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na24
Contributor
Message 1 of 263

Files that are required for Windows to run properly have been replaced by unrecognised versions. To maintain system stability Windows must restore the original versions of these files.

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Aftertodays  Mcafee updates installation I am getting the below error

"Files that are required for Windows to run properly have been replaced by unrecognised versions. To maintain system stability Windows must restore the original versions of these files.

Insert your Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 CD"

NOt sure, why this is coming up. I have windows xp pro operating system.

1 Solution

Accepted Solutions
Peacekeeper
Message 263 of 263

Re: Files that are required for Windows to run properly have been replaced by unrecognised versions. To maintain system stability Windows must restore the original versions of these files.

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They did not annouce it as it appears the fix for the file property issue fixed this issue mostly. Yes they could have announced it better.

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262 Replies
exbrit
MVP
MVP
Message 2 of 263

Re: Files that are required for Windows to run properly have been replaced by unrecognised versions. To maintain system stability Windows must restore the original versions of these files.

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This is the second similar report except the other person was up to date with SP3.

I have flagged it for attention, other than that all I can suggest is reboot once more and if no improvement contact Technical Support Chat available via Useful Links at the top of this page.

publicman
Former Member
Message 3 of 263

Re: Files that are required for Windows to run properly have been replaced by unrecognised versions. To maintain system stability Windows must restore the original versions of these files.

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FYI:  I got the same Windows File Protection popup, at each PC start-up, starting Wed. June 8, 3:20pm (Central Europe Time).  So if McAfee updates are responsible, it was the automatic udpate that occurred before that time.  They seem to occur daily.

I run Win XP Pro, SP3.  McAfee product is McAfee Antivirus Plus subscription.

At Windows forum advice, I ran command:  sfc /scannow

in hopes of fixing the problem.  We shall see at next bootup if it worked!

-- Peter

Hayton
Reliable Contributor
Reliable Contributor
Message 4 of 263

Re: Files that are required for Windows to run properly have been replaced by unrecognised versions. To maintain system stability Windows must restore the original versions of these files.

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'sfc' will take care of any damaged or corrupted Windows system files. There are copies of all the system files you need stored in a separate directory (in fact, I think my XP SP3 has not one but two directories of backup system files). sfc replaces any damaged files from the backup copies. Running it can take a while though.

yippeekaiyay
Former Member
Message 5 of 263

Re: Files that are required for Windows to run properly have been replaced by unrecognised versions. To maintain system stability Windows must restore the original versions of these files.

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I had been dreading the 2011 update because of this. I'm on XP SP3. I just received the 2011 update for McAfee Antivirus Plus tonight. After I restarted from the installation, I noticed warnings in Event Viewer for Windows File Protection from that shutdown after the install. I booted up ok with no issues. I shutdown again then booted up once more. Same warnings in Event Viewer. Not long into the session I received the same pop-up the two users above mentioned. Found my XP install disc so we'll see what happens. Don't really want to try the disc since the disc is from SP2.

The multiple warnings in Event Viewer state the following: "The protected system file <file path> could not be verified as valid because Windows File Protection is terminating. Use the SFC utility to verify the integrity of the file at a later time."

No malware previously. Regular scans and supplemental scans using MalwareBytes and ESET's Online Scanner.

daydreamer
Contributor
Message 6 of 263

Re: Files that are required for Windows to run properly have been replaced by unrecognised versions. To maintain system stability Windows must restore the original versions of these files.

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I have also been getting these messages since the update in my event log. I am using Windows XP SP3 fully up to date on both of my machines and both show the same errors.

Thinking it was a conflict with Malwarebytes, I uninstalled it but low and behold after todate update the errors have appeared  again.  Does anyone test updates/upgrades before they are released?

I thinks its time to look into changing to another security program, regardless of how long my subsciption has left to run, as I have lost faith in Mcafee and not being very well cannot be bothered with constant problems Mcafee seems to like thowing up.

blarty-fargo
Former Member
Message 7 of 263

Re: Files that are required for Windows to run properly have been replaced by unrecognised versions. To maintain system stability Windows must restore the original versions of these files.

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Glad I found this thread. I think the last McAfee update is the root cause of the same problem I am seeing. About 10 days ago I received a Security Centre update (11.0.555). Since then I am seeing various Windows File Protection (WFP) messages in the event log, most on shutdown.

Most of the WFP messages are verification failures as the system is shutting down. However, WFP sometimes manages to replace one or more of my ATI Video Card drivers with an earlier version stored (I think) in a CAB file located in the CatRoot folder of Windows. When I reboot, my ATI set-up is now corrupt and my screen is 640x480 and 4 bit colours. Reinstalling the ATI drivers gets me back to normal - but the problem reoccurs usually within a day or two.

WPF also attempts to replace other files, not related to my ATI drivers. I focused on the ATI driver problem as I could obviously see the issue. But now I am convinced there is no issue with my ATI set-up or WPF. They are symptoms and not the root cause.

I can trace this problem back to the day of the last McAfee software update. Before then, my PC has run rock solid for 7 years with no WPF entries in the Event Log.

If this turns out to be a McAfee gaff that has cost me many, many hours before I found this thread - then I am removing McAfee and switching to Kaspersky. Not a threat, just fed up with McAfee.

My system:

Windows XP SP3

ATI Radeon X1650

McAfee security centre v11.0 build 11.0.555

I am also going to post this on what I believe is a related thread on this forum - so please no flames for my (intentional) cross post.

exbrit
MVP
MVP
Message 8 of 263

Re: Files that are required for Windows to run properly have been replaced by unrecognised versions. To maintain system stability Windows must restore the original versions of these files.

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I've flagged this issue again but on a weekend not too sure if there are any techs around the forums.

blarty-fargo
Former Member
Message 9 of 263

Re: Files that are required for Windows to run properly have been replaced by unrecognised versions. To maintain system stability Windows must restore the original versions of these files.

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Thanks for that mate - no rush. I have given up re-installing my ATI drivers until I know exactly why WFP is over writing those files.

I will be checking this thread every day from now on - and I can provide any further info the tech guys require.

Thanks again...

yippeekaiyay
Former Member
Message 10 of 263

Re: Files that are required for Windows to run properly have been replaced by unrecognised versions. To maintain system stability Windows must restore the original versions of these files.

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I did put in my XP installation disc, even though it's from SP2, and it allowed the pop-up to go away. WFP had ended up replacing a file. I went to a command prompt and ran sfc /scannow as the warnings suggested. It completed successfully after quite a few minutes. I have since rebooted/shutdown/cold booted a couple of times and haven't had additional warnings or pop-ups.

One side effect that I did notice is my dllcache folder now has a lot more files, presumably copied from the installation CD during the SFC scan.

One other thing to mention is that I didn't see any notifications that files were actually replaced after that SFC scan, even for the files that consistently threw up warnings on previous shutdowns. I'll give it a week and see how it goes. I will monitor replies here to see if anyone else has success in resolving the issue.

There's another XP SP3 machine in my family that should be receiving the same 2011 update soon. I'm anticipating a repeat there.

EDIT: And speak of the devil... I manually updated McAfee since it seems the smart timer still controls automatic updates. The update was apparently to Security Center. No build change, it remains 11.0.560, just the date changed from 6/17/11 to 6/19/11. What do I find? Event Viewer showed more WFP warnings at shutdown during the required restart from the McAfee update. I ran sfc /scannow again with my XP installation CD and then shutdown and started up. Before the XP login screen I got a "Please wait..." message with the XP installation background. That gave me a bit of a scare, but it went straight to the login. I checked Event Viewer again and there was one WFP warning from the previous shutdown. It was for an msstyles file. I did not run sfc /scannow this time, I just shutdown immediately then started up. I had no issues and no more warnings. Seems to be just an issue with how McAfee updates. Hopefully tomorrow's update will only be a dat and not for Security Center.

Message was edited by: yippeekaiyay on 6/19/11 12:14:28 AM CDT

Message was edited by: yippeekaiyay on 6/19/11 12:15:53 AM CDT
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