About sfc Sfc or sfc.exe stands for System File Checker . It’s a utility in Microsoft Windows operating systems, starting from Windows 98, that allows you to scan and restore corruptions in system files. The sfc utility is available for Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10. To run this utility you need to be logged in as an Administrator . Parameters The most command parameter for this utility is: sfc /scannow The /scannow command will scan for issues and, if it finds one, it will attempt to replace the files that have issues from the DLL Cache. In Windows Vista or later (7, 8, 8.1), the sfc utility can be used to scan individual files. Other parameters for the sfc utility are: sfc /scanonce will scan the system files only once. sfc /scanboot will scan the system files at every boot of your computer sfc /revert will return the scan to its default operating sfc /purgecache ...