Repairing One File That SFC Could Not Repair

[Seni Seven]

Question:

How do I get a file not repaired by System File Checker from a Vista DVD
and put it back on the Vista tree? Cannot find the file on the DVD.

Background:

I had rare problem with Vista (clean installed 3 months ago, after 28
months of the original installation working). My hard drive is probably
nearing life end, but there are only a few bad sectors (and only because
HP Pavilion notebooks are NOTORIOUS for overheating and reducing drive
life).

System Restore did not work: it stopped for hours at the "initializing"
phase at EVERY restore point, and this was in safe mode. Besides, I think
system restore only puts back the registry at a set time point, and does
nothing to fix damaged system files.

I then next went to Acronis True Image Home 2009, but it kept telling me
that my saved System States and C Partitions were not the last backup
volume! Panic sets in as the easy roads to help are closed.

So the next step was to use chkdsk in the 5-stage check (chkdsk /r). I
stopped running at a particular file check in the 4th stage. I then ran
chkdsk /r off a recovery CD (don't know where I got it)---thinking chkdsk
on the damaged partition was corrupted (infected??) and it found two bad
clusters on the 100 GB Seagate drive containing the Vista partition. One
was a c:\users\xxxx\appdata\.. problem (no biggie), but the other was a c:
\windows\winsxs\...\azroleui.dll.mui file.

I then re-started Vista on the damaged partition, and ran 'sfc /scannow':
it showed an unrepairable file, which was the file named above. I read
this page:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929833

which advised on how to find the files not repaired. But this did not
give information about how to recover the damaged file from the Vista DVD,
although this web page seemed to give the information (for 64-bit Vista):

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/261616-extract-files-vista-
installation-dvd.html

I used this information to extract the Home Premium image, but I cannot
find the file.

Although my Vista boot partition SEEMINGLY works, I have no idea what that
system file is used for. A user should be able to repair a single file
and get 'sfc' to report that all files are sound.

Of course, I can do a clean install/recovery to repair a SINGLE system
file, if I don't mind spending 1-2 days in countless cycles of downloading
updates and service packs with their numerous re-start cycles, and then
spending probably as much as 1-2 weeks re-installing applications and
getting them back to the configuration they are at now. (Does anyone
believe that it is possible to save application config files and then get
the re-installed application to open them and give the user the interface
he painstakingly configured?) By the way, I keep all my personal data on
a separate logical and physical drive, backed-up by simple copying to
external 1TB HD


I am using Vista 32-bit HomePrem.

 

[philo]

Question:

How do I get a file not repaired by System File Checker from a Vista DVD
and put it back on the Vista tree? Cannot find the file on the DVD.

Background:

I had rare problem with Vista (clean installed 3 months ago, after 28
months of the original installation working). My hard drive is probably
nearing life end, but there are only a few bad sectors (and only because
HP Pavilion notebooks are NOTORIOUS for overheating and reducing drive
life).

There is no sense in trying to repair your system if the harddrive is
defective.

Put in a new drive and perform a fresh install.

You can then at least revover your data from the old drive

 

[Seni Seven]

Question:

How do I get a file not repaired by System File Checker from a Vista
DVD and put it back on the Vista tree? Cannot find the file on the
DVD.

[......]

I am using Vista 32-bit HomePrem.

Since it is only 1 file, I understand you trying to fix it. Contrary
to the website name, the extract file tutorial applies to both x86 and
x64. If you give me the full directory and name of the file, I will
upload the correct copy. When you extract a file from an install DVD,
it is best to slipstream your DVD to SP2, so that you are not putting
a horrendously old dll into your SP2 Windows directory.

The corrupted file is identified as "azroleui.dll.mui"

The following command is executed:

===============
C:\Windows>dir /s azroleui.dll.mui
Volume in drive C is OS
Volume Serial Number is 1623-2DEA

Directory of C:\Windows\System32\en-US

02 Nov 2006 14:40 57,344 azroleui.dll.mui
1 File(s) 57,344 bytes

Directory of
C:\Windows\winsxs\x86_microsoft-windows-a..managerui.resources_31bf3856a
d364e35_6.0.6000.16386_en-us_42309d45183b2e5d

02 Nov 2006 14:40 57,344 azroleui.dll.mui
1 File(s) 57,344 bytes

Total Files Listed:
2 File(s) 114,688 bytes
0 Dir(s) 13,605,486,592 bytes free
==================

I am guessing all those hexadecimal numbers in the directory/folder name
in the 'winsxs' subdirectory refer to a hash code or digital signature
used to verify directory or file integrity (along with the version
number) by a program that substrings the directory name, computes the
hash code and compares it. I suppose (?) that the winsxs is a backup of
some kind, which makes it odd that if the file under System32\en-US and
...\winsxs\.. don't compare, why can't Windows determine which one is
corrupted and copy the one over the other?