SFC /Scannow fixes issues, but they return every restart. Errors are related to "GameInput.dll" and directory "owned twice or security set twice"

[CaptainTE]

Hello,

I am not sure why this is happening but when I run SFC /scannow it fixes a few issues relating to a couple directories that are "owned twice or security set twice" errors and also a "GameInput.dll" mismatch error according to the CBS logs. SFC informs me to restart to finish the fix and on restart, when I run SFC again the same errors pop up.

When I have ran SFC in safe mode it fixes the error without having to restart and when I run it again in Safe Mode without restarting, it shows there are not integrity violations. But when restarting into normal Windows and running SFC again, the same errors are "fixed". This has happened over 10 times at this point.

I've ran Chkdsk and DISM restorehealth commands and they have not found or fixed any problems.

For the directories that are "owned twice or security set twice", when I look at the directory permissions and owners, they seem to only have 1 owner and there are no duplicate entries.

The 2 GameInput.dll that SFC finds are different sizes than the same file in a recent backup I have. I might try replacing the GameInput.dll from the backup that I have.

A few days ago SFC showed no violations if I remember correctly. Perhaps it is a virus of SFC is not working correctly?

I did accidentally completely uninstall my Windows Store using Powershell and I had to reinstall it using Powershell along with the apps I had. Before that I was having issues with the Xbox (Beta) app starting because I had changed a 2nd drive (not C:) that it was installed on. That issue seems to have been fixed. But I am not sure if somehow they are related.

I am attaching my CBS.log


Thank you so much for your help! I really appreciate it! I have been trying to fix this issue for hours and have done multiple Google searches and read multiple articles to no avail. I have no idea why this issue is persisting.

 

[CaptainTE]

I've run multiple virus scans with adwcleaner, malwarebytes, and avast and everything comes back normal.

Also looking at the GameInput.dll files in their properties menu, they look legitimate and were modified/created 4/7/2020.

SFC still is saying there is something wrong with these files though and keeps saying that it "fixes" them but the problem comes back after every restart.

Thank you for your help!

 

[CaptainTE]

Doing some more digging, in my task manager there are two a GameInput Host Services that are running. Looking this up, I found this forum post from Linus Tech Tips with someone trying to find out about it as well. It seems like it is a new file from Microsoft in relation to the Xbox Gaming Services, which I have installed.

I am wondering that since I am running Windows 1903 and I have not updated in a while that SFC is correctly marking the GameInput.dll as incorrect since it is using an older version to check the hashes. Also, the Xbox app in the windows store is still in beta so maybe SFC is just throwing errors because the Xbox app did something it was not supposed to.

So this new information about the GameInput Host Services seems to take care of the GameInput.dll in SFC. I still cannot figure out "this directory is owned twice or security set twice" error that keeps popping up though.

Thank you for your help!