Recent File Corruption Issues

Skofab · 30 Jul 2019

Hi everyone -
I have 4x win10 machines. Each month, I run sfc /scannow on them all. Normally all return a positive result with no issues found.
This week I ran the check, and all four reported corrupted files - some of which sfc could not repair. Accordingly I ran DISM which reported a successful run. Having run sfc /scannow again on one of them, I once again have 'corrupted files' reported.
Has anyone else run into a problem like this recently (is there a rogue update for example?)
All comments welcomed.
I must say that all 4 machines work without any issue.
Thanks in advance for your help
C

bro67 · 30 Jul 2019

You do not need to do those. Windows performs certain checks during boot and housekeeping while idle. Running them all of the time can corrupt the OS. Do a System Restore before the corruption happened.

Bree · 30 Jul 2019

Skofab said:

Has anyone else run into a problem like this recently (is there a rogue update for example?)

Not exactly 'rogue', but there is a conflict between the latest Defender Platform updates and the old versions in the current windows image.

Microsoft said:

....Future releases of Windows will use the updated files in the Windows image. After that, SFC will no longer flag the files.

...Because SFC incorrectly flags the files in %windir%\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\Modules\Defender, you can safely ignore the SFC error messages regarding these files.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/...s-as-corrupted

Use Option Five in this tutorial to view your SFC scan results....

Run SFC Command in Windows 10

...if all the reported 'errors' are for Defender Poweshell modules then this was the case for you too...

sfc /scannow failing after this latest Defender Platfom update.

Try3 · 30 Jul 2019

And my consolidated ditty on SFC errors [WD update problem] - TenForums contains guidance for extracting relevant results as well as further detail on the WD platform update problem.

Note, in particular, the warning about connecting to the internet for the Dism command. Perhaps your remaining problem computer was not connected at the time?

Denis

Skofab · 30 Jul 2019

Thanks everyone for the very swift response. Info given is very interesting - and prompts me to patiently wait for corrections from MS.
Thanks again

maranna · 03 Aug 2019

bro67 said:

You do not need to do those. Windows performs certain checks during boot and housekeeping while idle. Running them all of the time can corrupt the OS. Do a System Restore before the corruption happened.

>>I run SFC after cumulative updates. Should I discontinue doing that?<<

Try3 · 03 Aug 2019

Maranna,

No.

Denis

maranna · 03 Aug 2019

T.Y.

Try3 · 03 Aug 2019

Maranna,

MS still put SFC forward as a response to If some Windows functions aren't working or Windows crashes - see Use the SFC tool to repair missing or corrupted system files - MSSupport [article last updated 8 July 2019]

So your frequent SFC scans might catch a fault that has not displayed any symptoms but it is much more likely to be a waste of your time. I also waste my time running SFC very month or every other month even though it only picks up & fixes a fault once every few years.

A more effective policy would be to consider SFC when you see a Windows fault or unusual occurence. SFC could usefully be a first response to something that is clearly an OS issue rather than a third-party application issue.

SFC has been around in one form or another since Windows 98 and I do not recall ever seeing a report of it causing any corruption.

Denis

maranna · 03 Aug 2019

I usually run SFC after a cumulative update or trouble. If DISM is required I run that using .ESD with the proper drive letter and index point..
Macrium Reflect is a last resort after system restore- recovery >>>. I find running system restore in Windows environment does not work and needs to be isolated.where it rarely fails.
I have to read your post again as I am not performing some of the tasks correctly.

I wonder if there is an alternative to SFC?