Gotcha / Glitch after December Windows 8.1 Updates

For my main workstation earlier this month I brought in the latest full set of Windows 8.1 patches (minus a few that were hidden months/years ago that are probably not even applicable/visible any more, such as the GWX update).  Note that there were no January updates, per se, for Windows 8.1, just those from December.  Yes, I waited a while before allowing them.

My system seems to work with these updates in (it's been running solidly for weeks now) but one thing I noticed is that the December update broke System Protection (i.e., the System File Checker - SFC /VERIFYONLY and SFC /SCANNOW - would fail).

I got to the bottom of it.  There was something wrong with the servicing database entry for, of all things, "Sound Recorder.lnk" - which showed up as "hash doesn't match actual file" messages for several different copies.  This was the key blob of messages in C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log that revealed the problem:

2017-01-30 16:14:48, Info                  CSI    00000976 [SR] Verify complete

2017-01-30 16:14:48, Info                  CSI    00000977 [SR] Repairing 1 components

2017-01-30 16:14:48, Info                  CSI    00000978 [SR] Beginning Verify and Repair transaction

2017-01-30 16:14:48, Info                  CSI    00000979 Hashes for file member \SystemRoot\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft-windows-soundrecorder_31bf3856ad364e35_6.3.9600.17415_none_9014408a06a0ccbb\Sound Recorder.lnk do not match actual file [l:36{18}]"Sound Recorder.lnk" :
  Found: {l:32 b:v0WEU04aXPq6p2n0N0VxZtp8AvDkGMPzXNwgdRtZRx0=} Expected: {l:32 b:lZzTQXwor5OIEqh3ok3qxjkPmzaWxMQ+XuQmVbN7wtk=}

2017-01-30 16:14:48, Info                  CSI    0000097a [SR] Cannot repair member file [l:36{18}]"Sound Recorder.lnk" of Microsoft-Windows-SoundRecorder, Version = 6.3.9600.17415, pA = PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE_AMD64 (9), Culture neutral, VersionScope = 1 nonSxS, PublicKeyToken = {l:8 b:31bf3856ad364e35}, Type neutral, TypeName neutral, PublicKey neutral in the store, hash mismatch

2017-01-30 16:14:48, Info                  CSI    0000097b Hashes for file member \SystemRoot\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft-windows-soundrecorder_31bf3856ad364e35_6.3.9600.17415_none_9014408a06a0ccbb\Sound Recorder.lnk do not match actual file [l:36{18}]"Sound Recorder.lnk" :
  Found: {l:32 b:v0WEU04aXPq6p2n0N0VxZtp8AvDkGMPzXNwgdRtZRx0=} Expected: {l:32 b:lZzTQXwor5OIEqh3ok3qxjkPmzaWxMQ+XuQmVbN7wtk=}

2017-01-30 16:14:48, Info                  CSI    0000097c [SR] Cannot repair member file [l:36{18}]"Sound Recorder.lnk" of Microsoft-Windows-SoundRecorder, Version = 6.3.9600.17415, pA = PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE_AMD64 (9), Culture neutral, VersionScope = 1 nonSxS, PublicKeyToken = {l:8 b:31bf3856ad364e35}, Type neutral, TypeName neutral, PublicKey neutral in the store, hash mismatch

2017-01-30 16:14:48, Info                  CSI    0000097d [SR] This component was referenced by [l:166{83}]"Package_1133_for_KB3000850~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~6.3.1.8.3000850-3321_neutral_GDR"

2017-01-30 16:14:48, Info                  CSI    0000097e Hashes for file member \??\C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories\Sound Recorder.lnk do not match actual file [l:36{18}]"Sound Recorder.lnk" :
  Found: {l:32 b:v0WEU04aXPq6p2n0N0VxZtp8AvDkGMPzXNwgdRtZRx0=} Expected: {l:32 b:lZzTQXwor5OIEqh3ok3qxjkPmzaWxMQ+XuQmVbN7wtk=}

2017-01-30 16:14:48, Info                  CSI    0000097f Hashes for file member \SystemRoot\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft-windows-soundrecorder_31bf3856ad364e35_6.3.9600.17415_none_9014408a06a0ccbb\Sound Recorder.lnk do not match actual file [l:36{18}]"Sound Recorder.lnk" :
  Found: {l:32 b:v0WEU04aXPq6p2n0N0VxZtp8AvDkGMPzXNwgdRtZRx0=} Expected: {l:32 b:lZzTQXwor5OIEqh3ok3qxjkPmzaWxMQ+XuQmVbN7wtk=}

2017-01-30 16:14:48, Info                  CSI    00000980 [SR] Could not reproject corrupted file [ml:520{260},l:136{68}]"\??\C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories"\[l:36{18}]"Sound Recorder.lnk"; source file in store is also corrupted

2017-01-30 16:14:48, Info                  CSI    00000981 [SR] Repair complete

It's pretty clear it was Microsoft's fault, as implied by the last few words of the "Could not..." message near the end:

...source file in store is also corrupted

If this happens to you, or you have uncorrectable errors reported by SFC /SCANNOW, it's often a pretty easy fix.  The following commands will generally fix a system right up - they cleared the problem for me:

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

SFC /SCANNOW

The first command updates the servicing database, the second corrects the detected problems with the newly updated data.  Note that these commands take a long while to run.  For more info:  https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh824869.aspx

Now I'm back to passing an SFC /VERIFYONLY check with flying colors and all is right with the Windows I choose to continue to use.

-Noel