Server fails to properly boot/SFC will not run

Question

I have a Windows 2008 R2 server that has a failing RAID controller. Unfortunately, this machine was not being backed up. It would appear it corrupted some of the Windows drivers and the machine will not boot properly.

I booted to Restore mode from disk, as well as DVD, and tried to run sfc /scannow offbootdir=d:\ offwindir=d:\windows, but SFC says something along the lines of this could take several minutes. However, no percentage is ever displayed, nor does the disk show any activity.

I booted off a Mint live CD and am currently copying the drive to another disk to be safe.

Any ideas as to how to get SFC to run?

Edit: I would like to get this server booting, so we can install our backup agent. This agent can then create a VM of the backup. This machine is sharepoint testing machine for our developers. Its not the end of the world if its gone, but it would be a large hassle.

Edit2: After a lot of poking, I was able to finally get SFC to run and it said it successfully repaired files. However, the machine was still not booting properly. Im writing it off as a lost cause.

Did it complete successfully or did it hang mid-way like `sfc /scannow`? The `/r` option includes extra checks. It's probably worth using the official manufacturer diagnosis tool. — and31415, Apr 17 '14 at 15:03
What was the output? Try with `/r` too once you're done backing up the data. — and31415, Apr 17 '14 at 15:15
the backup finally finished. Im running chkdsk /r now, looks like it will take a while — Keltari, Apr 18 '14 at 13:49
Its not looking optimistic, the scandisk /r completed, but sfc still appears not to be working. I will let it run for a bit and see if anything happens. But there is no disk activity... — Keltari, Apr 18 '14 at 14:56

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 21 '14 at 16:01

Using a combination of

chkdsk /r
dism /image:d:\ /cleanup-image /revertpendingactions
deleting pending.xml from the winsxs folder

I was able to get SFC to run "successfully".

Unfortunately, there appears too much corruption on the drive and the OS still doesnt boot properly. I am writing this up as a lost cause. However, the info above might be useful to someone.

Server fails to properly boot/SFC will not run

1 Answers1