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System Health and Repair Guide

Windows 11 System Health and Repair Guide

Section titled “Windows 11 System Health and Repair Guide”

This guide provides step-by-step instructions and terminal commands to diagnose and resolve system stability issues on Windows 11.

Table of Contents

Section titled “Table of Contents”
  1. Basic System Checks
  2. Disk Health and Repair
  3. System File Integrity
  4. Windows Update Troubleshooting
  5. Driver Management
  6. Performance Optimization
  7. Boot Configuration Repair
  8. Memory Diagnostics
  9. Application Troubleshooting
  10. Advanced Recovery Options

Basic System Checks

Section titled “Basic System Checks”

Check System Health Report

Section titled “Check System Health Report”

Generate a comprehensive system health report to identify issues:

Terminal window
perfmon /report

Run System Assessment Tool

Section titled “Run System Assessment Tool”

Assess overall system performance:

Terminal window
winsat formal

View Event Logs for Critical Errors

Section titled “View Event Logs for Critical Errors”
Terminal window
Get-EventLog -LogName System -EntryType Error -Newest 20 | Format-Table -AutoSize

Check Running Services

Section titled “Check Running Services”
Terminal window
Get-Service | Where-Object {$_.Status -eq "Running"} | Sort-Object DisplayName

Disk Health and Repair

Section titled “Disk Health and Repair”

Run Check Disk Utility

Section titled “Run Check Disk Utility”

Scan and repair disk errors (replace C: with relevant drive letter):

Terminal window
chkdsk C: /f /r

Parameters:

  • /f - Fixes errors on the disk
  • /r - Locates bad sectors and recovers readable information

Analyze Disk Usage

Section titled “Analyze Disk Usage”
Terminal window
Get-Volume

Defragment and Optimize Drives

Section titled “Defragment and Optimize Drives”
Terminal window
defrag C: /A /V

Parameters:

  • /A - Analyze only
  • /V - Verbose output

To perform actual optimization:

Terminal window
defrag C: /O /V

Check Disk Health (SMART Status)

Section titled “Check Disk Health (SMART Status)”
Terminal window
wmic diskdrive get status, caption, size

System File Integrity

Section titled “System File Integrity”

Run System File Checker

Section titled “Run System File Checker”

Scan and repair corrupted Windows system files:

Terminal window
sfc /scannow

Run DISM Health Restoration

Section titled “Run DISM Health Restoration”

Repair Windows image:

Terminal window
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth

For more detailed scanning:

Terminal window
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth

To restore health:

Terminal window
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

Verify Component Store

Section titled “Verify Component Store”

Check the Windows Component Store for corruption:

Terminal window
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /AnalyzeComponentStore

Reduce component store size:

Terminal window
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup

For deeper cleanup (may take longer):

Terminal window
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup /ResetBase

Windows Update Troubleshooting

Section titled “Windows Update Troubleshooting”

Reset Windows Update Components

Section titled “Reset Windows Update Components”
Terminal window
net stop wuauserv
net stop cryptSvc
net stop bits
net stop msiserver


ren C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.old
ren C:\Windows\System32\catroot2 catroot2.old


net start wuauserv
net start cryptSvc
net start bits
net start msiserver

Run Windows Update Troubleshooter from Command Line

Section titled “Run Windows Update Troubleshooter from Command Line”
Terminal window
msdt.exe /id WindowsUpdateDiagnostic

Check for Updates Manually

Section titled “Check for Updates Manually”
Terminal window
UsoClient StartScan
UsoClient StartDownload
UsoClient StartInstall

Driver Management

Section titled “Driver Management”

List All Drivers

Section titled “List All Drivers”
Terminal window
pnputil /enum-drivers

Check for Driver Issues

Section titled “Check for Driver Issues”
Terminal window
Get-PnpDevice | Group-Object Status | Format-Table Name, Count

Update Drivers via PowerShell (requires admin rights)

Section titled “Update Drivers via PowerShell (requires admin rights)”
Terminal window
winget upgrade --all

Export Driver List

Section titled “Export Driver List”
Terminal window
pnputil /export-drivers /path C:\Drivers

Performance Optimization

Section titled “Performance Optimization”

Clean Temporary Files

Section titled “Clean Temporary Files”
Terminal window
Remove-Item $env:TEMP\* -Recurse -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

Disable Unnecessary Startup Programs

Section titled “Disable Unnecessary Startup Programs”
Terminal window
Get-CimInstance Win32_StartupCommand | Select-Object Name, Location, Command | Format-Table -AutoSize

To manage startup items graphically:

Terminal window
msconfig

Analyze System Resource Usage

Section titled “Analyze System Resource Usage”
Terminal window
Get-Process | Sort-Object -Property CPU -Descending | Select-Object -First 10

Clear DNS Cache

Section titled “Clear DNS Cache”
Terminal window
ipconfig /flushdns

Reset Network Stack

Section titled “Reset Network Stack”
Terminal window
netsh winsock reset
netsh int ip reset

Boot Configuration Repair

Section titled “Boot Configuration Repair”

Rebuild Boot Configuration Data

Section titled “Rebuild Boot Configuration Data”
Terminal window
bootrec /FixMbr
bootrec /FixBoot
bootrec /ScanOs
bootrec /RebuildBcd

Repair Windows Boot Loader

Section titled “Repair Windows Boot Loader”
Terminal window
bcdboot C:\Windows /s C: /f ALL

Check Boot Configuration

Section titled “Check Boot Configuration”
Terminal window
bcdedit /enum

Memory Diagnostics

Section titled “Memory Diagnostics”

Run Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool

Section titled “Run Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool”
Terminal window
mdsched.exe

Check Memory Usage

Section titled “Check Memory Usage”
Terminal window
Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_OperatingSystem | Select-Object FreePhysicalMemory, TotalVisibleMemorySize

Clear Memory Standby List (frees up cached memory)

Section titled “Clear Memory Standby List (frees up cached memory)”
Terminal window
Clear-StandbyList

Application Troubleshooting

Section titled “Application Troubleshooting”

Repair Microsoft Store Apps

Section titled “Repair Microsoft Store Apps”
Terminal window
Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}

Reset Microsoft Store

Section titled “Reset Microsoft Store”
Terminal window
wsreset.exe

Repair Installed Programs

Section titled “Repair Installed Programs”
Terminal window
appwiz.cpl

Check for App Conflicts

Section titled “Check for App Conflicts”
Terminal window
Get-AppxPackage -PackageTypeFilter Bundle | Format-Table Name, Status, InstallLocation

Advanced Recovery Options

Section titled “Advanced Recovery Options”

Create System Restore Point

Section titled “Create System Restore Point”
Terminal window
Checkpoint-Computer -Description "Manual Restore Point" -RestorePointType "MODIFY_SETTINGS"

Access Recovery Environment

Section titled “Access Recovery Environment”
Terminal window
shutdown /r /o /f /t 00

Run System Maintenance Troubleshooter

Section titled “Run System Maintenance Troubleshooter”
Terminal window
msdt.exe /id MaintenanceDiagnostic

Reset PC While Keeping Files

Section titled “Reset PC While Keeping Files”
Terminal window
systemreset --keepmyfiles

Repair System with In-Place Upgrade

Section titled “Repair System with In-Place Upgrade”

For this option, you’ll need to:

  1. Download the Windows 11 installation media
  2. Run setup.exe from the media
  3. Choose “Upgrade this PC now”
  4. Select “Keep personal files and apps”

Additional Tips for Improved System Performance

Section titled “Additional Tips for Improved System Performance”
  1. Regularly update Windows, drivers, and applications
  2. Uninstall unused applications
  3. Disable visual effects (System Properties > Advanced > Performance Settings)
  4. Ensure adequate disk space is available (at least 15% free space)
  5. Check for malware using Windows Security or third-party tools
  6. Monitor system temperature to prevent thermal throttling
  7. Consider hardware upgrades if system consistently struggles with performance

These commands and procedures should help diagnose and resolve most Windows 11 stability issues. Always ensure you have backed up important data before performing system repairs.