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What is SFC?
How to Run an SFC Scan in Windows 10
What is CHKDSK?
How to Step by Step Run the CHKDSK Command in Windows 10
Are There Simple and Powerful CHKDSK Alternative Tools?
The Differences Between SFC and CHKDSK
While both SFC and CHKDSK are closely related to detecting corrupt files, there are distinct differences between the two. This article aims to provide an insight into their respective roles.
What is SFC?
SFC stands for System File Checker. It's a popular utility in Windows 10 designed to help administrators scan for and repair any damaged files. This tool is particularly effective in addressing issues with registry data. SFC is applicable to the latest Windows versions, such as Windows 7, 8, 10, and Vista.
The System File Checker enables users to open a Command Prompt window, which in turn allows triggering a system scan to check for damaged files. When running an SFC scan, it's recommended not to close the Command Prompt window until the process is complete.
During the scan, SFC may report that it found no integrity violations. If SFC is able to fix corrupted files, it displays a message stating that the tool found corrupt files and repaired them. If the tool can't handle the issue, a user may need to perform a manual replacement.
How to Run an SFC Scan in Windows 10
Here comes the fun part. To run the SFC, you must do as follows.
1. Right-click the Start menu icon and open Command Prompt with administrative privileges. Select "Command Prompt (Admin)" from the list. You can also use the Win + X shortcut and choose it to open Command Prompt.
Step 2. Once the Command Prompt is up, type in the following command to run the SFC scan:
- SFC /scannow (System File Checker command, which scans for and repairs errors in system files)
Make sure not to interrupt this process, and wait for it to finish. When the scan is complete, your results will be displayed.
Step 3. Press the Enter key on your keyboard. This will start the search for corrupted or missing files on your computer.
How does this scan your computer?
This command is very useful for people who are experiencing issues with corrupted files on their computer. It scans all protected system files and replaces damaged ones with cached copies stored in the compressed folder
SFC scan results:
If everything goes well, you'll see the following message when it's 100% complete: “Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.”
If the SFC scanner displays the following message: Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files and successfully repaired them. Details are included in the CBS.Log %WinDir%\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. You can then use the methods described below to check for components.
- 1. Open the Command Prompt, then type the following line of code and press Enter:
`Findstr /c:"[SR]" %windir%\logs\CBS\CBS.log > %userprofile%\Desktop\nsfcdetails.txt`
2. This command will search for lines containing "[SR]" within the CBS log and save the results to a file named "nsfcdetails.txt" on the user's desktop.
To repair corrupted system components, type the following command at the Command Prompt, and then press Enter:
DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
The “text” at the end of that command will contain the full details of the SFC scan, including the date and time. You can open the “sfcdetails.txt” file on your desktop to see all of the scan's details.
If the SFC scan doesn't fix your problem, you can try using SFCFix, a third-party tool that reads information from the CBS.log file to fix corruption issues.
More reads: SFC SCANNOW Stuck
What is CHKDSK?
This is a command in the Windows operating system used to check the integrity of a hard drive or floppy disk's file system. The CHKDSK command has several components, and we'll focus on the analysis part here, but that's not all CHKDSK can do. So, we'll show you how to view all the possible operations this tool can perform.
- To do this, you'll need to open the Windows Command Prompt again. Return to the Start menu, search for “cmd,” and run it as an administrator.
Type chkdsk /? and press Enter.
This will display all information related to the CHKDSK command in the Command Prompt. It will also indicate any parameters you can use with the tool if you want to be more specific.
- Type the code that comes after the `CHKDSK` command. For example, `chkdsk c: /l`, `chkdsk c: /f`, or `chkdsk c: /v`, depending on which other command you're using.
How to Run the CHKDSK Command in Windows 10, Step by Step
Many people want to know how to disable disk checking or CHKDSK on startup, but the truth is that the CHKDSK command can be very useful. So, with this guide, you will learn how to use or execute the CHKDSK command in Windows 10 to check for issues on your drive partitions.
The CHKDSK command is an excellent tool for identifying issues with your storage devices. If you've noticed performance or stability issues, we recommend running the diagnostic and repair tools in Windows.
Believe it or not, hard drive issues are usually the culprit behind a frozen computer or one that isn't working properly. You can use CHKDSK to check for disk partition errors that might be causing the malfunction, but first, you need to know how to use the CHKDSK command. Read on to learn the basics.
- First, open the Windows Start menu. Find it, then search for "cmd."
- When the Windows Command Prompt window appears, right-click on it and select "Run as administrator." This is very important because we need admin access to the options that will allow us to make changes to the device.
- When the Windows Command Prompt appears, type “chkdsk,” followed by the letter of the drive you want to scan, formatted as “chkdsk c:” (or whatever letter corresponds to the drive you're checking), and press Enter.
- When the process is finished, you'll see a summary of your drive. If Windows finds any issues with the drive, it will notify you. If you can't figure out how to fix them, use the DISM and SFC commands to repair Windows 10.
Are there any simple yet powerful alternatives to CHKDSK?
Though the Windows Command Prompt is quite useful for handling most hard drive issues and filesystem errors on your computer, not everyone can take full advantage of all the complex command-line operations. As you can see, there are varieties of CHKDSK commands for dealing with specific drive issues. Only those with advanced computer skills can avoid making mistakes. For ordinary users like most of us, it's not the best choice to use CHKDSK commands to check and fix hard disk partition errors.
We have a smarter alternative to the Windows CHKDSK utility – Partition Master. It is an all-in-one disk and partition management software that offers a range of practical features such as resizing/moving, deleting, formatting, hiding, copying, and cloning to make the most out of your disk partitions. It's a third-party solution that covers all needs for managing Windows hard disks and partitions. Let's see how to run a disk check on a drive with it:
Step 1: Launch AOMEI Partition Assistant on your computer. Then, right-click the disk that you need to check and choose "Advanced" > "Check File System".
(2) In the Check Disk Utility dialog box, select the Automatically fix file system errors option, and then click Start.
Step 3: The software will now scan the partition's file system on the disk. When it's done, click “Finish”.
[[6]](#6) The Difference Between SFC and CHKDSK
Whereas CHKDSK runs its error-checking functions on a specific partition of your hard drive, SFC scans for and attempts to fix file errors on your Windows 10 system. If SFC detects any corrupted or missing system files, it automatically replaces them with healthy versions. You should run SFC when Windows 10 crashes with a blue screen and a message about missing files.
Conclusion
Both serve almost the same function, which is to scan for file errors. However, SFC has specific specifications for the aforementioned Windows series. Not only that, but SFC also takes action automatically, while CHKDSK tends to “report.”