No sfc and no windows updates

Hey guys.  I'm disinfecting a computer and have removed all of the malware that could be found.  I have run Farbar, adwCleaner, JRT, MalwareBytes, TDSS, and CCleaner.  So far everything seems clean, but I cannot do an sfc /scannow.  I get a message that says: "Windows Resource Protection could not perform the requested operation."  Also when I try to do windows updates, I get an error: Code 80073712.  Currently there is no system image that I can restore too and there are no system restores that are useful.  What are my options?

Sounds like a Vista or newer system and you didn't run SFC from an elevated command prompt.

Dangit… sorry.  I forgot to mention the OS.

Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit

Model: HP G62 Notebook

Ram: 4GB

It was run with an elevated command prompt.  I also tried booting with a clean boot to no avail.  Tried to run it from a new user profile and had no luck either.

Maybe doing what David Baley recommends here would help? http://www.eightforums.com/windows-updates-activation/53755-forced-upgrade-windows-8-1-a.html#post451744
 
DISM followed by SFC followed by another DISM then a last SFC.
 
If not, post the results of the following steps here so we can look at it.
 
SFC logs it's actions in C:\WINDOWS\LOGS\CBS\CBS.LOG. [SR] tags in the log identify the SFC specific entries.

• Open a elevated command prompt.
• In the elevated command prompt, type
• findstr /c:"[SR]" %windir%\logs\cbs\cbs.log >%userprofile%\Desktop\sfcdetails.txt
• and press Enter.
• Close the elevated command prompt.
• Attach the sfcdetails.txt from your desktop here.

My guess is you are getting Access Denied for some of the files in the winsxs folder.
 
Edit: Windows 7 doesn't use DISM. It uses SURT instead. Windows 8 is where DISM starts being used for this, sorry.
 
Install and run the System Update Readiness Tool (SURT): See here What is the System Update Readiness Tool? in place of DISM.

I've used DISM and am greatful that that exists on Windows 8 and I have wanted it to exist on windows 7 and vista. 

I've downloaded and installed SURT.  I'm not sure how to run it.  I'm assuming it's not as easy as dism's dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth?  Is there a surt command option?

Doesn't hurt to google a little bit I guess:

I don't know how to fix that and Google doesn't give much. Several I saw indicated a corrupted registry COMPONENT hive and the only fix was a Clean Install.

You could try a Repair Install but the ones I saw that tried that had it fail due to the corrupted COMPONENT hive.

Maybe someone else has another idea?

Its' always difficult when trying to disinfect a machine, to know exactly what the infections have done to damage the operating system and its important files and registry settings.

 

I agree with Rich, a fresh install may be called for here….

 

However i have two suggestions that may help before you undertake this:

 

1 try running chkdsk with the r switch from a command prompt with elevated privileges

the command is:

chkdsk /r

accept the warning

y

exit

reboot

and see if this helps( you may have to run it two or 3 times)

 

2 next you could try Shane's "All in One repair tool"

its a simple way of resetting permissions etc.,

available ( free) from here:

www.tweaking.com

 

Let us know how things go

Regards

paws

Well guys… it ain't looking good.  I had tried doing a chkdsk /r yesterday and it wouldn't complete.  It kept stalling at around 19%, reboot and start over.  I stopped it after the 3rd time through.  I also tried Shane's tool with no effect.  I also tried auto updater to see if I could get the windows updates offline.  I was able to install the updates, but neither sfc nor windows update work still.  I think a clean install is my option.  The system is actually usable and I don't see any malware present.  I just don't like the fact that I can't update and I can't even complete a check disk repair successfully.  Not good.  Thanks for all the help guys.

Ok , That's not looking good… it could well be that your hard drive is beginning to fail….

you can download a good testing repair utility for the make of drive concerned from here:

http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287

 

First run the short test, if it passes then run the long test ( there is no need to run the acoustic test)

 

If it fails then I would be inclined to buy a new hard drive and do the fresh install on that.

Regards

paws

Check the hard drive with the manufacturer's diagnostic tools.
7 Free Hard Drive Testing Programs
Hard Drive Diagnostics Tools and Utilities (Storage) - TACKtech Corp.
Bootable Hard Drive Diagnostics

Well I made a little bit of progress.  I tried running SeaTools against the Seagate drive but I hit a brick wall.  This was a few days ago so I don't remember exactly what the issue was.  I at least knew that there was a hard drive issue.  I tried a tool called HDD Regenerator and let it run all night.  This tool isn't typically successful for me, but I use it to see how many sectors are bad.  In the morning I found that there were 450+ bad sectors that it said it "repaired" on two separate portions of the disk.  It must have done something right because I was able to run the chkdsk /r to completion.  

I was still unable to run sfc and windows updates.  But there was another curious thing happening.  Some portion of windows updates were working because the shutdown button on the start menu started showing that there were windows updates to install.  I would let these run and they were able to update fine.  In spite of that, I'm still unable to use the built in Windows Update tool because it still shows the 80073712 error.  I no longer have the computer since my friend needed to use it again.  I let them know that the days on the laptop are numbered and they should migrate everything as soon as possible.  When they are fully migrated, I may ask if I can experiment with it to see if I can get an in place Windows Upgrade to work with the repaired sectors for curiosity sake.  They do know that they would need a new HD if they want to continue using the computer.

At this point we can probably close this thread.  Thanks a ton for your advice.  I didn't know about SURT so I'll have to add that to my friend helping super powers.  

Ok All understood.

Thanks to Rich for his usual most excellent advice.

We don't close topics as a  rule in this forum so we'll leave it open as others with similar problems may come across it via the search engines and may be helped by the various posts.