We value your privacy

We use cookies to enhance your browsing experience, serve personalized ads or content, and analyze our traffic. By clicking "Accept All", you consent to our use of cookies.

Customize Consent Preferences

We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.

The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ... 

Always Active

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

No cookies to display.

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

No cookies to display.

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

No cookies to display.

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

No cookies to display.

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

No cookies to display.

NewApp Digest
search bot

How to fix the frustrating “Windows Resource Protection could not perform the requested operation” error

July 4, 2024

Run DISM first

Whenever your Windows PC starts to behave abnormally, one of the first things you might try is to use the classic sfc /scannow command to make sure the system files are all where they should be. In many cases, Windows files can be corrupted by other programs, and this is a common solution you’ll find when troubleshooting your PC.

But sometimes, even troubleshooting runs into an error, and something you might have seen when using the System File Check (SFC) command above is an error saying Windows Resource Protection could not perform the requested operation. If this happens, there are a few solutions you can try to get things back to a working state. Let’s take a look at your options.

Run SFC is Safe Mode

If you see the error message while doing a different kind of operation, running ths sfc /scannow command would be one of your first steps. But if this is the command that’s failing, one thing you can try is to use the command while your PC is in Safe Mode. To enter Safe Mode, follow these steps:

  • Open the Start menu (or Windows search) and type msconfig then press Enter.
  • In the System Configuration dialog that opens, switch to the Boot tab.
  • Check the Safe boot box and click OK.
  • Now, restart your PC, and it will boot into Safe Mode.
  • Once in Safe Mode, open Command Prompt (or Windows Terminal) and run the sfc /scannow command again.
  • Wait for it to finish or see if you get the same error.

Run Chkdsk

Another error checking tool built into Windows is the ChkDsk utility, which is similarly run through Command Prompr, Windows PowerShell, or Windows Terminal. To run this command, follow these steps:

  1. Press Windows + X on your keyboard and choose Terminal (Admin).
  2. Enter the following command: 
    chkdsk C: /r
  3. The command can’t actually be executed while Windows is running, so you’ll be prompted to schedule it to run at the next system restart. Press Y to accept.
  4. Restart your PC and wait for the command to run.

Enable the Windows Modules Installer

In order for the SFC command to work properly, the Windows Modules Installer needs to be enabled in order for components to be fixed if necessary. This should be working by default, but it’s worth checking to make sure:

  1. Open the Start menu (or Windows Search) and type services.msc then press Enter.
  2. Scroll down until you find the Windows Modules Installer option and double-click it.
  3. Make sure the Startup type is set to Manual and then click OK. Close the remaining window.

Use Automatic/Startup Repair

If a Windows component is broken, another solution to potentially repair it is to use Automatic Repair (now called Startup Repair), which is a feature built into Windows 11 (and 10). This is typically used when Windows itself can’t load, but it might help with this issue as well. Here’s how to use it:

  1. Open the Start menu.
  2. While holding Shift on your keyboard, click the Power button and choose Restart.
  3. You’ll be taken to the Windows Recovery Environment. Here, choose Troubleshoot and then Advanced options.
  4. Choose Startup Repair.
  5. If your PC is encrypted with BitLocker, you’ll need your recovery key. You can access it on this page if you used a Microsoft account during setup.
  6. Wait for the process to finish.

Reset or reinstall Windows

If none of the fixes above solved the issue for you, your last resort fix is to reinstall Windows altogether. The easier way to do this is to reset your PC, and ideally you may want to use a cloud download rather than a local reinstall in case the local image is damaged.

What even is Windows Resource Protection?

If you’re seeing the Windows Resource Protection could not perform the requested operation, you may be left wondering what Windows Resource Protection (WRP) even is. As you might be able to glean from the context, WRP is a capability that allows Windows to keep its in resources in good health to ensure that your PC functions normally. This is the backbone of tools like SFC, which is used to repair corrupted system files on your PC.

Get your PC back in working order

Hopefully, you don’t need to resort to the resetting or reinstalling Windows when attempting to fix issues with Windows Resource Protection, and all of the solutions above are good steps to try before getting to that point. If you do end up resetting your PC, though, you’ll also notice better performance overall since you’ll be running a clean slate. Just make sure to backup your data first.

Winsage