when running SFC you get the following error

There is a system repair pending which requires reboot to complete. Restart windows and run SFC again.

Solutions

This is caused by an update that has not been completed and can be fix in several ways:

1. You can remove/rename the file C:\windows\winsxs\pending.xml  - This file is what contains the instructions for windows too process the pending updates and while this exist SFC will not run
2. You can clean up/remove/revert the updates and this can be done offline - dism.exe /image:C:\ /cleanup-image /revertpendingactions
   
   This is supposed to revert all pended updates, however if System Restore is not working, then there may be other issues as well

Links

• How to removing a pending update that is preventing a successful boot (Network Steve Forum)
• command line - How do I recover from "repair pending" error in SFC? - Super User
• Lexington Computer Repair Blog » SOLVED: SFC says “There is a system repair pending…”
• Force SFC to Run in Windows 7 - renaming the pending.xml