Is a reboot needed after the SFC has made corrections?

Try3 · Jan 26, 2026

antspants said:
Some examples from cbs.logs

Are those examples from your own CBS logs?
Did SFC state that a reboot would be necessary?
I think Brink might be interested in the info so he can include suitable comments in the SFC tutorial.

Denis

Try3 · Jan 26, 2026

TraderGary said:
When I go to the main page of Microsoft Documentation and enter "SFC" in the Search field, I get documentation for SFC.

But nothing that says about rebooting after repairs?

Denis

BarryGuff · Jan 26, 2026

Try3 said:
That's because you tried to run its Cmd prompt command in a PS window.

I see. So I tried it in a command prompt and it just showed this repeated over and over, which wasn't helpful at all:

Code:

2026-01-26 17:13:04, Info                  CSI    00000007 [SR] Verifying 100 components
2026-01-26 17:13:04, Info                  CSI    00000008 [SR] Beginning Verify and Repair transaction
2026-01-26 17:13:05, Info                  CSI    00000009 [SR] Verify complete
2026-01-26 17:13:05, Info                  CSI    0000000a [SR] Verifying 100 components
2026-01-26 17:13:05, Info                  CSI    0000000b [SR] Beginning Verify and Repair transaction
2026-01-26 17:13:05, Info                  CSI    0000000c [SR] Verify complete
2026-01-26 17:13:05, Info                  CSI    0000000d [SR] Verifying 100 components
2026-01-26 17:13:05, Info                  CSI    0000000e [SR] Beginning Verify and Repair transaction
2026-01-26 17:13:05, Info                  CSI    0000000f [SR] Verify complete
[...]

XxXxX · Jan 26, 2026

Try3 said:
But nothing that says about rebooting after repairs?

Denis

if there are errors in SFC the only way certain files can be repaired is by restarting the system
as some files needing repair may be in use by the system and only a restart would be able to have these files replaced.

then after the restart i normally re-run SFC again just to check
sometimes it can take several runs of SFC and restarts to fully repair a heavy damaged system.

best of luck Steve ..

TraderGary · Jan 26, 2026

Try3 said:
But nothing that says about rebooting after repairs?

Denis

Copilot's answer doesn't say to boot after repairs either. In its last sentence Copilot said:

Microsoft’s documentation doesn’t explicitly say “you must reboot,” but the mechanism itself implies it.

Try3 · Jan 26, 2026

BarryGuff said:
it just showed this repeated over and over

Nothing like
[SR] Cannot repair member file [l:17]'Character Map.lnk' of Microsoft-Windows-charmap, version 10.0.19041.1, arch amd64, nonSxS, pkt {l:8 b:31bf3856ad364e35} in the store, file cannot be checked
then? That's a shame.

I extract a list of repairs [only] using a modified form of the Cmd prompt command so I don't have to read through reams of boring entries.
After I've run it, I check the dates-time in the output file and delete the old lines if, as is normal, I am only interested in the SFC run I have just done.

%windir%\system32\cmd.exe /c "%windir%\system32\findstr.exe /c:"[SR] Repair" %windir%\Logs\CBS\CBS.log >"C:\%UserName%\Desktop\%ComputerName%-SFCResults-Repairs.Log""

If you have relocated your Desktop path then put that in in place of my C:\%UserName%\Desktop

Denis

Try3 · Jan 26, 2026

XxXxX said:
the only way certain files can be repaired is by restarting the system

And that Diskpart article I linked to stated that SFC would say if a reboot was necessary for that reason and illustrated such a response.

Denis

Try3 · Jan 26, 2026

antspants said:
Wouldn’t be the first time you couldn’t find something, Denis. Doesn’t make it incorrect.

What I looked for does not exist. Since it does not exist, it is not correct.

Denis

BarryGuff · Jan 26, 2026

Try3 said:
Nothing like
[SR] Cannot repair member file [l:17]'Character Map.lnk' of Microsoft-Windows-charmap, version 10.0.19041.1, arch amd64, nonSxS, pkt {l:8 b:31bf3856ad364e35} in the store, file cannot be checked
then? That's a shame.

No, nothing except those 4 lines I quoted, repeated until the end of the file. Doesn't matter now anyway. I've noted these steps for the future if/when I run SFC again.

zbook · Jan 26, 2026

There are different types of sfc /scannow repairs.

Some require reboot and some don't.

On a regular basis this script:

https://www.tenforums.com/attachments/bsod-crashes-debugging/360139d1645183596-batch-files-use-bsod-debugging-tuneup_plus_log.zip

Batch files for use in BSOD debugging - Windows 10 Help Forums

Information This thread is for use by the BSOD team to store batch files that can be used to collect additional data, fix settings or anything else that is useful in debugging BSOD problems in Windows 10. The way I see it working is the first

www.tenforums.com

is run in the BSOD forum room.

It starts with sfc /scannow. then scanhealth then restorehealth then repeats sfc /scannow.

Code:

sfc /scannow
dism /online /cleanup-image /scanhealth
dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
sfc /scannow
chkdsk /scan

These are not the exact reports but similar:

At times the first sfc /scannow reports corrections made and the second without corruption.

Other times the first sfc /scannow reports corrections made and the second reporting unable to run due to a pending repair/reboot

zbook · Jan 27, 2026

This is a recent example of no required reboot to run multiple sfc /scannow:

Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them.

Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files and successfully repaired them.

Code:

    Started on Tue 01/27/2026 at 13:18:15.14
   
        [SFC /ScanNow]
   
Beginning system scan.  This process will take some time.

Results:
 
Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them.

For online repairs, details are included in the CBS log file located at
windir\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For example C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For offline
repairs, details are included in the log file provided by the /OFFLOGFILE flag.
 
==================================================================
 
A TXT file named SFC_details-1.txt has been created.

==================================================================

    Started on Tue 01/27/2026 at 13:19:20.53

        [DISM /online /cleanup-image /ScanHealth]

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.22621.2792

Image Version: 10.0.22631.6199
 
The component store is repairable.

The operation completed successfully.
 
==================================================================

    Started on Tue 01/27/2026 at 13:20:05.41

        [DISM /online /cleanup-image /RestoreHealth]

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.22621.2792

Image Version: 10.0.22631.6199
 
The restore operation completed successfully.

The operation completed successfully.
 
==================================================================

    Started on Tue 01/27/2026 at 13:23:35.76

        [SFC /ScanNow]

Beginning system scan.  This process will take some time.

Results:
 
Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files and successfully repaired them.

For online repairs, details are included in the CBS log file located at
windir\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For example C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For offline
repairs, details are included in the log file provided by the /OFFLOGFILE flag.
 
==================================================================
 
A TXT file named SFC_details-2.txt has been created.

==================================================================

Is a reboot needed after the SFC has made corrections?

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