Windows Repair has been running for 6 hours and seems stuck on job 39

[coover]

It has been on job 39, Step 1 of 2, for most of that 6 hours. It is showing that it is using about 5% plus or minus 1 to 2% CPU and about 5.5 GB memory, no reading or writing seems to be taking place at this time. The process count shows 216 (whatever that means). I am using the latest version of Windows Repair and the computer has the latest version of Windows 10 pro completely updated. The purpose of the repair was that the computer would not create a System Restore Point. It seemed to freeze.

[Boggin]

You can stop the repair program and open either a Command Prompt (Admin) or Powershell (Admin) and enter chkdsk /r then enter -

shutdown /r /t 00 to effect an immediate reboot.

You can view the chkdsk log - open Event Viewer - expand Windows Logs - click on Application/Action/Find then type chkdsk into the Find box.

Cancel the Find box and read the log in the scrollable pane below.

Primarily you are looking to see if it reports any KBs in Bad sectors.

The /r switch will move what data it can to good sectors although it cannot repair bad sectors.

If it reports bad sectors then you will need to immediately create a system image onto external media in preparation for full HDD failure.

If it reports that then check to see if it will create a restore point.

If the chkdsk comes back clean then open either a Command Prompt (Admin) or Powershell (Admin) and enter these cmds -

dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth

sfc /scannow

Enter exit to close the cmd window but let me know if the sfc /scannow reports anything other than it repaired all corruption or found no integrity violations.

An infection can also cause problems with restore points, so an antivirus scan with a robust scanner may be advisable.

I occasionally use the free ESET Online Scanner - https://www.eset.com/us/home/online-scanner/?intcmp=intrw

[coover]

Thank you ... have done so, and am rebooting now ... It has been rebooting for about 1 1/2 hours, apparently trying to repair Windows. I'll have to wait awhile to see if I'm going to have to reinstall or not.

[Boggin]

Is that reboot before the chksk /r completed or just after the shutdown cmd ?

Rather than a clean install, should you need to do so, if you can boot windows you can perform a repair install which doesn't affect your personal stuff or installed programs.

I assume you have Win 10 install media ?

Let me know if the machine eventually reboots or if you get a BSOD and any error messages.