Fix NS_E_FILE_FAILED_CHECKS (0XC00D0FCD) in Windows Media Center

Quick answer for advanced users

Run CHKDSK on the drive storing the recording, then delete and re-record the file. If the same error persists on new recordings, the disk has bad sectors — replace it.

What's actually happening here

Windows Media Center (WMC) has a built-in integrity check that runs when you try to play a recorded TV file — either the old DVR-MS format or the newer WTV format. The error NS_E_FILE_FAILED_CHECKS (0XC00D0FCD) means that check failed. Two scenarios cause this:

The file itself is corrupt — maybe the recording was interrupted, the disk was full when it finished writing, or the hard drive has a bad sector exactly where the recording header lives.
The file is fine, but the disk is having read errors — failing sectors, loose cables, or an old HDD that's starting to die.

I've seen this most often on Windows 7 Media Center machines with large DVR-MS libraries stored on external USB drives. The USB controller sometimes hiccups during writes, and you get a partial file that passes length checks but fails WMC's internal structural validation.

Main fix steps

Check the disk first — Open an admin command prompt (Win+R, type cmd, right-click, Run as administrator). Run chkdsk X: /f /r where X is the drive letter with the recording. The /f fixes file system errors, /r locates bad sectors and reads recoverable data. This can take hours on a 1TB+ drive, so run it overnight.
Try to play the file in another player — Download VLC Media Player or MPC-HC. Open the .wtv or .dvr-ms file directly. If it plays fine, the issue is WMC's check being too aggressive. If it also fails, the file is genuinely corrupt.
Rebuild the WMC database — WMC maintains a catalog file (Recorded TV.edb) that can get out of sync with the actual file. Stop WMC: run net stop ehrecvr and net stop ehrec in an admin command prompt. Navigate to %ProgramData%\Microsoft\eHome\ and rename Recorded TV.edb to Recorded TV.old. Restart WMC with net start ehrecvr and net start ehrec. WMC rebuilds the database from scratch — this takes a minute but preserves your recordings.
Delete and re-record — If the file won't play anywhere, delete it from WMC's recorded TV list, then schedule a new recording. If the same error shows up on the new recording, the disk is failing.

If the main fix doesn't work

Repair the file with ffmpeg — Some WTV files have a corrupted header but valid video data. Run ffmpeg -i input.wtv -c:v copy -c:a copy -map 0 output.wtv. This re-muxes the streams without re-encoding. It strips the original header and writes a new one. I've saved a few recordings this way when the video played in VLC but not in WMC.
Check the SATA or USB controller driver — On older motherboards (pre-2012), the chipset driver can cause write errors that produce this error. Update the chipset driver from the motherboard manufacturer — not from Windows Update, which often pushes generic Intel or AMD drivers that miss OEM fixes.
Replace the hard drive — If CHKDSK returns clusters marked as bad, and you've seen this error on multiple recordings, the drive is dying. Clone it with ddrescue (Linux live USB) or Macrium Reflect, then swap the new drive back in. WMC recordings are lossless over-the-air captures — worth saving if it's a show you care about.

Prevention tip

The cheap fix: don't let WMC write directly to an external USB drive. Internal SATA drives have significantly fewer write errors. If you must use USB, use a powered hub and a short, high-quality cable. The real fix is to run chkdsk /r on every drive storing recordings at least once every three months. Set it as a scheduled task — most WMC libraries rot because nobody checks disk health until the error pops up.

One more thing: if you're running Windows 7 Media Center on an SSD, this error almost never happens. The downside is SSDs don't like the constant writes from recording TV — you'll wear it out faster. For a dedicated DVR box, a WD Red or Seagate IronWolf HDD (5400 RPM, CMR platters) is the sweet spot.