Use DISM to Repair Windows 10 Image

Brink · 04 Nov 2019

butterfly said:

So the internal self-diagnostics is not reliable: 'ImageHealthState: Repairable' and then actually the 'component store cannot be repaired'. Are there other commands that could be used to address component store issues, please?

When unable to repair the component store using DISM, a repair install can be used instead.

butterfly · 04 Nov 2019

Thank you but... what about this procedure, instead?

Sunnova said:

If you have a pc that has a clean result from sfc /scannow and from Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth, then I strongly recommend you backup your \windows\winsxs folder to another drive, usb stick, or dvd. For windows 7 - 10.

Three times for three different pc's (windows 7 Home, windows 8.1Pro and Windows 10 Home) I've had problems where Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth failed,
even failed using the mounted drive image and doing both the following commands.

Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth /Source:esd:Full Path to install.esd file:1 /limitaccess
or
Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth /Source:wim:Full Path to install.wim file:1 /limitaccess.

Each time I had a backup of a clean winsxs folder on another drive for that pc, I was able to use Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth /Source:drive:\WinSxS /LimitAccess, and for all three machines, the problems were corrected.

One of the three machines was an upgraded windows 7 to windows 10, I backed up the winsxs after the 10 upgrade and updates were installed and the system booted. In just a day I needed the clean winsxs as the live one became messed up and none of the above commands would work except the one pointing to my backed up winsxs folder.

I now keep a copy of the winsxs folder for all my computers in different locations just in case.

All three pc's now run clean for sfc /scannow and Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth.

Question is: supposing I am going to install a new VM with the same up-to-date 17763.805 ISO involved in this failed DISM repair. The result will be a clean Windows 10 inside that VM with its winsxs folder. Then I could promptly check the DISM commands on that new VM to be sure the components integrity is fine, as per the quoted post above.

If everything is fine, then will it make sense to use the Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth /Source:drive:\WinSxS /LimitAccess in order to fix the above problematic Windows 10 installation -- as if that winsxs folder is a backup?

EDIT: the above question arises also because of section "Use a network location to restore optional features and repair Windows images" quotes at #2: 'You can use a running Windows installation as a source to restore optional features by sharing the c:\Windows folder on your network.'

Source:
https://docs.microsoft.com/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/configure-a-windows-repair-source

Sunnova · 10 Nov 2019

I don't see why that would not work.

butterfly said:

Thank you but... what about this procedure, instead?

Question is: supposing I am going to install a new VM with the same up-to-date 17763.805 ISO involved in this failed DISM repair. The result will be a clean Windows 10 inside that VM with its winsxs folder. Then I could promptly check the DISM commands on that new VM to be sure the components integrity is fine, as per the quoted post above.

If everything is fine, then will it make sense to use the Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth /Source:drive:\WinSxS /LimitAccess in order to fix the above problematic Windows 10 installation -- as if that winsxs folder is a backup?

EDIT: the above question arises also because of section "Use a network location to restore optional features and repair Windows images" #2 'You can use a running Windows installation as a source to restore optional features by sharing the c:\Windows folder on your network.'

https://docs.microsoft.com/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/configure-a-windows-repair-source

butterfly · 11 Nov 2019

Thank you Sunnova; will investigate that solution.

EDIT: but first I need to found the workaround HERE.

dualopsys · 23 Jan 2020

I have an hp laptop that will no longer boot into windows. not sure what happed.
the laptop will start to boot but then stops on a screen with nothing but a spinning wheel.

I am guessing some component of windows became corrupted.

as suggested in a previous post, a simple approach (compared to using DISM) would be to perform a repair install with an "in place" upgrade as explained in this post:

Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade

Since the laptop currently will NOT boot to windows, will an in place upgrade (using a USB stick) still work.... keeping installed programs, files, etc intact?

DonCuthbert · 23 Jan 2020

No, you could keep your data, but not your installed apps, if you attempt to install after booting from USB.

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There are several computers which run into this similar symptom with some Insider builds. Are you running Insider builds?

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What you could try, is to boot from USB stick, use Repair your computer link from second screen of Windows setup, then try selecting Continue to Windows 10. It would probably fail, as the issue would be with the updated boot process from drive C:, not from your System partition files. The disk is processing the System portion, which displays the Windows flag logo and swirling dots. But it fails to boot the Windows volume, or Boot partition portion.

dualopsys · 23 Jan 2020

DonCuthbert said:

No, you could keep your data, but not your installed files if you attempt to install after booting from USB.

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There are several computers which run into this similar symptom with some Insider builds. Are you running Insider builds?

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What you could try, is to boot from USB stick, use Repair your computer link from second screen of Windows setup, then try selecting Continue to Windows 10. It would probably fail, as the issue would be with the updated boot process from drive C:, not from your System partition files. The disk is processing the System portion, which displays the Windows flag logo and swirling dots. But it fails to boot the Windows volume, or Boot partition portion.

repair from the USB drive was attempted two days ago. the repair system indicated the repair failed. I didn't write down the exact phrase the system produced. The repair was attempted twice.

I have access to a tower. the tower is running 32 bit windows 10.

the laptop that will not boot is running windows 64 bit.

I would like to install the disk with the failed win10-64 bit in the win10-32bit tower... get a 64 bit ISO image on a disk and put that in the tower DVD drive and somehow run DISM on the failed WIN10-64 drive using the ISO in the DVD.
(EDIT....for clarity, perform the above using the tower while it is booted in win10-32bit)

Unfortunately, I cannot figure out the correct DISM command syntax to use in that particular hardware setup.

DonCuthbert · 23 Jan 2020

dualopsys said:

repair from the USB drive was attempted two days ago. the repair system indicated the repair failed. I didn't write down the exact phrase the system produced. The repair was attempted twice.

I have access to a tower. the tower is running 32 bit windows 10.

the laptop that will not boot is running windows 64 bit.

I would like to install the disk with the failed win10-64 bit in the win10-32bit tower... get a 64 bit ISO image on a disk and put that in the tower DVD drive and somehow run DISM on the failed WIN10-64 drive using the ISO in the DVD.

Unfortunately, I cannot figure out the correct DISM command syntax to use in that particular hardware setup.

You could do all of that, but booting from a Windows 10 install USB and using SHIFT-F10 to get a Command Prompt, gives you all of the required rights, etc. and is simple to do.

If you try this, first check that your Windows and Users folders are on drive C:. Then try the following for DISM syntax. If Windows and Users folders appear on some other drive letter, just adjust the commands to use that drive letter.

Code:

md C:\Scratch
DISM /Image:C:\ /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth /ScratchDir:C:\Scratch

sfc /scannow /OFFBOOTDIR=C:\ /OFFWINDIR=C:\Windows

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You could also run chkdsk on drive C: if you think that it got powered off without shutting down first. Usually NTFS is able to repair most errors these days without needing to run chkdsk separately.

IronZorg89 · 23 Jan 2020

Or if you can use your repair disc to get access to "Advanced Options", you can select Command prompt and follow the steps here:
(If by any chance, the repair disc doesn't work, you can also try to shut down, i.e., power off your laptop and reboot every time the log in screen [Windows logo] appears for three times. Doing this is supposed to take you to "Repair your computer". From there, Troubleshoot > Advanced Options > Command Prompt) ---> Option Six in this tut:
Boot to Advanced Startup Options in Windows 10

Step by Step guide:

Insert the installation media into the PC. Connect the USB Flash Drive to the computer or put the DVD into the DVD drive.
Find out how to access the BIOS/UEFI of the machine. This should be displayed during boot. Common keys are F1, F12 or DEL.
Change the boot order so that the computer boots from the USB or DVD drive before it boots from internal hard drives.
Click next on the first screen of setup. That screen should highlight the installation language and keyboard.
Select Repair your computer on the next screen.
When the "choose an option" menu opens, select Troubleshoot.
Select Advanced options.
Select Command Prompt. This opens a command prompt interface.
Run the following commands one after the other:
1. bootrec /fixmbr -- This option writes a MBR to the system partition but does not overwrite the system partition in the process. It fixes MBR corruption and issues with non-standard MBR code.
2. bootrec /fixboot -- This options writes a new boot sector to the system partition. Fixes damaged boot sectors, non-standard boot sectors, and issues caused by the installation of earlier Windows operating systems (pre-Vista). Ignore any error that may come up.
3. bootrec /rebuildbcd -- This options scans all connected hard drives for Windows installations. If it finds additional installations, prompts you to add them to the BCD Store. Windows should pick up the installed operating system. Make sure you add it to the BCD store. Select (a) for all during the prompt, or add installations individually instead.
Exit the command prompt window.
Restart the PC to find out if the repair was successful.

How to fix Boot BCD startup errors on Windows PCs - gHacks Tech News

Really hoping that helps!

dualopsys · 23 Jan 2020

DonCuthbert said:

You could do all of that, but booting from a Windows 10 install USB and using SHIFT-F10 to get a Command Prompt, gives you all of the required rights, etc. and is simple to do.

O.K. I'll give this a try tomorrow a.m.

One additional question that hopefully you can address.

there is a possibility that the win10 installation on this computer is 1903. The installation USB that was made two days ago from the windows website is version 1909.

EDIT.... and unfortunately this laptop is at a family members home so I cannot physically touch it until Feb 8 so I cannot pull the registry information to confirm the exact windows version.

If the current install version is 1903, can a 1909 install usb perform the repair correctly?

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IronZorg89 said:

Or if you can use your repair disc to get access to "Advanced Options", you can select Command prompt and follow the steps here:

my question is how does the listed set of 3 "bootrec" commands differ from what windows already attempts from selecting "troubleshoot" and then "startup repair"

Use DISM to Repair Windows 10 Image

cross-fixing WinSxS