Has Windows startup repair or a troubleshooter ever fixed your issue even once?

Yeah, basically that. I’m back at work in Windows land on a Monday morning, and pondering what sadist at Microsoft included these features. It’s not hyperbole to say that the startup repair, and the troubleshooters in settings, have never fixed an issue I’ve encountered with Windows. Not even once. Is this typical?

ETA: I’ve learned from reading the responses that the Windows troubleshooters primarily look for missing or broken drivers, and sometimes fix things just by restarting a service, so they’re useful if you have troublesome hardware.

Jtee,
@Jtee@lemmy.world avatar

Yes, and I’ve also had success using tools like SFC and DISM to repair Windows.

silentdon,

Sfc and DISM have each worked exactly once for me.

LUHG_HANI,
@LUHG_HANI@lemmy.world avatar

I’m hitting over x3 now. I know, I can’t believe it myself.

d3Xt3r,

That’s because most people use them incorrectly. You need to run DISM first to repair the component store, but for that to work properly, you’ll need source files/wim that matches the same OS patch level as that of the machine you’re trying to fix. Once the component source is repaired properly, then run SFC, which would replace the corrupted system files from the now repaired component store.

If you ran SFC on its own, it may not do anything if the component store is corrupted, and if you ran DISM on its own, it won’t fix the actual issue. You need to run both, in the proper order, against matching source files.

silentdon,

Thanks! I just learned something new!

SwingingTheLamp,

You fixed things with SFC and DISM? You are a god among mortals!

Jtee,
@Jtee@lemmy.world avatar

DISM usually needs an install.wim in order to be effective lol

Whattrees,
@Whattrees@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

Unless you do the online command so it pulls the most recent wim and does it on its own. I’ve got a batch file I use to fix computers at work that does the online dism followed by sfc and have had a few successes with it.

elvith,

Nah, I’m currently trying to fix a PC that is so borked, that not even a clean install.wim can fix. According to some sources, there are some packages missing in current installation medias, that are not needed for the installation, but you cannot repair a borked install, if those are affected. This seems to be the case since at least somewhen in 2021, from which I found the earliest reports. Oh… and they aren’t in the online image as well. So if those break, you can only do a clean install.

d3Xt3r,

The trick to a successful DISM though is matching the broken system’s patch level with that of the source files. DISM basically repairs your component store using the source, so for it to work properly, you’d want to use the same OS patch level store as the source. I used to keep a few good Windows VMs at different patch levels for this purpose. I’d then patch the VM up to the same level as that of the broken machine (if needed), and then use the good VM as the DISM source.

In any case, if DISM keeps failing, then a repair install (aka in-place upgrade) usually does the trick.

YexingTudou,

It used to fix WiFi issues for me back on Windows Vista (bleh). Vista would always have issues when I woke my laptop from sleep mode, and my WiFi would be disconnected and unable to reconnect/properly turn off. Running the troubleshooter would restart my wireless card. Other than that I haven’t encountered anything it’s helped, but I don’t use windows too often these days.

Treczoks,

I had a number of occasions where Windows on my work PC f-ed up. None of the times, the windows “troubleshooting” wizard was anything but a waste of time before calling IT or digging into the problem myself.

Commiunism,

I would usually have issues with my wi-fi, where the connection after a reboot won’t work and the wi-fi GUI would reset itself everytime i tried. Network troubleshooter would fix it 100% every time and quite quickly, so there was no reason to actually figure out what was at fault.

Tofu_Lewis,

Well aside from the time it totally bricked my system, it pretty good.

woodgen,

This would only be possible if it installed Linux.

val,

I sometimes tell people to try the network troubleshooter if they’re having issues because it’s idiot proof. All it’ll do is occasionally disable and enable a network adapter which can fix some common problems. If you’re even the slightest bit tech savvy though, ignore it.

Startup Repair has been useful when I’ve actually gone to use it, but I can count on one hand how many times I’ve gotten to that point.

Otherwise, no.

jonsnothere,

Yeah, the network wizard helped me with a dhcp problem with zero hassle, so that one’s definitely useful

Pika,

Network troubleshooter has on more than one occasion fixed my networking issues when somehow it got an invalid IP configuration, it’s usually my last step that I do before system restart, that being said the only decent thing starter prepare has done for me is giving me a way to easily get into the recovery menu When It ultimately fail

BluesF,

I sometimes have a weird issue with my laptop WiFi where it intermittently drops speed to 0 without disconnecting… Network troubleshooter always fixes it despite the fact I never can lol.

vivadanang,

had a couple of windows 2000 pro and server recovery saves. haven’t thought about it since. hrmmm

BigDanishGuy,

I think that back in the day I used the startup repair to restore a broken MBR.

But generally no, and I don’t believe that the purpose of the tools are to repair anything, as much as it is to give a remote support tech some time to google the issue, while the wizard is running a lot of NOPs. Thus giving the customer a feeling that something is being done, while really just being on hold.

DLSantini,

I’ve used startup repair many, many times to repair systems. The troubleshooters have never worked for me, no matter how minor the issue that needed to be fixed.

JackbyDev,

Folks, Windows’s own system image couldn’t be restored from Windows. I had to go download some program called Macrium Reflect and use the underlying VHD files.

What broke? Oh, you don’t know? It was a bad Windows update that had a broken driver or something causing driver verification to fail.

pixeltree,
@pixeltree@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

On windows 8 the network troubleshooter would restart my wifi driver and that usually fixed the problem. Aside from that nah

beastlykings,

This for me, the only success I’ve had is with network issues.

joshcodes,
@joshcodes@programming.dev avatar

The Windows network troubleshooter is black magic from the depths of hell itself and is very opinionated and selective in choosing which issues to fix and whether you’ll need to bargain your soul to recieve said fix. I have red hair and find it doesn’t bother bartering with me, but your mileage may vary.

JackbyDev,

It fixed an issue for me once back on like Windows Vista I think.

CheddarBiscuits,

This is the truest comment on the post.

adam_b,

What the hell I’m I reading ! 🤣

equinox,
@equinox@hexbear.net avatar

Even once? Yeah, just that once though. It was on like a dell latitude from 2010 and it wasn’t a permanent solution either

0xC4aE1e5,

A while back I had network issues, ran the troubleshooter and apparently the IP address was incorrect. Went into Control Panel, changed it and it worked again. Not sure why the troubleshooter couldn’t do that but whatever.

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