Windows 10 automatic repair loop

[AndreiArgeanu]

I was installing a game, Toca Race Driver 2, and it needed restarting, so I did, and then my PC booted into automatic repair for Windows. I tried continuing and nothing, I tried to let it repair and it did nothing, just put out a message about where the log file is located. I've also tried booting in safe mode but still nothing. Restarting also did nothing, same automatic repair menu.

So I pulled the text file SrtTrail.txt that the repair mentioned and looking through, first time it said that it found a root cause which is

Quote

Boot critical file c:\windows\system32\drivers\sfsync03.sys is corrupt.

Following it there's this text

Quote

Repair action: File repair
Result: Failed. Error code =  0x57
Time taken = 1969 ms

Repair action: System files integrity check and repair
Result: Failed. Error code =  0x57
Time taken = 1203 ms

Then the following sessions it can't find a root cause any more and simply says

Quote

Startup Repair has tried several times but still cannot determine the cause of the problem.

 

I've tried looking into my windows installation on my laptop to see if I can find any file with sfsync to see if I can inject it back in but there wasn't any despite the other windows installation mentioning it's a "boot critical file". The SSD itself has no issues, I've checked with crystaldiskinfo. What can I do to fix my windows installation, or should I just pull off important data off the ssd and reinstall?

 

I've attached the log file below if it's of any use.

SrtTrail.txt

[Daniel_Laixer]

I just had the very same issue... and I recently installed Toca Race Driver 3!

 

chkdsk found errors but didn't help and neither did sfc /scannow

 

That stupid sys file seems to part of the game's copy protection, StarForce

 

I managed to boot into Windows 10 after renaming the Starforce sys files from the Command Prompt in Windows Recovery Environment.

 

I my case the Windows 10 partition was D:\ from the RE, so I did:

cd D:\system32\drivers\
ren sfsync03.sys sfsync03.sys.bak
ren sfhlp02.sys sfhlp02.sys.bak
ren sfdrv01.sys sfdrv01.sys.bak

You could delete the files instead, but I was being cautious. You can also do the changes from a GNU/Linux live distro that supports NTFS, maybe Ubuntu.

 

You may also need a no-cd crack to run the game without StarForce.