How To Check And Fix Hard Drive Errors

CHKDSK is a Windows utility that can check the integrity of your hard disk and can fix various file system errors.

CHKDSK (or chkdsk.exe) is short for "check disk".

Contents

1 Screenshots
2 How to run CHKDSK in Windows
- 2.1 CHKDSK in Windows XP
  - 2.1.1 From Command Prompt
  - 2.1.2 From My Computer
  - 2.1.3 From the installation disc
- 2.2 CHKDSK in Windows Vista
  - 2.2.1 From Command Prompt
  - 2.2.2 From My Computer
  - 2.2.3 From the installation disc
- 2.3 CHKDSK in Windows 7
  - 2.3.1 From Command Prompt
  - 2.3.2 From My Computer
  - 2.3.3 From the installation disc
- 2.4 CHKDSK in Windows 8 or 8.1
  - 2.4.1 From Command Prompt
  - 2.4.2 From My Computer
  - 2.4.3 From the installation disc
- 2.5 CHKDSK in Windows 10
  - 2.5.1 From Command Prompt
  - 2.5.2 From My Computer
  - 2.5.3 From the installation disc
3 Commands and parameters
4 Download chkdsk
5 Troubleshooting
- 5.1 Cannot continue in read-only mode
- 5.2 Cannot run because the volume is in the use by another process
- 5.3 Cannot lock current drive
- 5.4 stop chkdsk on every boot
- 5.5 chkdsk won't finish
- 5.6 chkdsk won't run at startup
6 More Information
- 6.1 Support Links
- 6.2 Applicable Systems

It's recommended to use this utility when your computer shows various boot errors. The check disk utility can be run if you need a fix for the following errors:

0x00000024
Various blue screen of death errors
NTDETECT failed
Fatal error reading boot.ini
NTOSKRNL.EXE is missing or corrupt
0x0000007B
0xc0000001 on a Windows Vista computer
0xc000014C on a Windows 8 computer
and others

The check disk utility can repair problems such as:

bad sectors
lost clusters
cross-linked files
directory errors

Screenshots

The check disk tool can be run via Command Prompt or, if you can boot into Windows from My Computer > Properties > Tools depending on the Windows version you installed on your PC.

The command line tool can be ran on a Windows XP computer from within the Windows XP Recovery Console:

chkdsk in Windows XP Recovery Console

The utility from within Windows XP, from My Computer and not Command Prompt:

chkdsk in Windows XP at My Computer

This is how you start a scan with the disk utility if you can boot into Windows Vista:

chkdsk in Windows Vista at My Computer

How to run CHKDSK in Windows

This utility is available for Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8 or 8.1.

If you can boot into Windows, you can run the check disk utility on each hard drive or partition you have available in My Computer.

If you can't boot the operating system, you can run the tool from Command Prompt either by booting your computer into the Recovery Mode or by using the original installation disc to run Command Prompt.

CHKDSK in Windows XP

If you can boot into Windows XP, you can run the utility either from the Command Prompt or from My Computer.

From Command Prompt

If you can't boot into Windows XP to run chkdsk, download Easy Recovery Essentials – our recovery disk for Windows XP – and run Automated Repair or Command Prompt directly. You can burn EasyRE on CDs, DVDs or USBs.

To run the utility from the Command Prompt, follow these steps:

Boot your computer
Go to Start
Click Run
Type cmd in the box:
Press Enter
You can now type chkdsk to open the utility in a read-only mode
Press Enter
To repair errors, follow these instructions:
- To repair errors without scanning for any bad sectors, type chkdsk volume: /f and press Enter, where volume is the letter of the drive you'd like to run a scan for, e.g. C: or D:
  Example of a command you need to type if your volume is C:
```
chkdsk C: /f
```
- To repair errors and scan for bad sectors, type chkdsk volume: /r and press Enter, where volume is the letter of the drive you'd like to repair, e.g. C: or D:
  Example of command you need to type if the volume you want to scan is D:
```
chkdsk D: /r
```

From My Computer

To run CHKDSK from within Windows XP, but without Command Prompt, follow these steps:

Boot your computer
Go to on My Computer (double-click on the icon)
Right-click on the hard disk you'd like to run the utility on
Click Properties
Click Tools
At the Error-checking tab, select Check Now
To run the utility in the read-only mode, simply click Start
To repair errors, follow these instructions:
- To repair errors without scanning for bad sectors, select the Automatically fix file system errors box and click Start
- To repair errors and scan for bad sectors, select the Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors box and click Start
Once finished, the utility will notify you if the scan reported errors (Errors were found and fixed.) or not (No errors were found.)

From the installation disc

If you don't have the installation disc to run chkdsk, download Easy Recovery Essentials – our recovery disk for Windows XP – and run Automated Repair or Command Prompt directly. You can burn EasyRE on CDs, DVDs or USBs.

If you can't boot into Windows XP to run the utility use your original Microsoft Windows XP installation disc to open Recovery Console.

To do so, follow these steps:

Insert the installation CD in the disk tray
Restart your computer to boot from the CD
At the "Press any key" message, press any key to make sure you boot from the CD
At the Windows Options menu, press R to open Recovery Console
Enter the Administrator password
When Command Prompt appears on your screen, type the command you need:
```
chkdsk C: /r
```
where C: is the letter of the drive where Windows is installed and the /r parameter will try to repair errors and scan for bad sectors.

CHKDSK in Windows Vista

To run this utility on Windows Vista computer, you can choose any of the following methods:

- From Command Prompt, if you can boot into Windows Vista
- From My Computer
- From the Recovery Console of your original installation

disk

From Command Prompt

If you can't boot into Windows Vista to run chkdsk, download Easy Recovery Essentials – our recovery disk for Windows Vista – and run Automated Repair or Command Prompt directly. You can burn EasyRE on CDs, DVDs or USBs.

If you can boot into your operating system, run Command Prompt:

Open Windows Vista
Go to Start > All Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt or in the search box type Command Prompt and double-click the Command Prompt item available in the search results list.
When Command Prompt launches, type the command:
```
chkdsk C: /r
```
If Windows Vista is installed on another drive that's not labeled as C:, replace C: with the letter of your hard disk:
```
chkdsk D: /r
```
Press Enter

If Command Prompt shows errors, try to run the command again until it shows no errors.

From My Computer

You can also run the utility by going to Computer (My Computer):

Click the Start button
Go to Computer
Right-click on the drive you want check
Click Properties
At the Tools tab, under the Error-checking section, click Check Now
If prompted, enter the Administrator password
You can now run the disk check tool:
- To automatically repair errors, select Automatically fix file system errors
- To perform a thorough check, select Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors
- You can also check both Automatically fix file system errors and Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors
Click Start

Don't use the computer until the disk check is done. It may take several minutes depending on the hard disk size.

From the installation disc

If you don't have the installation disc to run chkdsk, download Easy Recovery Essentials – our recovery disk for Windows Vista – and run Automated Repair or Command Prompt directly. You can burn EasyRE on CDs, DVDs or USBs.

If you can't boot into Windows Vista, use the original installation disc to open Command Prompt (the Recovery Console) and run the commands you need:

Insert the install disc and restart your computer
Press any key when the message appear to boot from the disk
Click Repair your computer
Select Command Prompt
Enter the Administrator password, if prompted
When Command Prompt appears, type the command:
```
chkdsk c: /r
```
where C: is your hard disk drive's letter (can be different from C: used here).
Press Enter

CHKDSK in Windows 7

The steps to run this utility in Windows 7 are similar to those of Windows Vista.

From Command Prompt

If you can't boot into Windows 7 to run chkdsk, download Easy Recovery Essentials – our recovery disk for Windows 7 – and run Automated Repair or Command Prompt directly. You can burn EasyRE on CDs, DVDs or USBs.

If you can boot into Windows 7, run the utility from Command Prompt directly:

Click Start
Type cmd at the Search program and files search box
Right-click on cmd.exe
Click Run as Administrator
Type in your Administrator password
When cmd.exe opens, type the command:
```
chkdsk
```
Press Enter
You can run the tool with more parameters, like this:
```
chkdsk c: /r
```
This will check the drive for errors and will automatically try to fix any found errors.
If you receive the "Chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use by another process." message, type Y to restart the computer and let the utility to run a scan at the next boot of your PC
After you typed Y, close the Command Prompt
Restart the computer by going to Start > Shutdown > Restart
At the next boot, the check disk utility will automatically run a scan

From My Computer

The check disk utility can also be ran from My Computer to check for errors on your hard disk.

To do so, follow these instructions:

Right-click on the Start icon
Click Open Windows Explorer
On the left side of the window, click Computer
At the Hard Disk Drives section, right-click on the volume you want to check for errors
Click Properties
Go to the Tools Tab
At the Error-checking section click Check now
You can now run the check disk utility: select Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors to let the utility attempt to repair any hard drive errors found
Click Start

If the volume you want to check is in use, e.g. C:/ where Windows Vista is installed, you may receive the following error message:

Windows can't check the disk while it's in use    Do you want to check for hard disk errors the next time you start your computer?    Schedule disk check | Cancel

If so, follow these steps:

Click Schedule disk check
Exit any open programs
Restart your computer
Your computer will now restart and automatically boot and the utility will perform a scan automatically

If you receive the "Do you want to dismount this volume first?" message, follow the steps below. This message appears if the volume you want to checked is locked, even if it's not in use (e.g. the C:/ drive):

Windows can't check the disk while it's in use    Do you want to dismount this volume first? Note: All opened handles to this volume will become invalid.    Force a dismount | Cancel

If so, follow these steps:

Click Force a dismount
A scan will automatically start now

From the installation disc

If you don't have the installation disc to run chkdsk, download Easy Recovery Essentials – our recovery disk for Windows 7 – and run Automated Repair or Command Prompt directly. You can burn EasyRE on CDs, DVDs or USBs.

Follow these steps:

Insert the original Windows disc
Restart your PC and boot from the disc
Click Repair your computer
Choose the operating system from the list
Click Next
Choose Command Prompt
When it opens, type the command:
```
chkdsk C: /f /r
```
Press Enter

CHKDSK in Windows 8 or 8.1

Windows 8 or 8.1 users can run this utility by choosing any of the following methods:

From Command Prompt
From My Computer
From installation disc

From Command Prompt

If you can't boot into Windows 8/8.1 to run chkdsk, download Easy Recovery Essentials – our recovery disk for Windows 8/8.1 – and run Automated Repair or Command Prompt directly. You can burn EasyRE on CDs, DVDs or USBs.

To run it from Command Prompt, here are the instructions:

Log into Windows 8/8.1
Press the Windows and C key to open the Charm bar
Select Search
Type-in cmd
Right-click on Command Prompt from the search results list
Click Run as administrator
Log in as an Administrator
When Command Prompt launches, type the command:
```
chkdsk C: /f /r /x
```
The parameters for this command are: /f option will attempt to fix any found errors /r option will locate for bad sectors and recovery any readable information /x option will force the volume you're about to check to be dismounted before the utility begins a scan If the C: drive is in use, type Y to run a scan at your PC's next restart. If so, exit Command Prompt and restart the computer.

From My Computer

To run the check disk utility from Computer (My Computer), follow these steps:

Boot into Windows 8/8.1
Double-click on Computer (My Computer) to open it
Select the drive you want to run a check on, e.g. C:\
Right-click on the drive
Click Properties
Go to the Tools tab
Select Check, at the Error checking section

If you receive the following message, click Scan drive to begin the scan:

You don't need to scan this drive  We haven't found any errors on this drive. You can still scan the drive for errors if you want.  Scan Drive

You can keep using the drive during the scan. If errors are found, you can decide if you want to fix them. Depending on the results of this scan, the utility will report the results:
- If no errors were found, you'll see this message:
```
Your drive was successfully scanned Windows successfully scanned the drive. No errors were found.
```
- If errors were found, you'll see this message instead:
```
Restart your computer to repair file system. You can restart right away or schedule the error fixing on next restart.
```

From the installation disc

If you don't have the installation disc to run chkdsk, download Easy Recovery Essentials – our recovery disk for Windows 8/8.1 – and run Automated Repair or Command Prompt directly. You can burn EasyRE on CDs, DVDs or USBs.

If you can't boot into Windows 8/8.1 to run Command Prompt, you can use the original Windows 8/8.1 installation disc to run Command Prompt from there.

To do so, follow these instructions:

1. Insert the installation disc
2. Restart your computer
3. Press any key to boot from the disc, at the "Press any key to boot from CD or DVD…" message
4. Choose your keyboard layout
5. Select your language, time and a keyboard method
6. Click Next
7. Click Repair your computer

At the Choose an option screen, click Troubleshoot
At the Troubleshoot screen, click Advanced options
At the Advanced options screen, click Command Prompt
When Command Prompt launches, type the command:
```
chkdsk C: /f /x /r
```
Press Enter

CHKDSK in Windows 10

Windows 10 users can run this utility by choosing any of the following methods:

From Command Prompt
From My Computer
From installation disc

From Command Prompt

If you can't boot into Windows 10 to run chkdsk, download Easy Recovery Essentials – our recovery disk for Windows 10 – and run Automated Repair or Command Prompt directly. You can burn EasyRE on CDs, DVDs or USBs.

To run it from Command Prompt, here are the instructions:

Log into Windows 10
Press the Windows key to open the Start Menu
Select Search
Type-in cmd
Right-click on Command Prompt from the search results list
Click Run as administrator
Log in as an Administrator
When Command Prompt launches, type the command:
```
chkdsk C: /f /r /x
```
The parameters for this command are: /f option will attempt to fix any found errors /r option will locate for bad sectors and recovery any readable information /x option will force the volume you're about to check to be dismounted before the utility begins a scan If the C: drive is in use, type Y to run a scan at your PC's next restart. If so, exit Command Prompt and restart the computer.

From My Computer

To run the check disk utility from Computer (My Computer), follow these steps:

Boot into Windows 10
Double-click on Computer (My Computer) to open it
Select the drive you want to run a check on, e.g. C:\
Right-click on the drive
Click Properties
Go to the Tools tab
Select Check, at the Error checking section

If you receive the following message, click Scan drive to begin the scan:

You don't need to scan this drive  We haven't found any errors on this drive. You can still scan the drive for errors if you want.  Scan Drive

You can keep using the drive during the scan. If errors are found, you can decide if you want to fix them. Depending on the results of this scan, the utility will report the results:
- If no errors were found, you'll see this message:
```
Your drive was successfully scanned Windows successfully scanned the drive. No errors were found.
```
- If errors were found, you'll see this message instead:
```
Restart your computer to repair file system. You can restart right away or schedule the error fixing on next restart.
```

From the installation disc

If you don't have the installation disc to run chkdsk, download Easy Recovery Essentials – our recovery disk for Windows 10 – and run Automated Repair or Command Prompt directly. You can burn EasyRE on CDs, DVDs or USBs.

If you can't boot into Windows 10 to run Command Prompt, you can use the original Windows 10 installation disc to run Command Prompt from there.

To do so, follow these instructions:

1. Insert the installation disc
2. Restart your computer
3. Press any key to boot from the disc, at the "Press any key to boot from CD or DVD…" message
4. Choose your keyboard layout
5. Select your language, time and a keyboard method
6. Click Next
7. Click Repair your computer

win10_setup

At the Choose an option screen, click Troubleshoot

win10_restore

Commands and parameters

The check disk utility has several parameters that you can use:

/c – applicable to a NTFS volume only

/f – this option fixes errors on a volume

/i – applicable to a NTFS volume only. This option performs a check of index entries

/r – this option also implies the /f and /p option. This option locates the bad sectors of your hard drive and recovers any readable information

Depending if you run the utility from Command Prompt or Recovery Console, the following parameters are different:

/p – this fixes any errors on a volume. In your standard Command Prompt /p is only read-only

The mandatory requirement of this utility is the volume you're about to check must not be locked. If a volume you're about to scan is locked, you'll receive this message:

Chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use by another process. Would you like to schedule this volume to be checked  the next time the system restarts? (Y/N)

If so, type Y and press Enter to perform a scan at the next boot of your system.

Download chkdsk

chkdsk can't be downloaded as it's a command available with Windows. You can use the original installation disc to run the utility tool.

You can download Easy Recovery Essentials and open Command Prompt to run specific chkdsk commands:

You can burn Easy Recovery Essentials to CDs, DVDs or USBs and run Command Prompt.

Download Easy Recovery Essentials
Burn the ISO Image. Follow our instructions on how to burn a bootable ISO image. If you'd like to have a recovery USB instead, follow our instructions on how to make a recovery USB.
Boot into the recovery media
Select Launch Command Line

Troubleshooting

Cannot continue in read-only mode

If you receive the "Errors found. CHKDSK cannot continue in read-only mode." error message after running a check disk command, make sure you run the command with the /r parameter:

chkdsk /f

If the disk check utility must be ran on another volume, update the command with the letter of the drive you want to run a scan for:

chkdsk D: /f

Cannot run because the volume is in the use by another process

If you receive this error message when running the tool:

Chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in the use by another process. Would you like to schedule this volume to be checked the next time the system restarts.

You need to type Y to make sure the utility runs at the next boot. If so, type Y, restart the computer and let the tool to perform the scan.

Cannot lock current drive

If the check disk utility shows the "Cannot lock current drive." error message, make sure the command you're performing has the /r option:

chkdsk /r

If this doesn't work, try disabling System Restore for the entire session you're trying to run a scan and other protection software, such as: antivirus, firewall, spyware etc.

Another alternative command is:

chkdsk C: /f /r /x

stop chkdsk on every boot

If the utility runs a scan at every boot without stopping, you can try a few solutions.

Before you follow the instructions below, make sure you let the scan to be 100% completed and then restart your computer.

If the check disk runs again, even if the previous scan was 100% complete, continue with the steps below.

Fix #1: Check if there is a scheduled scan. To do so, follow these steps:

Open Command Prompt
Type chkntfs c:, where c: is the letter of the drive you ran a check
Press Enter

If the message is the following, then a check scan is scheduled on the c: drive:

The type of file system is NTFS. Chkdsk has been scheduled manually to run on next reboot on volume C:.

If there isn't any scheduled scan, the message will be:
```
The type of the file system is NTFS. C: is not dirty.
```
To cancel a scheduled scan, type:
```
chkntfs /x c:
```

Fix #2: Another option to fix this issue is to open the Registry Editor:

Boot into Windows
Open the Registry Editor

Go to this key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager

At the BootExecute key, check the value.If the value is autocheck autochk * /., you need to change it to autocheck autochk *

chkdsk won't finish

If the utility won't finish a scan, make sure you run the command with the /r parameter, like this:

chkdsk /r

chkdsk won't run at startup

If the check disk won't run a scan at startup after being scheduled to do so, follow any of the following fixes.

Fix #1: Check the BootExecute key in the Registry Editor:

Open Registry Editor

Find this key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager key

Check the value for the BootExecute key.If the value is autocheck autochk * /., you need to change it to autocheck autochk *

Fix #2: Run sfc

You can also run the sfc /scannow command and then run chkdsk /r again:

Open Command Prompt
Type the command:
```
sfc /scannow
```
Press Enter
After the sfc process is complete, run the check disk utility.

More Information

Support Links

Easy Recovery Essentials for Windows – our repair and recovery disk.
It's an easy-to-use and automated diagnostics disk. It's available for Windows 8, Windows 7 and Windows Vista. It's also available for Windows XP and Windows Server.

Read more at Windows Recovery Disks.
The NeoSmart Support Forums, member-to-member technical support and troubleshooting.
Get a discounted price on replacement setup and installation discs: Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10.

Applicable Systems

This Windows-related knowledgebase article applies to the following operating systems:

Windows XP (all editions)
Windows Vista (all editions)
Windows 7 (all editions)
Windows 8 (all editions)
Windows 8.1 (all editions)
Windows 10 (all editions)
Windows Server 2003 (all editions)
Windows Server 2008 (all editions)
Windows Server 2012 (all editions)

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