Another bug in the Windows 11 24H2 update has been found, which causes sfc /scannow to detect corrupt files on every run.
Many users will know the incantation sfc /scannow. You type it into your Windows Terminal, and it runs for a very long time, reporting on corrupt or missing files it finds, and whether it was able to repair or replace them.
The new bug causes sfc to find corrupt files, fix them, and then when it is run again, find another “corrupt file” and “fixes/replaces it” again. It doesn’t matter how many times you run it, Windows File checker will repair something.
This indicates that the problems found are false positives. Users use sfc to perform system maintenance, so seeing recurrent corrupt files on every scan will cause confusion, and cause them to keep trying to fix a problem that doesn’t exist.
Users first flagged up the issue in Microsoft’s Windows 11 Feedback hub posts.
One user wrote:
“With the latest Windows 11 updates, when I try to do SFC /scannnow, it shows errors every time even though it should have fixed them already.“
Another wrote:
“SFC Scan on the new 24H2 shows errors and does not correct itself despite repeated attempts to correct it. Each time I run the SFC Scan, it shows “Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files and successfully repaired them.”
Windowslatest.com ran tests to see the bug in action. After running sfc /scannow, they were met with this message:
“Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files and successfully repaired 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. For offline repairs, details are included in the log file provided by the /OFFLOGFILE flag.“
When they ran the scan again, the same message, saying the exact same thing popped up again.
It’s not unusual for large software updates like this to experience bugs. In the Windows 11 22H2 update, File Explorer had a bug that would frequently cause freezes or crashes. And we’ve previously reported on two bugs found so far in the Windows 11 24H2 update: the first, disappearing cursors; the second, an undeletable 8.63 GB update cache.
Microsoft is aware of the bugs and is probably working on some patches as we write. So, keep your eyes peeled.