What Boot Errors Can SFC Fix in Windows 10/11?

Can SFC fix Windows boot errors? In this video, we explain which Windows 10 and Windows 11 startup problems System File Checker (SFC) can repair — and which boot problems require other repair methods. SFC is designed to repair corrupted or missing protected Windows system files. It can often help when important files such as ntoskrnl.exe, winload.exe, winload.efi, or hal.dll are damaged. SFC may also help with some startup errors when system-file corruption is the underlying cause, including: 0xc000000f CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED 0xc000021a SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION Some kernel-related startup errors Some INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE cases involving corrupted Microsoft storage drivers However, SFC usually cannot repair boot-configuration or disk-structure problems such as: 0xc0000034 — BCD missing or corrupted 0xc0000098 — invalid BCD 0xc0000225 — boot configuration/device problems BOOTMGR is missing Missing or damaged EFI System Partition No Boot Device Found MBR/GPT or partition-table damage Offline SFC example: sfc /scannow /offbootdir=C:\ /offwindir=C:\Windows Note: When booted into WinPE or another recovery environment, the Windows partition may not be C:. If SFC finds corrupted files but cannot repair them, you may need to repair the Windows image with DISM and then run SFC again. Chapters: 00:00 What Boot Errors Can SFC Fix? 00:03 Boot Problems SFC Can Often Fix 00:09 An example to use SFC Fix 00:36 Boot Errors SFC Cannot Fix 00:53 SFC Boot Repair Summary