How long does Windows Repair take?

[Wasatch Rebel]

I am running Windows Repair to fix a "system event notification service" problem.  I am running Windows 7 and I got advice to uncheck all the repair boxes, then tick boxes 1, 10, 13, and 26. I think I got that from someone here, or at the tech guy forum. Anyway, I have done so, and I downloaded it and started the process late last night and it's still running and still on operation 1 of 4. I thought that it must be hanging up, but there still appears to be some CPU activity. I'm thinking it shouldn't be taking anywhere near this long and earlier I tried to shut it down so I could try running it again, but I got a warning message "access denied, shutting down could cause problems". Thoughts?

[Boggin]

It shouldn't be taking that long.

Are you running the program in Safe Mode ?

Did you run any of the pre-steps such as a sfc /scannow or chkdsk /f or an antimalware scan before running the repair program ?

Generally when the program takes a long time to complete a repair, there is an underlying cause, but I'll ask for advice on this.

[Wasatch Rebel]

I did not run any kind of pre-checking of the disk. I had Googled a notification I was having with "System event notification service" being unable to start and someone at the Tech Guy Forum had posted the exact question I had and the person who was helping said to run Windows Repair, but only check boxes 1, 10, 13, and 26. The guy who was asking for help said, "Yay! It worked!" or something like that. There wasn't anything in the steps outlined there about doing anything prior to running it or running it in safe mode, and I just clicked on the link there which took me to the download page which didn't have any of those kinds of instructions either. I didn't find this forum until I began thinking something was wrong if it was taking so long...the CPU usage is fluctuating, but is really low and often drops to zero.

[Boggin]

I've asked for advice on this as I didn't want to advise you to stop the program via Task Manager if that would let you.

You should run the program in Safe Mode as your antivirus program can get in the way when running the program in normal mode.

What can work for some doesn't necessarily work for others as the cause can be different, but you should read through a program before jumping in.

The program has an excellent Help section which you should have read before running it.

[Wasatch Rebel]

Thanks. Yeah. I should have read the Help section. I will go back and read it, then try and do as you suggest and run it in Safe Mode. I appreciate you help. Thanks again.

[Boggin]

The program has a button to get you into Safe Mode with Networking and then you would open the program as normal.

The sfc /scannow and chdksk /f will take some time and while the sfc /scannow will report its findings in the command window, to read the full chkdsk report, you will need to go into Event Viewer.

To view this, go Start - type eventvwr and press enter then ensure Event Viewer (Local) is highlighted in the left pane - if it isn't then just click on it.

When it has read the data, expand Windows Logs and click on Application/Action - Find - then type chkdsk or wininit into the Find box and press enter.

Cancel the Find box and read the log in the scrollable window.

Windows Repair cannot repair services that have been affected by an infection if it still present, which is why you should also include an antimalware scan in your pre-steps.

I use the free version of MBAM for my scans other than what Norton Security does.

https://www.malwarebytes.com/mwb-download/

While Safe Mode will probably isolate any infection, it would be reinstated when you boot back into normal mode and that repair could be undone.

[Wasatch Rebel]

Thanks. So, if I'm reading the Help section right, it says to go into Safe Mode, but you only need to run it in Safe Mode with Networking if you're running Windows 8?

[Boggin]

It needs to use Safe Mode with Networking for Win 8/8.1 and 10 because it needs to go online for the apps repairs, but you should also run it in Safe Mode to isolate your antivirus program, as the repair program deals with your registry and an AV program can take exception to that.

Whether that was the cause of the Permissions reset to take so long - I don't know, but running the program in Safe Mode will eliminate that as a cause.

[Wasatch Rebel]

Yeah, I understand that I should run it in Safe Mode, but I guess what I'm asking is whether I should use the button going into Safe Mode with Networking, or if I should do the Safe Mode without networking, since I'm using Windows 7.

[Wasatch Rebel]

Maybe it doesn't matter which Safe Mode I use. I will just try the button. 

[Boggin]

Yes, I guess just Safe Mode will be okay for Win 7, but did you manage to stop the program ?

[Wasatch Rebel]

Yes. I was able to stop it. I tried doing chkdsk /f and I got a message like this:
Chkdsk cannot be run because the volume is in use by another process. Would you like to schedule this volume to be checked the nest time the system restarts? (Y/N) I typed Y. I'm not sure anything happened with regards to chkdsk when I restarted--even in Safe Mode.
For some reason my download of Malwarebytes still hasn't completed, so I haven't run that, but I did run Super Anti-Spyware before beginning, which I already had and updated it prior to running.  I tried twice to run the repairs with every box ticked, but it failed. Then I ran it again with just the boxes ticked listed above, plus 25 as well and it worked. I have rebooted after each attempt and I'm going to try running it again with all boxes checked.

[Wasatch Rebel]

Oh, and after rebooting into Normal Mode, the message I was getting is gone. But I want to go ahead and run the whole program to fix anything else that might be lurking. I'm running the sfc /scannow again and then I'll reboot into safe mode and give it another go with all the boxes checked.

[Boggin]

When performing a chkdsk /f or /r that message you get is normal and after the reboot you should get a message that a chkdsk has been scheduled and will execute on a countdown.

If you didn't see that then it didn't run.

When you boot into the advanced boot options, select Repair your computer and navigate to the Recovery Environment and select Command Prompt.

You can do a chkdsk from there where the machine doesn't have to dismount the volume and you will see it go through the three stages and it's report will remain on screen.

At the Command Prompt enter bcdedit |find "osdevice"

Then using the partition letter it gives, enter chkdsk x: /f where x is your partition letter.

That is a Pipe symbol before find and is the uppercase of \

Because you are booted outside of Windows, it doesn't always see the volume as in C:

Disregard the status code 50 at the end as that just means it cannot write a chkdsk report to the Event Viewer.

Did you try the MBAM download in Safe Mode with Networking ?