Using dism & sfc with errors

Question

@Docs
I was advised to create a new thread for my issues trying to repair a hybrid mbr/uefi installation of Windows 10 updated up to 21H1 through windows update.

Windows in this scenario will not allow an in place upgrade using windows 21H1 setup iso giving the usual lame reason of unusual uefi configuration.

All the Dism advice to fix Windows 10 21H1 failed for me apart from these two used consecutively:

dism.exe /Online /Cleanup-Image /AnalyzeComponentStore

dism.exe /Online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup

Running
sfc /scannow I get
C:\windows\system32>sfc /scannow

Beginning system scan. This process will take some time.

Beginning verification phase of system scan.
Verification 100% complete.

Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them.
For online repairs, details are included in the CBS log file located at
windir\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For example C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log.

Background - cloned a mbr with uefi bootloader from a sata hard disk to a sata ssd disk, had to do some adjusting so bootloader works with bcdboot command line after creating a fat32 esp partition.

Docs-4663 advised me to do this -

In the new thread post images or share links (one drive, drop box, or google drive) with these commands and results:

sfc /scannow
dism /online /cleanup-image /scanhealth
dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
sfc /scannow

so since I did
sfc /scannow

I will complete with the rest i.e.
dism /online /cleanup-image /scanhealth
dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
sfc /scannow

--- to be filled with results below... ---

C:\windows\system32>dism /online /cleanup-image /scanhealth

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.19041.844

Image Version: 10.0.19043.1237

[==========================100.0%==========================] The component store is repairable.
The operation completed successfully.

C:\windows\system32>dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.19041.844

Image Version: 10.0.19043.1237

[==========================100.0%==========================]
Error: 0x800f081f

The source files could not be found.
Use the "Source" option to specify the location of the files that are required to restore the feature. For more information on specifying a source location, see https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=243077.

The DISM log file can be found at C:\windows\Logs\DISM\dism.log

---

So the question is where is the source file - I did change the policy so it will use windows update as source, but it does not seem to comply...

since the last command failed, is there a point in running sfc / scannow again?

Answer 1

Finally - October 12, 2021—KB5006670 (OS Builds 19041.1288, 19042.1288, and 19043.1288)
Some update files are missing or have problems. We'll try to download the update again later. Error code: (0x80073712).

System successfully updated to KB5006670 on 22/10/2021.

I believe the repair package by Tweaking.com cleaned & repaired Windows Update for me.

Next step - I will clone this installation to an SSD so I can run it on other more powerful compatible PCs whilst keeping all the features & settings of my main PC - which btw is not compatible with Windows 11, & no sorry I won't pay for yet another PC for the "privilege" to use Windows 11.
The older cloned SSD I formatted because its installation was beyond repair.

cc @Docs

Answer 2

Spoken too fast - in place upgrade didn't work from 20H2 to 21H1 for me after all...

will give it a rest & wait for Windows Update to finally do it, if it does...

Answer 3

I managed to get back into my Windows main HDD system - I have no precise idea how, these are the steps I took:

Use command line to delete all windows system & local caches (didn't work)

Make Administrator account visible & activated using command line (didn't work)

Re-Create my old local user account & assigning it to the Administrators group (didn't work)

Use PCUnlocker Enterprise to make my old user local account log in automatically without use of login screen - this finally worked.

I do not know if what I did previously helped in any way, they were just suggestions I collated from my scouring boards in which users claimed it helped with a blurred no password prompt login screen.

Another thing I did before all this as I said was to run chkdsk on the C: boot drive, & disable all non essential windows services & apps (msconfig), also disable all startup programs (task manager).
There was at least one user who said that this gave him the issue too (disabling all non essential windows services & apps).

Another thing, when I managed to come in back into the system I tried the windows update utility for 21H1, it went unstuck & almost updated until when it reached 71% it borked & put back the PC into the way it was before i.e. 20H2.

I am glad I am now back into the system & will be content to have a working system with 20H2.
The cloned SSD I use on another system, maybe 21H1 is not for this PC as Windows Update never prompted for it as optional update, but did on the other PC.

I am now running sfc /scannow to make sure any pending issue gets fixed as well.

The End.

Answer 4

I managed to get back into my Windows main HDD system - I have no precise idea how, these are the steps I took:

Use command line to delete all windows system & local caches (didn't work)

Make Administrator account visible & activated using command line (didn't work)

Re-Create my old local user account & assigning it to the Administrators group (didn't work)

Use PCUnlocker Enterprise to make my old user local account log in automatically without use of login screen - this finally worked.

I do not know if what I did previously helped in any way, they were just suggestions I collated from my scouring boards in which users claimed it helped with a blurred no password prompt login screen.

Another thing I did before all this as I said was to run chkdsk on the C: boot drive, & disable all non essential windows services & apps (msconfig), also disable all startup programs (task manager).
There was at least one user who said that this gave him the issue too (disabling all non essential windows services & apps).

Another thing, when I managed to come in back into the system I tried the windows update utility for 21H1, it went unstuck & almost updated until when it reached 71% it borked & put back the PC into the way it was before i.e. 20H2.

I am glad I am now back into the system & will be content to have a working system with 20H2.

The cloned SSD I use on another system, maybe 21H1 is not for this PC as Windows Update never prompted for it as optional update, but did on the other PC.

I am now running sfc /scannow to make sure any pending issue gets fixed as well.
No issues reported.

The End.

Answer 5

One last thing hopefully -

my aim was to upgrade from Windows 10 20H2 to 21H1 - I went through a lot of hoops to find out a dirty Microsoft secret - & that I just needed to download a small file to do it, not time consuming in place upgrading or the also time consuming use of Microsoft Windows 10 21H1 update tool which didn't work anyway as it failed at 71% progress & then rolled back to 20H2.

I looked for the small update file called: Featured update to Windows 10, version 21H1 using an enablement package, its release name is KB5000736, oddly it was not available in the Microsoft update catalogue repository, I was going to search for it in my other install which updated on its own to 21H1, but was able to get a copy from a friendly support site, the size, a meagre 167KB!
The complete full name: windows10.0-kb5000736-x64_880844224a175033802b3d7a1f40ec304c0548dd.msu.

So task completed, I am now updated to 21H1 from 20H2.

I wonder why Microsoft does not make the file available in its catalogue repository.

The requirement to successfully upgrade with this small package is explained here:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/topic/kb5000736-featured-update-to-windows-10-version-21h1-by-using-an-enablement-package-75a01e67-3b5f-4677-8efe-42852e41c7cf

The final END (hopefully)