DISM phase 5 duration 0.00 milliseconds

I am running Windows 10 ver. 19042.1348. Because monthly running of "sfc /scannow" usually finds errors, I decided to do a more thorough job. I ran the following commends:

Sfc /scannow
Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth
Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth <- found three corrupted files
Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth <- now no problems
sfc /scannow <- no problem

I then ran "chkdsk /f" on drive E:, a 2T harddisk. Phase 4 took 1.73 hours but phase 5, as reported by dism, is in the following:

Stage 5: Looking for bad, free clusters ... 226234379 free clusters processed. Free space verification is complete. Phase duration (Free space recovery): 0.00 milliseconds.

This is the first time I ever saw phase 5 taking 0 seconds. Usually, it takes longer than phase 4 does.

Has anyone encountered a similar situation?

[update] Just ran on drive F:, another 2T harddisk. This time, dism reported phase 5 took 0.01 milliseconds though in fact it took more than an hour.

Hello,
I can confirm I saw the same today.

Hello @yky378,

Running those Commands is a good way of keeping on top of your OS with regard to the Health and Performance. However, tracking down errors that may arise can be an extremely time consuming process.

Besides the Commands that you run, it is also advisable to run chkdsk and RestoreHealth OFFLINE, using a Mounted ISO, obviously of the SAME Bit-Type and Build as you are running. This gives a better and more thorough coverage. For further information please refer at this Tutorial . . .

> Option 1 - Part 6.

On a regular basis, I usually delete the CBS.log and DISM.log files, this makes troubleshooting easier for ME, if and when I have any problems.

It is also advisable to create regular System Images.

I hope this helps.

Hello @yky378,

yky378 said:

Now that most people update online. Not too many people have ISO in hand anymore. To do an offline checking, the first thing would be to download the ISO of the correct version. That's not a problem. Even though my DVD drive no longer works, I guess I can put the ISO on a USB drive and use that to do an offline checking.

You are correct, although you need to burn the ISO to a USB using something like Rufus => Rufus. I have used it for years without ANY problems

Non exhaustive list of ISOs Rufus is known to work with:-

Arch Linux, BartPE/pebuilder, CentOS, Clonezilla, Damn Small Linux, Debian, Fedora , FreeDOS, Garuda Linux, Gentoo, Gparted, Hiren's Boot CD, LiveXP, Knoppix, KolibriOS, Kubuntu, Linux Mint, Manjaro Linux, NT Password Registry Editor, OpenSUSE, Parted Magic, Partition Wizard, Raspbian, ReactOS, Red Hat, rEFInd, Rocky Linux, Slackware, Super Grub2 Disk, Tails, Trinity Rescue Kit, TrueNAS CORE, Ubuntu, UEFI Shell, Ultimate Boot CD, Windows XP (SP2+), Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8/8.1, Windows 10, Windows Server 2019, Windows 11, . . .

I hope this helps.