You may stumble upon an error in Windows 11/10 when Windows Update or System File Checker fails Such errors are stored, inter alia, in the CBS.log file. In this article, we will see what is CBS.log, its location, and how to view a CBS.log file in Windows 11/10.
What is CBS.log file in Windows 11/10
CBS or Component-Based Servicing is a file that has logs about the installed and uninstalled Windows Update component. So, information of your Windows Update is stored in these log files, even the System File Checker (SFC) writes to CBS.log.
CBS.log file location
CBS.log file will always be present on your Windows computer. If you are curious and want to check the file, launch File Explorer (Win + E), and navigate to the following location.
C:\Windows\Logs\CBS
There you will see a file name, CBS.log. This is the very file that contains the information about your Windows Update component.
How to read CBS.log file
To read log files, you can just go to the following location and read the log file.
C:\Windows\Logs\CBS
However, if you just want to read the SFC file, it is not the best option.
For that, launch Command Prompt as an administrator, type the following command and hit Enter.
findstr /c:"[SR]" %windir%\Logs\CBS\CBS.log >"%userprofile%\Desktop\sfclogs.txt
This will create a file, sfclogs.txt, on your desktop. Double-click on it to open the file with Notepad and read the file. You will see “SR” written in front of every transaction. This means all the programs shown here are of SFC.exe.
Can I delete CBS.log file?
CBS.log file is essential to your computer as every time you install a new Windows Update, it writes to the CBS.log file. However, if you think it is eating a huge chunk out of your Hard Drive, you can delete it as it won’t have an adverse effect on your computer.
Before doing that, make sure to disable the Windows Update service from Services (that you can launch from the Start Menu).
Now, you can delete the CBS.log file and you won’t receive any error message.
How to fix corrupt files logged in CBS.log file?
Some Windows may see an error saying as following
Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them, Details are included in the CBS.Log windir\Logs\CBS\CBS.log.
To fix this issue, you may need to Run DISM and ChkDsk.
Read Next: SFC not working, will not run or could not repair the corrupt file.
