Top 4 Ways to Fix Boot Critical File Corrupt in Windows 11/10

What does “boot critical file is corrupt” mean?

When computer users use their PCs, they will inevitably encounter some failures, such as Windows 11 blue screen, system boot loop, etc. Similarly, it is quite common for Windows to fail to start due to system file corruption. So what should we do if the system file is corrupted? Before fixing it, you need to troubleshoot the most likely cause of this error on your computer.

• Wrong operation leading to mistaken deletion of computer system files
• A misconfigured system setting or irregular entry
• An abnormal computer system shutdown

For problems such as Windows not starting due to corrupted files, the more common solution is to choose Repair first. If you still can't solve the problem, you have to choose System Restore or even reset your computer. Fortunately, all these methods can be found and practiced in this article.

And warmly suggest the safest way to restore is through backup, you can try the below tip to safely backup your system:

👉Backup Windows 11 to stop system errors from happening

How to fix corrupted files in Windows 11/10

If you have no idea how to make Windows 11 fix boot errors, don’t get panic, you are capable of finding effective 4 measures to fix this error in this article.

• #1. Run CHKDSK
• #2. Run sfc /scannow
• #3. Run DISM repair
• #4. Reset this PC

#1. Run CHKDSK

Run CHKDSK can also be used to verify the integrity of the file system and find bad sectors on the hard disk. The steps are shown below to solve boot critical file corrupt in Windows 10/11.

1. Hold the power button to turn off the PC and then turn it on. Repeat this process for 3 times, then you should be able to enter WinRE.

2. On Choose an option page, click Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Command Prompt. 

3. In the Command Prompt window, type chkdsk C: / f /r and press Enter to check your system partition for corrupted, invalid or deleted system files.

4. Due to the fact that the target drive cannot be locked, you will be asked if you want to schedule a check for this volume at the next system reboot. Now all you need to do at this point is to press the Y key to set up a check at the next system reboot.

#2. Run sfc /scannow

SFC (System File Checker) checks integrity of protected system files, you can use it to automatically scan and repair corrupt system files. If the SFC scans and verifies that the protected file has been corrupted or changed, it will repair and replace it with the correct copy.

1. Prepare an installation USB to boot your computer from it.

2. In the Windows setup wizard, select Repair your computer > Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Command Prompt in order.

3. In the Command Prompt window, type sfc /scannow and press Enter. This may take some time, so please be patient and wait for the scanning process to complete.

#3. Run DISM repair

1. Open Command Prompt as mentioned in method 1.

2. Check the Windows 11 image for issues with one of the following commands:

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth (a more advanced scan)

3. If there are problems detected, run DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth to repair the Windows 11 image.

#4. Reset this PC

If none of the above fixes work, then you can try to reset your PC and keep only the files you need. Here’s how to do it:

1. Restart your computer and follow the methods shown in method 1 to boot into WinRE.

2. Then navigate to Troubleshoot > Reset this PC.

3. On the choose an option window, you will have two options, Keep my files and Remove everything. Select Keep my files and it will remove apps and settings but keep your personal files.

4. Then, in the Ready to reset this PC window, it will tell you all the changes during the process. Confirm it and click Reset.

Backup Windows 11 to stop system errors from happening

Above all are the solutions I would like to show you to tackle boot critical file corrupt on Windows 11/10. You can try them successively to get you out of the dilemma. But keep in mind that not all of them will play a critical role when needed, so the safest way is to continuously backup your computer as a disaster recovery solution. This way, you will be able to restore your computer in the event of an unfixable error.

Here I highly recommend AOMEI Backupper Standard – the best free backup and restore software for you. It is designed to run smoothly on all Windows PC including Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7/Vista/XP and offers easy-to-use interface even if you are a novice.

✪ It supports various backup destinations, such as, external hard drive, USB drive, SSD, network drive, cloud storage (eg: backup computer files to Google Drive), SD card, and so on.
✪ It allows you to backup file, system, partition, disk at a daily, weekly, and monthly frequency, so no changed files will be missing.
✪ It offers you other flexible backup features such as write, set automatic schedule backup task, write comments for your backups, choose the compression level or set up email notifications

Now I’ll show you how to use the backup feature to backup your PC with AOMEI Backupper:

Click the button below to download and install this freeware on your device. Then open it, click Backup and System Backup > select a destination path to save the backup image > click Start Backup to complete the process.

If you encounter more serious problems such as system crashes or disk failures, it is recommended that you create a bootable media in advance. It helps you to run this software from WinPE and then use the system backup image file to restore PC to previous state.

✍ Upgrade to enjoy more advanced features:

🧱 If you buy a new computer, you can use the "Universal Restore" feature (paid) and the bootable media to recover the system files on the new computer.
🧱 You are allowed to choose differential backup to backup only changed files and enable automatic backup cleanup to delete old backups to save your disk space and backup time.

To sum up

This article helps you to solve boot critical file corrupt on Windows 11 with provided 4 methods. I hope one of them can meet your real needs and get you out of trouble easily and effectively.

If you are afraid that your computer will be trapped in irreversible data loss due to system crashes, hard drive failures, etc., you can rely on AOMEI Backupper to create a backup of your PC to stop this from happening. Meanwhile, you can utilize it to complete Dell Inspiron 15 replace hard drive with SSD securely and make the replaced SSD bootable.