Windows Server 2016: May 2018 Update bricks sfc

[German]Just a brief message for administrators supporting Windows Server 2016 installations. A cumulative update from May 2018 causes the System File Checker command sfc to stop working. June 2018 update didn't fix this issue.


Advertising

German blog reader Robert R. contacted me Friday (29.6.) in the late evening and reported problems with Windows Server 2016 (thanks for the info). He wrote::

SFC broken under Windows Server 2016 by MS Update

I verified this on my Windows 2016 servers, everyone has problems. Wasted a lot of time before I found the post. Maybe you can save others from this loss of time.

The blog reader pointed out to this Microsoft Technet forum post. A user described his findings:

May 17 + June 2018 Cumulative Updates: SFC Integrity violation: NlsData0000.dll

Installing the May 17 Cumulative Update for Server 2016  (OS Build 2273)
leads to the "SFC /scannow" command attempting to repair the file "NlsData0000.dll" in the Windows – SysWOW64 directory. The repair is reported as "successful", but when running the command again, another repair is attemped.

In other words: SFC /scannow never succeeds without integrity violations.

Uninstalling the May 17 CU helps (reverting to April 10, 2018 Build 2189).
No more integrity violations are shown after that.

Reinstall the May 17 CU and voila, the error returns.
Should be straightforward to reproduce (did so with two servers and a VM).
Maybe the MS guys should have bothered running the SFC command before
publishing the update, but I guess that would count as "testing" ;)
Please fix this issue with the next update and make SFC work without errors again!

Thanks and best regards
Klaas Klever

EDIT: Still happens with the June 2018 Cumulative Update (KB4284880)

So sfc /scannow is going into a check loop: It tries to repair a file, reports success and begins to repair again during the next scan. Uninstalling cumulative May 2018 update fixes this issue. The cumulative update for June 2018 (KB4284880) didn't fix this issue. The problem has been confirmed by several users. Maybe it's helpful for you.

Similar articles:
Windows 10 V1709: Store broken (wrong manifest layout)
Check and repair Windows system files and component store
Spotify app blocks Windows 10 system restore
Windows 10: News about System restore error 0x80070091
Windows 10 V 1607: Fix for system restore error 0x80070091


Advertising

This entry was posted in issue, Update, Windows and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Note: Please note the rules for commenting on the blog (first comments and linked posts end up in moderation, I release them every few hours, I rigorously delete SEO posts/SPAM).