I have been running MS systems since you needed to 5-1/4' floppies to boot them. I know the difference between 32-bit and 64-bit systems. This one has me a bit frazzled.

When I run Dism.exe, I consistently get the following error:

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 6.3.9600.17031

Error: 11

You cannot service a running 64-bit operating system with a 32-bit version of DISM.
Please use the version of DISM that corresponds to your computer's architecture.

The DISM log file can be found at C:\WINDOWS\Logs\DISM\dism.log

It's obvious that the command that's loading is the 32-bit version. I scanned the hard drive and found several versions of DISM.exe. Each time I get the same error, regardless of which DISM.exe I execute. Each time I was in an "elevated" cmd environment. I even tried going into Powershell and running it. Same problem. I have checked the path, just to be sure. sysWOW64 appears before system32 in the path variable.  I have tried running dism.exe from each individual location on the drive, just to make sure the "local" command is/was being executed. Same error.

The reason for this is that sfc /scannow found some corrupted files it could not repair. I wanted to run the DISM command, then rerun the sfc command.

Where can I find the 64-bit version of dism.exe? It should be on the hard drive somewhere or at least you would think so.

I also tried running Powershell and the Repair-WindowsImage -Online -RestoreHealth.  It failed with a similar error.

Outside of these commands, I will likely have to restore Windows 8.1 and start over.

What prompted all this was the laptop started doing some flaky things. For example, when you try to open a cmd environment, the system would just stall and restart explorer.exe after a few minutes. This happened repeatedly. I was finally able to get a cmd environment to open from the directory where the command is located. After that, it worked flawlessly. Similar things were happening trying to run other commands/features. This all started after installation of one of the MS security patches.

At this point, wiping the system and starting with a clean slate may be the best option.

Oh - system running Windows 8.1, latest patches. HP Laptop 750GB HD, 6GB RAM, i3 processor.

Bob

try to put C:Windows\System32 after syswow64
example

c:\windows\syswow64>c:\windows\system32\dism.exe /online /cleanup-image /spsuperseded

or

Open command prompt window as administrator.

Change directory by typing: cd \windows\system32

Run the command: dism.exe /online /cleanup-image /spsuperseded

• Edited by britishdhez 23 hours 59 minutes ago

try to put C:Windows\System32 after syswow64
example

c:\windows\syswow64>c:\windows\system32\dism.exe /online /cleanup-image /spsuperseded

or

Open command prompt window as administrator.

Change directory by typing: cd \windows\system32

Run the command: dism.exe /online /cleanup-image /spsuperseded

• Edited by britishdhez Monday, March 16, 2015 7:20 AM

try to put C:Windows\System32 after syswow64
example

c:\windows\syswow64>c:\windows\system32\dism.exe /online /cleanup-image /spsuperseded

or

Open command prompt window as administrator.

Change directory by typing: cd \windows\system32

Run the command: dism.exe /online /cleanup-image /spsuperseded

• Edited by britishdhez Monday, March 16, 2015 7:20 AM

try to put C:Windows\System32 after syswow64
example

c:\windows\syswow64>c:\windows\system32\dism.exe /online /cleanup-image /spsuperseded

or

Open command prompt window as administrator.

Change directory by typing: cd \windows\system32

Run the command: dism.exe /online /cleanup-image /spsuperseded

• Edited by britishdhez Monday, March 16, 2015 7:20 AM

try to put C:Windows\System32 after syswow64
example

c:\windows\syswow64>c:\windows\system32\dism.exe /online /cleanup-image /spsuperseded

or

Open command prompt window as administrator.

Change directory by typing: cd \windows\system32

Run the command: dism.exe /online /cleanup-image /spsuperseded

• Edited by britishdhez Monday, March 16, 2015 7:20 AM

Okay... don't take this wrong, but "I didn't fall off the truck yesterday"!  I will admit that I had not tried the solution you suggested, but I do know how to open a command environment, etc. I tried your suggestion and that's when I got the message below - "Access denied".

I think I have found the root cause of this problem:

I started perusing the system in general. I checked everything from A to Z. Then, it hit me when I got an error message "Access Denied..." message.

I checked my access to the system and found that my account (not the System Administrator account) had been changed from an Administrator to a Standard User. That's easy enough to fix. WRONG! I logged in as the Administrator and found that I could no longer change an account from a Standard to an Administrator role. How this happened, I do not know. I have not gotten any viruses or malware - I check every week with Norton, then Malwarebytes. I know some things can get by one product, but there is a slim chance that it would get by two products. But, I digress...

I checked the Administrator access to the suspect folders. The Administrator account has NO access to the Windows folder. I have full access to the "C" drive, but ZERO access almost all the subsequent folders. Yes, I can list folder contents, etc. But, I cannot change anything. For example, the c:\windows folder is set to Read Only. Just for grins, I tried to change it... wouldn't allow it.

I did find that the only account that has FULL access to everything is the TrustedInstaller account. Sounds suspicious...

Okay, while still logged in as Administrator, I went to Control Panel>User Accounts>Manage Another Account and tried to change my "usual" account from a Standard User to an Administrator User. It won't let me, as the Administrator Role/User is greyed out. Mind you, this is from the Administrator account to another user.

I found several instances of this on the internet. I have tried the "fixes" I found, but thus far it has been a "no go." I am beginning to think the only way out of this is a system refresh, i.e., backup all my files and re-install the OS.

I am going to give this one final shot from a "clean boot" with network access. If that doesn't work, I am looking at a backup and reload.

Any ideas/suggestions will apprecisted.

Bob

Hi Bob,

According to your description, I suspect the account you said "administrator" in fact it's not. Since administrator must be have permission to access any drive include Windows folder and change other user account type.

Therefore, I would like to suggest you use the built-in administrator to recovery all.

1. Restart the computer normally,

2. Type the user name: Administrator;  Password is blank(no need input any thing).

If it cannot sign in, it means the built-in administrator account is disabled. In such situation, unless you have another account have administrator permission, you cannot do anything but reinstallation Windows.

The Native Administrator account is active. I turned that on not long after I purchased the laptop.

The problem is that thus far, the Windows folder (and possibly other folders) has had the access rights altered by something. At first, I thought it was a patch that caused this, now I am not so sure. Trusted Installer is the only "user" that has full system access. On the root drive (c:\), I have full access. Beyond that is when things get flaky.

I have tried logging in as Administrator and I still cannot change access to the Windows folder, nor can I take ownership.

I am not sure what could have changed it. The only things that I have found on the system that were flagged as "problems", were tracking cookies. I have deleted those. Hard to see how a tracking cookie would/could have changed system access. Sounds suspiciously like a virus or malware, but none have been found or detected.

Even when logged in as Administrator, I cannot change the account type of a user. I can click the Radio button for the Administrator option, but "Change Account Type" is greyed out when I select the Administrator option. It sounds suspiciously like the built-in Administrator account has been also been altered.

Is there any way to change a registry setting to restore full functionality to the Administrator account? Or any way to recover the functionality?

Any suggestions are appreciated. As I said earlier, I am beginning to suspect that I need to back everything up and re-install Windows 8.1 OS.

One thing is for sure -  I have got to bet much better acquainted with the Windows 8 and following changes to the security options.

Hi Bob,

No, there is no way to edit the registry, since registry editor need administrator permission. However, according to your description, you have no administrator account. Like my last post, admin (especially built-in admin) have full permission to take ownership of folder and change any user account type.

To confirm this, please run this command:

From the output, we would check if it's in Administrator group. Or post the output here let us help you.

Well, your reply is appreciated, but the Native Administrator account is active and it indeed has Administrator rights. My "normal" user account has the same privileges, but somehow folders beyond the root drive (in this case c:\) had their access rigthts changed. I have not had a virus nor have I had any malware. I know all these are possibilities for changing access privileges. I have scanned the drive with Norton, Malwarebytes, and several other virus/malware tools. Nothing is on the drive as far as a virus or malware. I think I may have found a resolution. Will discuss in a later post.

Bob

Okay folks... I have found a fix. It will take a while to iron out the kinks, but I back tracked the problem to the root drive, c:\ in this case.

From the error, we all knew that it was a permissions thing. I got a software package that lists the access rights for all folders, including subfolders, on a drive. After looking deeper, I found that my account and the Administrator account still have full rights to the root drive. So, I logged out as myself; logged in as Administrator. Then, I proceeded to "take" ownership of the folders/subfolders on the drive from the root drive - c:\.  I got errors on some of them, but for the most part I can now access and work with all the things I need to work with.

To be candid, I have no idea how the access rights got changed. Maybe they were that way from day one. But, I never have had a virus, nor any malware/spyware. I have scanned the drive with Norton, Malwarebytes, and several other virus/malware products. They have found none. Of course, it could be something that none of these products can detect, but I feel that is a remote possibility.

I know that security has really changed in Windows 8 & 8.1. It could be a quirk, but it seems odd that I am the only one who has had this issue. 

I think the only user that had "Full Access" to all folders/sub-folders was the Trusted Installer. That in itself seems suspect. 

All that said, I am still having to having some access issues with a few folders/sub-folders. But, I now know what to do get that access back to where it was.

Bob,

I found another site where a contributor (Osman Shener, to give proper credit) suggested a workaround for the Error: 11 problem with Dism that worked for me. To quote Osman:
"The cmd.exe under system32 is 64bit but running c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe /c . still causes problem if its called from 32bit app, like sccm client or c:\windows\syswow64\cmd.exe

So calling c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe explicitly didnt help.

The solution is using sysnativealias, example :c:\windows\sysnative\cmd.exe

Because when you use sysnative you also say dont redirect me to windows.

You may experiencing this problem for DISM operations in Windows, in that case change your working folder to C:\Windows\System32 or call DISM from this folder to get rid of this error."

Based on Osman's outlined suggestion, and those of a few others, I created a batch file which I saved, then ran "As an Administrator" from my own Administrator account (after I fixed the ownership issues outlined below).

Here's the batch file contents:
echo
cd\
net start trustedinstaller
cd C:\Windows\SysWOW64
C:\Windows\System32\Dism.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth
pause

As Osman suggested, calling Dism.exe from a different working system folder got rid of the Error: 11 for me. The result of the batch process was:

"Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 6.3.9600.17031

Image Version: 6.3.9600.17031

[==========================100.0%==========================]

Error: 0x80240021

DISM failed. No operation was performed.
For more information, review the log file.

The DISM log file can be found at C:\WINDOWS\Logs\DISM\dism.log"

Obviously the process failed, but I was able to get much further than on any previous attempt. I investigated the 0x80240021 error. After completing my research I made the following changes to my batch file:

echo
cd\
cls
net start trustedinstaller
cd C:\Windows\SysWOW64
C:\Windows\System32\Dism.exe /Online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup
C:\Windows\System32\Dism.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth
sfc /scannow
pause

The results was:
"C:\>net start trustedinstaller
The requested service has already been started.

More help is available by typing NET HELPMSG 2182.

C:\>cd C:\Windows\SysWOW64

C:\Windows\SysWOW64>C:\Windows\System32\Dism.exe /Online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 6.3.9600.17031

Image Version: 6.3.9600.17031

[==========================100.0%==========================]
The operation completed successfully.

C:\Windows\SysWOW64>C:\Windows\System32\Dism.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 6.3.9600.17031

Image Version: 6.3.9600.17031

[==========================100.0%==========================]

Error: 0x80240021

DISM failed. No operation was performed.
For more information, review the log file.

The DISM log file can be found at C:\WINDOWS\Logs\DISM\dism.log

C:\Windows\SysWOW64>sfc /scannow

Windows Resource Protection could not start the repair service.

C:\Windows\SysWOW64>pause
Press any key to continue . . ."

My thanks to Zekri Abdelhafid for the /StartComponentCleanup information. Unfortunately, despite the results for Zekri, that didn't resolve my Error: 0x80240021 problem, though the /StartComponentCleanup was successful.

My hope is that I can run "sfc /scannow" (my end goal) which has problems likely due to corruption that I haven't been able to fix yet. Maybe soon...
 
Windows 8.1 has also been a headache for me since my last re-installation, with many folders, even Program Files (x86), being owned by TrustedInstaller which has frequently caused me headaches with software installations. However, I successfully used the default Administrator account (which I temporarily re-enabled) to have Administrators group take ownership of the Windows, Program Files, Program Files (x86), and ProgramData folders (did it twice to enable inheritance),

My primary login account has always been an Administrator account, not Standard User, but with the ownership problem I still often got "access denied" for many things in Windows.

Hope this info helps?
Dan

• Edited by DanMCallaghan 5 hours 20 minutes ago update2

Bob,

I found another site where a contributor (Osman Shener, to give proper credit) suggested a workaround for the Error: 11 problem with Dism that worked for me. To quote Osman:
"The cmd.exe under system32 is 64bit but running c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe /c . still causes problem if its called from 32bit app, like sccm client or c:\windows\syswow64\cmd.exe

So calling c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe explicitly didnt help.

The solution is using sysnativealias, example :c:\windows\sysnative\cmd.exe

Because when you use sysnative you also say dont redirect me to windows.

You may experiencing this problem for DISM operations in Windows, in that case change your working folder to C:\Windows\System32 or call DISM from this folder to get rid of this error."

Based on Osman's outlined suggestion, and those of a few others, I created a batch file which I saved, then ran "As an Administrator" from my own Administrator account (after I fixed the ownership issues outlined below).

Here's the batch file contents:
echo
cd\
net start trustedinstaller
cd C:\Windows\SysWOW64
C:\Windows\System32\Dism.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth
pause

As Osman suggested, calling Dism.exe from a different working system folder got rid of the Error: 11 for me. The result of the batch process was:

"Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 6.3.9600.17031

Image Version: 6.3.9600.17031

[==========================100.0%==========================]

Error: 0x80240021

DISM failed. No operation was performed.
For more information, review the log file.

The DISM log file can be found at C:\WINDOWS\Logs\DISM\dism.log"

Obviously the process failed, but I was able to get much further than on any previous attempt. I investigated the 0x80240021 error. After completing my research I made the following changes to my batch file:

echo
cd\
cls
net start trustedinstaller
cd C:\Windows\SysWOW64
C:\Windows\System32\Dism.exe /Online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup
C:\Windows\System32\Dism.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth
sfc /scannow
pause

The results was:
"C:\>net start trustedinstaller
The requested service has already been started.

More help is available by typing NET HELPMSG 2182.

C:\>cd C:\Windows\SysWOW64

C:\Windows\SysWOW64>C:\Windows\System32\Dism.exe /Online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 6.3.9600.17031

Image Version: 6.3.9600.17031

[==========================100.0%==========================]
The operation completed successfully.

C:\Windows\SysWOW64>C:\Windows\System32\Dism.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 6.3.9600.17031

Image Version: 6.3.9600.17031

[==========================100.0%==========================]

Error: 0x80240021

DISM failed. No operation was performed.
For more information, review the log file.

The DISM log file can be found at C:\WINDOWS\Logs\DISM\dism.log

C:\Windows\SysWOW64>sfc /scannow

Windows Resource Protection could not start the repair service.

C:\Windows\SysWOW64>pause
Press any key to continue . . ."

My thanks to Zekri Abdelhafid for the /StartComponentCleanup information. Unfortunately, despite the results for Zekri, that didn't resolve my Error: 0x80240021 problem, though the /StartComponentCleanup was successful.

My hope is that I can run "sfc /scannow" (my end goal) which has problems likely due to corruption that I haven't been able to fix yet. Maybe soon...
 
Windows 8.1 has also been a headache for me since my last re-installation, with many folders, even Program Files (x86), being owned by TrustedInstaller which has frequently caused me headaches with software installations. However, I successfully used the default Administrator account (which I temporarily re-enabled) to have Administrators group take ownership of the Windows, Program Files, Program Files (x86), and ProgramData folders (did it twice to enable inheritance),

My primary login account has always been an Administrator account, not Standard User, but with the ownership problem I still often got "access denied" for many things in Windows.

Hope this info helps?
Dan

• Edited by DanMCallaghan Saturday, May 30, 2015 2:00 AM update2