix’ your system files. If the image is corrupt, that can nuke the system!”

This is exaggerated and not technically true:

SFC won’t make things worse if the Component Store is slightly damaged — it just fails to fix some files and reports them in the log.
It doesn’t “nuke” the system by applying bad repairs. If it can’t find a good replacement, it leaves the file alone and tells you.

Recommended order (when troubleshooting):

sfc /scannow – see if anything is wrong in the running system.
If SFC finds corruption it can’t fix, then run:
- DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
After that, run sfc /scannow again to recheck/fix system files using the now-repaired Component Store.

Bottom line:

You don’t need to always run DISM first. SFC is safe to run at any time. If it can’t fix files, then you use DISM.

You're right to be sceptical. That post pushes a fear-based view that isn’t backed by how the tools actually behave.

Tools

gunrunnerjohn · Saturday at 10:17 AM

Given your explanation, I still don't see why running DISM first is a problem! It seems redundant to run SFC only to find out the system image is corrupt. Why not just run DISM first and then SFC? I know it takes a few minutes longer, but the few times you should be actually doing this, that seems to be a non-issue.

Topgundcp · Sunday at 9:55 AM

If you wish, mount the Windows ISO file, replace X with the mounted Letter then run:
Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth /source:wim:X:\sources\install.wim:1 /limitaccess

gunrunnerjohn · Sunday at 10:00 AM

Steve C said:
That is counter to advice normally posted here which is to run sfc /scannow then use the DSIM commands if there is an issue sfc cannot fix.

Mighty CGPT says:

You're right to question that post — it oversimplifies how DISM and SFC work, and it’s not entirely accurate.

Here’s the real relationship between DISM and SFC:

SFC (System File Checker) scans protected system files on your live Windows installation.

If it finds any corruption, it tries to replace them with good copies from the Windows Component Store (WinSxS) — also called the "system image".

But SFC does not rely on the system image being perfect. If the files in WinSxS are good enough for repair, it uses them.

Inquiring minds want to know, exactly how is SFC checking the system image copies?

Dirtyflash · Sunday at 10:35 AM

gunrunnerjohn said:
Inquiring minds want to know, exactly how is SFC checking the system image copies?

I swear AI is the greatest thing since sliced bread:

AI Overview
Learn more

SFC (System File Checker) verifies the integrity of Windows system files by comparing them against a known, trusted version stored in the WFP (Windows File Protection) cache. If discrepancies are found, SFC attempts to replace the corrupted files with healthy copies from the cache or a repair source, like DISM, or online.

Here's a more detailed breakdown:

1. Checking Against the WFP Cache:
SFC checks each system file against the WFP cache, which contains verified, trusted copies of system files.

2. Identifying Corruption:
If a file on the system doesn't match the WFP version, SFC flags it as corrupted.
- From the WFP Cache: If a valid copy exists in the WFP cache, SFC attempts to replace the corrupted file with it.
Using DISM: If the WFP cache doesn't have a valid copy, SFC can use DISM (Deployment Image Servicing and Management) to access a repair source, like the online Windows Update repository or a local system image. DISM provides the necessary files to replace the corrupted ones.
4. Successful Repair:
Once SFC has replaced the corrupted files, it verifies the integrity of the newly installed files.
5. Error Reporting:
If SFC is unable to repair a corrupted file, it reports the error and attempts to log the details.

In summary, SFC uses a combination of the WFP cache and DISM to verify and repair system files. It first checks against a local, trusted copy and, if necessary, uses DISM to access a repair source for replacement.

The bottom line seems to be that you don't have to use DISM at all unless SFC is unable to repair any corruptions.

gunrunnerjohn · Sunday at 11:07 AM

How many copies of the system files are stored locally? My understand is the Windows System Image is what DISM checks & repairs. and SFC uses that image to repair the actual running file of Windows.

If I do a search, I get conflicting information about the functionality SFC and DISM.

steveg · Sunday at 11:29 AM

Want to thank OP and everyone who's replied. I always trusted sfc command to tell me if there was an issue with component store. Well come to find out not necessarily so. I ran sfc and it said all was fine so ran the Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth and reported repairable. Ran the powershell command in post #4 and fixed it after about 10 minutes and some downloads. Once again this forum is great for learning and keeping Windows free of issues.

Steve C · Sunday at 11:38 AM

steveg said:
Want to thank OP and everyone who's replied. I always trusted sfc command to tell me if there was an issue with component store. Well come to find out not necessarily so. I ran sfc and it said all was fine so ran the Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth and reported repairable. Ran the powershell command in post #4 and fixed it after about 10 minutes and some downloads. Once again this forum is great for learning and keeping Windows free of issues.

Or as in my case restorehealth broke the PC. ChatGPT explained to me this command is not always reliable if used !!!

DISM Scan - "The Component Store is Repairable" Problem

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