Generate System Health Report

Hello anghaney,

Thank you for using the Microsoft Vista Answers Forum!

We would need more clarification on your issue. What report are you referring to? Is a report generated from Windows or from a third party software? Meanwhile, I would suggest you run the System File Checker to scan your system for corrupt system files and let Windows replace the corrupt files with Windows version

1.      Click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, right-click Command Prompt, and select Run as Administrator.

2.      Click Continue or supply Administrator credentials if prompted.

3.      In the Command Prompt window type the following, and press Enter:

sfc /scannow

4.      You should see the following on-screen messages:

Beginning the system scan. This process will take some time.

Beginning verification phase of system scan.

Verification % complete.

5.      Once the scan has completed you will receive an onscreen message resembling one of the following:

…found no integrity violations

…found corruption but repaired it

…found corruption that it could not repair

Please reply with the completion message that you received.

David,

Thank you so much for the help, my apologies for not getting back sooner, but I did not receive an alert notification that this post had received a response. I have run the System File Checker and it did not find any integrity violations.

The report I am trying to run is Windows-based; from Control Panel | Performance Information and Tools | Advanced Tools | Generate a system health report - I receive the following error:


x Error:

An error occurred while attempting to generate the report.
_______________________________________________________

The system cannot find the file specified.



I have not tried a Repair, but will do so tomorrow and report back; a Restore Point will do me no good, as I couldn't say when this issue first began (I was able to generate the report in the recent past, but it has been a couple of months; maybe more, with no system changes other than app installs.)

I use Norton Save & Restore 2.0 and do have a 'base install' (which includes the OEM OS, upgraded to Ultimate with SP2); unfortunately, I chose to limit the number of recovery point sets saved for the backup to 3 (conserving space.)  I sure would hate to have to revert back, as I have GIGs of apps and several peripherals, so the rebuild would take more than a day; but it is why I took the snapshot, because sometimes that is the only remedy.

So I came here, with the hope that this is a known issue with an easy fix (I have had this system for 1½ years and a fix would be greatly appreciated, as I’ve had to rebuild this evil machine 2 times already (blue screens and a Trojan were the cause; well there was also a self-inflicted UAC issue), so needless to say, I am worn down to a nub.

Any recommendations, again, would be truly appreciated.

~Angela

I sure would hate to have to revert back, as I have GIGs of apps and several peripherals, so the rebuild would take more than a day; but it is why I took the snapshot, because sometimes that is the only remedy.

Hi Angela,

That could be your problem right there.  Out of those gigs of apps you have, how many of them are are 3 party utilities that are running in the background of Vista? Have you tried clean booting your machine and troubleshoot which app is crashing your report generator? 

Follow the steps below to place your computer in “clean boot” 

·         Click the Start orb on your Desktop

·         Type msconfig in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER.

If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click Continue. 

·         On the General tab, click Selective Startup.

·         Under Selective Startup, click to clear the Load Startup Items check box. 

·         Click the Services tab, click to select the Hide All Microsoft Services check box, and then click Disable All. 

·         Click OK. 

When you are prompted, click Restart.  Now try generating your report.  Are you still getting the same error?

If this does resolve the issue, then see the following Microsoft Article on “Clean boot” and the section “How to determine what is causing the problem” to determine which program or service maybe causing the issue.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/331796

How to set your computer back, to boot normal:

·         Click the Start orb on your Desktop

·         In the Start Search box. Type msconfig, and then press ENTER.

If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click Continue. 
Click the General tab. 

·         Click Normal Startup - load all device drivers and services, and then click OK. 

·         When you are prompted, click Restart to restart the computer.

Work-around - this will allow you to generate and view a report while inside the Reliability and Performance Monitor (which from what I remember is the same data/report view as when initiating the report from Control Panel | Performance Information and Tools | Advanced Tools | Generate a system health report; but I could be wrong, and if so, I hope that someone will clarify.)

While inside the Reliability and Performance Monitor:

1.     Expand the ‘Data Collection Sets’ folder;

2.     Right click on ‘User Defined’;

a.     Select ‘New’,

b.     Select ‘Data Collector Set’,

c.     Provide a name for the new data collector set,

                                          i.    Ensure that ‘Create from a template’ is selected,

                                         ii.    Click ‘Next’,

                                        iii.    Choose ‘System Diagnostic’ or ‘System Performance’ (Membership in Local Administrators group, or equivalent, is the minimum required to run this Data Collector Set.),

                                        iv.    Click ‘Finish’.

d.     Right click the new collection set,

e.     Click ‘Start’.

To view the data graphically or in the report format:

1.     Expand the ‘Reports’ folder;

2.     Expand the ‘User Defined’ folder;

3.     Expand the name of the newly created collection set;

a.     There should be two reports inside the folder displaying year/month/date and serial # of report,

                                          i.    The first is the graphical display,

                                         ii.    The second will be in the report format.

b.     Click on the second report to view.

I would still be interested to know why requesting the report from Advanced Tools | Generate a system health report fails to open the HTML file (or why it doesn’t create it to then view it.)

Thanks again, for your response.

~Angela