Solved SFC Tool Claims it Fixes Windows

This "tech guy" on YT says SFC is the panacea for all Windows problems, he criticises others doing a reinstall of Windows.

How accurate and helpful is his advice? Should I be following it? Is it my first tool to use to fix Windows 11 or is there something else I should try first?

SFC can repair missing or corrupted system or Windows default app files. There is a Windows component folder (WinSxS) which keeps a master copy of those files and manifest lists. SFC scans and compares the installed files against the WinSxS version. When the WinSxS source gets corrupted, then you need a repair install to replace the damaged WinSxS files.

It cannot help with corrupted configurations or registry hives, or many UWP ("Store app") headaches. Those are based on dynamically changed data, and there is no "correct settings" except to reset those values to their defaults.

Windows Update can fail and install partial changes to WinSxS. In some cases, a repair or clean install might be required if you can't finish the update process.

This is the tech support equivalent of "Install the latest patches. Reboot." -- It doesn't hurt to try, but it's not a miracle cure that everyone makes it out to be. I'm sure the next few posters will disagree and praise its magic.

Hmm... the panacea, I don't know. It depends on several factors. The sfc command allows to scan and restore corrupted system files. Here's the link to the wikipedia entry System File Checker - Wikipedia.

In my experience I had to sort problems that sfc didn't solved by itself. To solve a specific Windows problem there are several solutions. It's related to the problem one is facing. Today I had two context menu options that weren't working. Some googling helped me out and reinstalled Windows Photos app. It solved the problem.

PvtJohnTowle said:

This "tech guy" on YT says SFC is the panacea for all Windows problems, he criticises others doing a reinstall of Windows.

How accurate and helpful is his advice? Should I be following it? Is it my first tool to use to fix Windows 11 or is there something else I should try first?

Click to expand...

SFC /ScanNow can fix corrupted system files but not corrupted configurations. If it reports that it has found errors it cannot fix, then the WinSxS component store is corrupted too. Fix this with DISM then run SFC again. That 'tech guy' covers this too in that video.


SFC is the first too I'd use, maybe with DISM's RestoreHealth first as a precaution. If the two cannot fix a problem, then an in-place repair upgrade is the next step to try before giving up and doing a clean install. This does correct some configuration problems.

And then ofc there's In-Place Upgrade which does the same thing all in one step.

It downloads the latest ISO, then compares all the installed Windows files with those in the ISO, and replaces those which don't match the ISO's version.




I believe it's magic, magic, magic.

The guy in the YT video doesn't claim that SFC is the panacea for all Windows issues. He does state his opinion at circa 13:15 that using DISM and SFC will fix most issues instead of reinstalling the operating system.

I use most of the commands he demonstrates and find them helpful to fix an unstable operating system.

Bree said:

SFC is the first too I'd use, maybe with DISM's RestoreHealth first as a precaution. If the two cannot fix a problem, then an in-place repair upgrade is the next step to try before giving up and doing a clean install. This does correct some configuration problems.

Click to expand...

If I am working on someone else's system this is also the approach I take. For my own system, I'll run SFC. If it doesn't fix my problem, I go straight to restoring an image.

Well, you may find this interesting.

It just so happens that I was following along with that very video just out of boredom because I was stuck in bed, very ill last week. I NEVER run SFC /snannow on my PCs because I just don't have the kind of problems that warrant it. However, after running sfc /snannow (and the DISM command to update the Windows files first), it resolved a problem that I have had with audio FOR THREE YEARS even after clean installs of Windows. Let me explain....

I have an HP Spectre x360 laptop (model 15-BL012DX). On both Win 10 and 11 I have a problem that FEELS like a hardware problem. The problem is that after playing anything with volume around mid level or higher, the left speaker cuts off. After a little while it will come back on again and then cut right off again. If you allow it so sit with no sound playing for a while, it will work again for a short time, and then cut off again. This repeats over and over. If I play sound at a very low level, I have no problem with it cutting off. Again, this feels like a hardware issue, especially since it happens right after a clean install of Windows as well.

The other day I was watching that video on my laptop, listening through bluetooth speakers because of that problem. I ran sfc / scannow and while running I fell asleep (as noted, I was very ill and only awake in short bursts). When I awoke, my bluetooth speakers had timed out and shut off and audio would now play through the internal laptop speakers. Immediately I noticed that I was getting much higher volume out of my laptop speakers than previously. In addition, the sound was no longer cutting off!

In retrospect, this sort of makes sense. I notice now that HP had a new version of the sound driver for every release of Windows 10 right up until they simply stopped bothering to support it and then there were no new drivers. The fact that they had to release a new audio driver with every major Win 10 release tells me that it must step on or be dependent upon some Windows files that change with every release.

This might not be a perfect solution, but it resolved an issue I have had with my laptop for at least three years now and I stumbled upon it by accident while following this video!

It certainly won't solve every problem, but it DID solve the longest running computer problem that I have ever personally had and that I had mistakenly assumed to be a hardware problem. Best series of commands I have ever run . It has breathed new life into my laptop. I can't believe it took 3 years (!!!) to stumble on this.

Bottom line is simply this: Try it, it may help you. What have you got to loose?

hsehestedt said:

This might not be a perfect solution, but it resolved an issue I have had with my laptop for at least three years now and I stumbled upon it by accident while following this video!

It certainly won't solve every problem, but it DID solve the longest running computer problem that I have ever personally had and that I had mistakenly assumed to be a hardware problem. Best series of commands I have ever run . It has breathed new life into my laptop. I can't believe it took 3 years (!!!) to stumble on this.

Bottom line is simply this: Try it, it may help you. What have you got to loose?

Click to expand...

Yes, it is almost the first thing you should try if your PC is doing something 'weird' that you can't explain.

I say 'almost' because the classic 'turn it off then on again' is still always a good first step. With Windows 10/11 of course that means you need to do a Restart to ensure that it's a full startup from cold. Just shutting down and starting up again can use Fast Startup which is a form of hibernation, a warm startup that will preserve the previous state of the kernel.