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Hello, I am running Windows XP sp2 and am having some serious trouble with chkdsk. There is one HDD installed on the computer and it is very long overdue for a defrag.

About a month ago, when I tried to defrag the C: drive, I got a message stating, "Disk Defragmenter has detected that Chkdsk is scheduled to run on the volume: C:. Please run Chkdsk /f. When I tried to run chkdsk with the /f parameter from the command prompt, I get a message saying that the drive cannot be locked. 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 starts? (Y/N).

I choose yes and when the system restarts, the chkdsk blue screen comes up saying a check has been scheduled, hit any key within 10 seconds to skip this yadda yadda. I let the check continute. It goes through the File Verification stage (stage 1 of 3) and after it finishes states that chkdsk has finished checking the drive and continues to load Windows.

If I run chkdsk /r c: from the command prompt, chkdsk finds multiple errors on the drive, but cannot continue to stage 3 in read-only mode. When running "fsutil dirty query c:" it returns that the that volume c: is dirty.

I have also tried all of the commands through chkntfs as well with no success. I have done chkntfs /d and /x c: at different times to takes the drive off the continuous loop of being checked every time the system reboots.

I tried to run chkdsk directly from C: volume tools. I checked both 'Automotically fix file system errors' and 'Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors'. Again, I get a message saying that Windows needs exclusive use of the drive and this can only be done after the system restarts. After a reboot, the blue chkdsk screen will popup again and start scanning. After File verification (stage 1 of 5 this time) it says that the check is finished and again continues to load Windows.

Lastly, I have e-mailed Microsoft back and forth four times already about this problem but hey have had no answers for me. They just keep asking me to describe the problem in more detail and give exact errors messages. I hope I have described the problem well enough and that there are people here that can help. Basically, I cannot perform chkdsk after Windows is booted because I need to check the system drive. When I schedule checks to be done after a reboot, it never goes past stage 1 before continuing to load Windows. I really do not know what else to try and the disk definately needs its errors fixed.

Thanks a lot in advance.

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by knsljo

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— the behavior you describe (boot-time scan that only completes the initial verification and then Windows continues to boot, plus a persistent “dirty” flag) usually means Windows never gets exclusive, stable access long enough to repair metadata or surface problems, or the drive itself is developing faults. ’s suggestion to run the check from another machine is on the right track; doing the repair from outside the problem OS removes many variables (drivers, locked handles, antivirus, boot-time race conditions).

Practical, prioritized plan:

  1. Immediately copy off irreplaceable files to another disk or network share (boot a rescue/live CD if needed).
  2. If the drive may be failing, make a full sector image before attempting repairs (use a Linux live CD with a sector-cloning tool). Work from the image for recovery attempts so the original stays untouched.
  3. Attach the drive as a secondary (non-boot) disk in a working Windows PC or boot the problem machine from a WinPE/BartPE-like rescue disk; run the offline filesystem-repair utility from that environment. That removes the “in-use” problem and lets the repair run to completion. This is the real-world execution of @knsljo’s advice.
  4. If repairs still abort, check SMART and run the drive maker’s diagnostics — repeated bad sectors, pending reallocations, or other SMART failures point to hardware replacement and professional recovery.

Cautions and outcomes: don’t run repeated aggressive repairs on a drive that shows hardware errors — that can accelerate failure. If the image shows recoverable files but the filesystem can’t be fixed, restore files to a new drive and rebuild the filesystem rather than forcing more repairs. If unsure, preserve the image and consult a data-recovery specialist before destructive attempts.

Member Avatar for knsljo

Put the disk in another machine and run CHKDSK from that!:!::cheesy:

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