Question

Difficulty: MediumResolving System File Corruption and Driver Issues

A system administrator is troubleshooting an offline Windows 11 workstation after an abrupt power loss corrupted core system binaries. Running the System File Checker utility (`sfc /scannow`) reports that corrupt files were found, but Windows Resource Protection could not repair them because the local side-by-side component store is also corrupted. The administrator mounts a clean Windows 11 installation ISO onto drive E:. Which command should the administrator run first to repair the component store using the mounted media?

  1. dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth /source:E:\sources\install.wim /limitaccessAnswer
  2. B
    sfc /scannow /source:E:\sources\install.wim /limitaccess
  3. C
    sfc /scannow /purgecache
  4. D
    Open Event Viewer, clear the System log, and launch the Device Manager repair wizard

Answer

Run dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth /source:E:\sources\install.wim /limitaccess to repair the local component store before running SFC.
The correct command uses Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM) with the `/online` parameter to target the running operating system, `/cleanup-image /restorehealth` to fix image corruption, `/source` pointing to the install.wim file on the mounted media, and `/limitaccess` to prevent the tool from reaching out to Windows Update since the machine is offline.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the cause of SFC failure
SFC fails when the local Windows component store (WinSxS) is corrupted, requiring DISM repair first.
SFC uses the component store as its reference repository to replace damaged system files.
2
Select the DISM command with offline source parameters
Execute dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth with /source pointing to the install.wim file on drive E: and /limitaccess.
Since the computer is offline, /limitaccess prevents DISM from attempting to download repair files from Windows Update, forcing it to use the mounted ISO media.
3
Re-run System File Checker
Execute sfc /scannow after DISM completes successfully.
With a repaired component store, SFC can now successfully replace corrupted OS files.

Key Concept

Repairing Windows Component Store with DISM before SFC
Estimated Time:1m 30s
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