Hi, five256.
The I386 folder is not a part of the installed Windows. It is a folder on
the Vista CD-ROM. It holds compressed versions of the actual files.
Setup.exe extracts and expands that files that it needs during installation
of Vista.
I don't know how SFC uses the I386 folder, but it does need the source files
if it encounters missing or corrupted files during its file checking. I
usually advise users to have the Vista CD handy when running SFC, just in
case.
If you have a Vista DVD - or a download (such as from MSDN) - from almost
any source, it should work with SFC. The OS "bits" are not copy-protected,
since they are of no use to you if you don't have a valid Product Key.
RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
Microsoft Windows MVP
Windows Live Mail 2009 (14.0.8089.0726) in Win7 Ultimate x64
<> wrote in message
news:...
> I want to use System File Checker (sfc.exe) on my laptop. I only have a
> recovery partition and no original Vista installation disk. I tried
> logging in to my Administrator account, typing in CMD, using it in
> Administrator mode - then running sfc /scannow. It gets to 56% then
> quits with a message that says it can't complete the process. How can I
> check my system files for validity? My Avira anti-virus says that I may
> have five unsigned system files (heuristically). I'm concerned.