3

I ran into an issue on Windows 8.1 that can be fixed (according to articles I've read online) by running automatic repair, so that's what I tried to do.

Each time I run it, automatic repair fails and says, "Automatic Repair couldn't repair your PC"...and then it says it wrote this log file:

D:\Windows\System32\Logfiles\Srt\SrtTrail.txt

This doesn't make much sense to me, because that log file is in a D: drive which doesn't map to a hard disk. My D: drive is a CD-drive, not a hard disk. I'm not sure how I could check this log file and find the underlying problem here to fix automatic repair...when I check the same log file in my C: drive it doesn't contain any errors...probably because it logs my last boot into Windows...so is there even some way to check this file while in the repair screens?

Improve this question
6
  • D: may be your system recovery drive, since it's just a FAT32 drive and nothing's stopping the OS from writing to it. Not sure why it chose that drive to write to, but oh well. Go into Computer Management and mount your system recovery drive and see if you can find the file.
    – allquixotic
    Apr 15, 2014 at 13:20
  • @allquixotic Thanks, I'll give that a shot when I get home from work!
    – Alexandru
    Apr 15, 2014 at 13:24
  • On a side note, automatic repair (formally startup repair in Windows 7) is notoriously bad at fixing anything. I've never once had it work correctly.
    – Nathan C
    Apr 15, 2014 at 13:55
  • @NathanC I think I must have some infection on my system that's causing DCOM errors, and I read this post which implies running an automatic repair fixes the issue: answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-system/…
    – Alexandru
    Apr 15, 2014 at 14:28
  • Alternatively, I think my primary drive might be failing...that might be the root cause. I'm also going to run a manual disk check on my C: drive in safe mode: thewindowsclub.com/disk-error-checking-windows-8
    – Alexandru
    Apr 15, 2014 at 14:29

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
3

Obviously the D: drive seems not to be the one you expect.

When I start my Windows from a virtual hard disk, all drives are interchanged as well.

In the repair menu/screen, you can hit Shift+F10 on your keyboard to get a command prompt.

Use the following commands to determine your hard disks:

C:\Windows\system32>diskpart

Microsoft DiskPart version 6.1.7601
Copyright (C) 1999-2008 Microsoft Corporation.
On computer: My-PC

DISKPART> list volume

Since I don't know the exact problem, here are some solution guesses that may help. From that command prompt you can manually repair your system with:

Repair system files:

sfc /scannow

rebuilding the BCD

bootrec /fixmbr
bootrec /fixboot
bootrec /rebuildbcd

Scanning your disk for problems:

chkdsk D: /f

where D: refers to your system partition.

Improve this answer
4
  • This is a really, really great tip. I will try it out tonight.
    – Alexandru
    Apr 15, 2014 at 14:55
  • 1
    I think that from this, I can also check the automated repair logs using the "more" and "type" commands to read the file: windows-commandline.com/read-file-from-command-line
    – Alexandru
    Apr 15, 2014 at 15:02
  • 1
    You should be albe to use that shortcut, else you simply boot up with a USB-Stick that contains the Win installation instead. And yes you're right, the "more"-command is perfect for viewing files in cmd, but I'm pretty sure you can open any textfile with notepad by just open the file from the console. Like this x:\Sources> D:\Windows\System32\Logfiles\Srt\SrtTrail.txt
    – MrMAG
    Apr 15, 2014 at 16:33
  • It looks like my primary hard drive has failed.
    – Alexandru
    Apr 16, 2014 at 0:53

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .