Technology Tips – Published August 2023 in the Guide and Digest
By Don Trauger – Kennett
Windows’ built-in Deployment Image Servicing and Management command-line tool, a.k.a. DISM, has been around for about 15 years in various Windows versions. Its purpose is to maintain and repair Windows system files when the instruction (Dism) is commanded to run.
In Windows 10 or 11 >
1. Click the Search field then type Command Prompt. Right click the Command Prompt result in the window, and click the Run as administrator option.
2. Type the following command to perform a scan. Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth then press Enter.
3. After it finishes the scan it will notify you of what it fixed or if no errors were found it will say “Scan completed successfully”.
4. Rerun Dism if it found errors, if not, run SFC.
SFC is another Microsoft repair tool for Windows system files. If corrupted files are found SFC will repair those files.
In Windows 10 or 11 >
1. Repeat #1 as above.
2. Type the following command to perform a scan. SFC / Scannow then press Enter.
3. After it finishes the scan it will notify you of what it fixed or if no errors were found it will say “ Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.”.
4. Rerun SFC if errors were found.
These 2 tools only focus on Windows files. If you experience a problem on only 1 program consider uninstalling then reinstalling that program. Some programs offer a repair or reset feature that may work. To investigate that possibility go to Settings > Apps > Installed Apps then select your App. Click the 3 horizontal dots on the right and click Advanced options if shown. Scroll down for Repair and Reset options