System File Checker
Author
Discussion

ribol

Original Poster:

11,924 posts

284 months

Tuesday 23rd March 2004
quotequote all
Windows 98 has a system file checker (sfc.exe) in it that you could run whenever you wanted to check if any system files had gone on the missing list.
Does anyone know if anything similar exist within XP and if so how do you run it?

Ivan

warmfuzzies

4,348 posts

279 months

Tuesday 23rd March 2004
quotequote all
Yes, run sfc /scannow

kevin

ribol

Original Poster:

11,924 posts

284 months

Tuesday 23rd March 2004
quotequote all
Tried that, it did not work and did some strange things like ask for an XP Professional CD, mine is a Home version!!

Ivan

agent006

12,058 posts

290 months

Tuesday 23rd March 2004
quotequote all
XP should notice automatically when system files are changed. If they've gone missing it will tell you in a pretty obvious way.

ribol

Original Poster:

11,924 posts

284 months

Tuesday 23rd March 2004
quotequote all
agent006 said:
XP should notice automatically when system files are changed. If they've gone missing it will tell you in a pretty obvious way.

I take it that sfc.exe no longer exists on XP then? Still, to be fair, XP does not mess about anywhere near as much as Win98 did so maybe that is why it is not needed anymore.

Ivan

HarryW

15,954 posts

295 months

Wednesday 24th March 2004
quotequote all
sfc still runs on XP, just tried it, kept asking for the bloody original disc which seems a little strange to me since is been updated on-line a thousand times since it was insatalled, I can't see that being a valid reference file for it to use, or am I missing the point here

Harry

bga

8,134 posts

277 months

Wednesday 24th March 2004
quotequote all
Quinny said:
Sorry to butt in, my computer (windows 98) will not run the defrag or scan disc features, I've tried turning off Norton and a few other things I thought may be affecting it, but no joy.

Any ideas much apreciated.

Andy.


Try logging in in safe mode or command prompt.
Safemode should startup with the minimum of processes and let you run either prog without interruption.

IIRC if you use the command prompt you can invoke defrag by
C:>defrag c:

not too sure about scandisk, I'm sure someone will know

warmfuzzies

4,348 posts

279 months

Wednesday 24th March 2004
quotequote all
system file protection does exist in XP, it also reminds you not to overwrite files if they aren't ok, though not always.

If you tried the sfc /scannow option and it asked for the disk, just point it to your Home edition, and browse for the files, it should work.
Pro has more options for networking etc,

kevin

pdV6

16,442 posts

287 months

Wednesday 24th March 2004
quotequote all
warmfuzzies said:
system file protection does exist in XP

Moreover, when you reboot it automatically checks all system files and replaces any that it deems to have changed.

Bloody nightmare for developers!