How to Use SFC Scannow to Repair Windows System Files

Quick Tips

• SFC scan detects and fixes corrupted system files on your Windows PC.
• Use the command SFC /scannow on Command Prompt to run the SFC scan.
• If you do not want to scan all the system files, you can scan a specific file using the command SFC /scanfile=”file_path”.

What Is SFC Scan?

The Windows System File Checker—SFC scan is a tool you can use on Command Prompt to detect corrupted files on your PC. Once detected, it attempts to repair and restore the file. This tool is useful if you encounter problems using your Windows PC.

What Does SFC Scan Do?

Here are all the possible results of an SFC scan on Windows:

• If the SFC scan does not detect any corrupted files, you will see the following message: “Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.”
• If the SFC scan detects corrupted files and repairs all of them, you will see the “Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files and successfully repaired them” message.
• If the scan detects corrupted files but can only repair a few of them, you will see the “Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them” message.
• If the SFC scan runs into a problem, it will display, “Windows Resource Protection could not perform the requested operation.”

Run an SFC Scan Using the “SFC Scannow” Command

Step 1: Open Command Prompt from the start menu. Right-click and select Run as administrator.

Step 2: Type the following command and press Enter.

SFC /scannow

You can see the progress of the system scan as it begins. Once it is complete, you will see whether it was successful.

Different Windows SFC Commands You Can Use on Windows

You can also use some of the below commands instead of /scannow with the SFC command.

• Verify Only: The command verifies and detects corrupted files but does not attempt to fix or repair them.
• Scan a specific file: If you do not want to scan all the system files, you can scan a specific file using SFC. The SFC /scanfile="file_path" command will check if the file is corrupted and will repair it if it is.
• Verify a specific file: You can also verify a specific system file using the SFC /verifyfile="file_path" command. The command will verify the specified file and check if it is corrupted. However, it does not repair the file.

You can also run an SFC scan without booting into Windows. Boot your computer using Windows installation media. Open Command Prompt and type the command to run the scan. Note that the term ‘drive_name’ stands for the alphabetical letter indicating the drive.

sfc /scannow /offbootdir=<drive_name>:\ /offwindir=<drive_name>:\windows

How to Get the SFC Log File

After an SFC scan is complete, it logs the results into a text file. Here’s how to access the SFC log file.

Step 1: Open Command Prompt from the start menu. Right-click and select Run as administrator.

Step 2: Type the following command and hit Enter.

findstr /c:"[SR]" %windir%\logs\cbs\cbs.log >sfcdetails.txt

Step 3: Navigate to This PC > Windows (C:) > Windows > System32.

You will find the text file called sfcdetails in the System32 folder.

Step 4: Open the file. It will display all the details of the SFC scan process.

If you can’t find the file in the System32 folder, here’s an alternative method for finding the SFC log file.

Type the following command in Run.

%windir%\logs\cbs\cbs.log

You will be redirected to a text file. Using the date and time in the leftmost column, scroll down to when you performed the SFC scan. All the information with a [SR] tag contains the details of the SFC scan process.