Run SFC /SCANNOW

For about a week now, each time I boot up, I receive this message as a pop-up – “Failed to connect to a Windows Service. Windows couldn’t connect to the Group Policy service.” I have problems using File Explorer, none of the options (such as Recovery) are available in Settings, Update & security, regedit won’t open etc. etc. Will re-installing Windows 10 solve the issues, or is there something more sinister afoot ?

Hi,
Welcome to the blog, try running sfc /scannow and see whether it fixes the problem, if it doesn't, try running DISM repair Windows image following the instructions in these tutorials, you can reinstall windows as a last resort. HTH.
SFC Command - Run in Windows 10 - Windows 10 blog
DISM - Repair Windows 10 Image - Windows 10 blog

I can open Command Prompt, but message saying I "must be an administrator running a console session in order to use the SFC facility" displays when I type sfc /scannow. Command Prompt (Admin) will not open. This is a home computer with me as the only user. Do I need to set myself up as an administrator ?

Do I need to set myself up as an administrator ?

Yes.

More specifically you need to have a user on your PC who is part of the Administratorsgroup profile.

You don't need to sign on as this user all the time but if you don't have one (and know the password) you'll get stuck when you try to do anything like installing software.

How do I do that ?

What users have you got set up already?

If you can go to a command prompt and type in net useryou should see something like this showing all users on your PC

Code:

C:WINDOWSsystem32>net user User accounts for \HALI-WIN10    ---------------------------  Hali                  Administrator            DefaultAccount  Guest                    Saloua                   Temp  The command completed successfully.      C:WINDOWSsystem32>

Then you can check accounts individually - type net user Halifor example:

Code:

C:WINDOWSsystem32>net user HaliUser name                    Hali  Full Name                    Whatever the full name is   Comment  User's comment  Country/region code          000 (System Default)  Account active               Yes  Account expires              Never    Password last set            2/3/2016 9:54:16 AM  Password expires             Never  Password changeable          2/3/2016 9:54:16 AM  Password required            No  User may change password     Yes    Workstations allowed         All  Logon script  User profile  Home directory  Last logon                   2/8/2016 10:20:09 PM    Logon hours allowed          All    Local Group Memberships      *AdministratorsGlobal Group memberships     *None  The command completed successfully.

Hmmm. I get the prompt C:UsersPeter> and not C:WINDOWSsystem32>. Excuse my ignorance !

right click on cmdand select "run as administrator".

Where do I find "CMD" that I right click on ?

Right click windows logo, click Command Prompt(Admin).