05 Mar 2002
Installation of new programs can be a lottery on Windows PCs. The problem is that you can never be sure what the installation is actually doing.
New software will often overwrite or modify existing system files, such as DLLs. The problem is that if the version is wrong, Windows will often start to play up. If this happens inside Windows 2000, don't worry: there's a tool that can help.
Microsoft bundles the OS with a command-line utility called System File Checker (sfc.exe). If Windows stops working correctly after a program installation, then this utility can be run.
It scans and verifies local system files. If a wrong or modified version is discovered, the correct version is automatically copied from c:\winnt\system32\dllcache. After a reboot, Windows should start behaving properly.
For the tool to work, you have to be logged on with administrator privileges. Typing the command: sfc /scanboot /quiet will automatically scan all system files at boot time and automatically replace invalid versions.
This should cut down on the amount of administration you have to perform due to poor installation routines.
The utility has many other modes of operation. For more information you can type sfc at the command line to get a list of switches, or take a look in the Windows 2000 help file.
This utility is not available for Windows NT or earlier machines.
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