How to repair vista system files with System File Checker

Most computer geeks at some point will mess around with their PC, modify a few settings, and accidently corrupt an important system file It can happen from a number of things, including malcious viruses as well. A system restore can often fix these issues, however this will also reverse any other change of settings that you had previously made as well. So this is where the system file checker comes in handy.

Here are the steps to use the system file checker:

1. Click on the “start menu”, and do a search for “command”.
2. This should bring up the result “command prompt”.
3. Right click on this, and select “run as administrator”.

   

4. When you are in the command prompt, type in “sfc” (without the quotes):

   

   You have two options when choosing which system files to assess:

   - sfc /verifyonly – This only scans for corrupt files, but does not attempt to repair them.
   - sfc /scannow – This scans for corrupt files, and will attempt to repair them.

   The scan will ususally take up to 20 minutes, so be patient!

Tags | repair, vista