Chkdsk Won't Run

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Got a friend whose Toshiba laptop has been acting up, so I agreed to take a look at it. Wanted to make a backup, so I got an external hard drive and tried to use Windows Backup. It failed, saying there was corruption in drive C. I tried to use Chkdsk /r, and was told it would have to run on the next restart, since it couldn’t run with the drive or volume in use. Said yes to that prompt, but every time I restart the laptop it goes right to Windows without running Chkdsk.

Alex 5723 suggested using Chkdsk /f /r, but that didn’t work either. Any suggestions?

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Have you tried both a warm boot (Restart) and a cold boot (Shutdown/startup)?

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Do you have a up-to-date CD/DVD or USB flash drive with compatible (version, 32-bit or 64-bit) system repair disc files written from a known clean computer, or installation media?

You should be able to run a check disk session using that, bonus is that you can see errors when ‘chkdsk c: /r /v’.

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Hm.

You know, this is the part where I use a raw copy tool (one that can skip a sector on read error) to take as full an image from that HDD as possible, ASAP.

Because one of the possible causes for those symptoms is hardware failure. Especially if it’s a 180 GB 2.5″ SATA SSD, there seems to have been a production batch that…

And if it does happen to be that, you don’t want to write anything to the SSD before copying all the data off it. If it’s something else, well, at least you have the system state saved in the image.

(Specifically, what I’d do in most cases is pull the disk, attach it with different cables to a Linux system with enough storage, and then do “sudo dd if=<suspect disk> of=/data/work/suspect-disk.img conv=noerror,sync status=progress” … others would use other tools. You might need to do something else if there’s disk encryption active … or might not need, depending.)

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PKCano wrote:

Have you tried both a warm boot (Restart) and a cold boot (Shutdown/startup)?

Yep, tried both ways, same result.

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[Alex5723]

Jonesy47 wrote:

Alex 5723 suggested using Chkdsk /f /r, but that didn’t work either. Any suggestions?

After running the command (as admin) you will get a notice that the drive is in use and do you want to run chkdsk after restart. Select yes and restart.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 9 months ago by Alex5723.

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Alex5723 wrote:

After running the command (as admin) you will get a notice that the drive is in use and do you want to run chkdsk after restart. Select yes and restart.

I’m doing that and it doesn’t work.

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From another site:

Hit F8 once every second right after starting the PC

This gets you into the DOS looking screen with safe mode and other options, select Repair
Recovery manager starts
Select Advanced Options
Select computer checkup
Select command prompt
CMD prompt starts in X:
Enter C: to change to the C drive
Enter chkdsk /f
When asked to force a dismount select Y
Check disk should now start automatically.
Exit then boot

Edit to remove HTML. Please use the “Text” tab in the entry box when you copy/paste.

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Jonesy47 wrote:

Alex5723 wrote:

After running the command (as admin) you will get a notice that the drive is in use and do you want to run chkdsk after restart. Select yes and restart.

I’m doing that and it doesn’t work.

Try to schedule a Disk Check manually:

1) Right-click on the hard drive you want to check, then choose Properties.
2) On the Tools tab, click Check Now…
3) Check both options, then click Start.
4) In the popup, click Schedule Disk Check.

Reboot your computer.

If that doesn’t help try by setting a ‘Dirty Bit’ on the drive in order to initiate chkdsk after restart :

fsutil dirty set C:

1 user thanked author for this post.

GoneToPlaid

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Yep, from an elevated command prompt, do the fsutil thing to set the dirty bit.

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anonymous wrote:

Do you have a up-to-date CD/DVD or USB flash drive with compatible (version, 32-bit or 64-bit) system repair disc files written from a known clean computer, or installation media?

The laptop is Win7 Home Premium, 64-bit. I went through my collection of installation media and only have Upgrade versions, and a single MS copy that was used to “legitimize” a non-genuine installation. I don’t think I have another Win7 machine around, but think I have another friend who does. I’ll check with her today and see if the version and bit-ness match the Toshiba.

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jabeattyauditor wrote:

Hit F8 once every second right after starting the PC This gets you into the DOS looking screen with safe mode and other options, select Repair Recovery manager starts Select Advanced Options Select computer checkup Select command prompt CMD prompt starts in X: Enter C: to change to the C drive Enter chkdsk /f When asked to force a dismount select Y Check disk should now start automatically. Exit then boot

No Advanced Options entry when I selected Repair, so no Computer Checkup available.

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Run regedit

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\BootExecute

The value for the BootExecute key should be:

autocheck autochk * /r\DosDevice\C:

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jabeattyauditor wrote:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\BootExecute

Should the Boot Execute key be there already (it’s not) or is that a key I have to create?

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It should already be there – if you navigate to the parent level (Session Manager) you should see it. If it’s not there, create it as a new Multi-String value.

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jabeattyauditor wrote:

It should already be there – if you navigate to the parent level (Session Manager) you should see it. If it’s not there, create it as a new Multi-String value.

OK, I found it, but it’s different from what you told me. It says:

aurocheck autochk /r \\??\C: autocheck autochk *

So I should just edit it to match what you gave me? Then save the edit and restart the laptop?

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[GoneToPlaid]

aurocheck is associated with malware.

Replace the:

aurocheck autochk /r \\??\C: autocheck autochk *

entry with:

autocheck autochk * /r\DosDevice\C:

Reboot, and then go back into the registry and see if the correct entry has once again been replaced with the aurocheck entry. If so, that confirms that the computer is infected with malware. I can’t find anything about this aurocheck malware, except on Chinese web forums.

You might want to install the free trial version of Malwarebytes, run the default scan, and see if Malwarebytes finds anything. Get the free trial version of Malwarebytes directly from:

https://www.malwarebytes.com/mwb-download/

If Malwarebytes finds anything, follow its removal and cleanup instructions.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 9 months ago by GoneToPlaid. Reason: fixed typos

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You may want to try running this from a command prompt:
fsutil dirty set C:

see fsutil for more info..

🍻

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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GoneToPlaid wrote:

aurocheck is associated with malware. Replace the: aurocheck autochk /r \\??\C: autocheck autochk * entry with: autocheck autochk * /r\DosDevice\C:

I mistyped, the key really says autocheck, not aurocheck.

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jabeattyauditor wrote:

Run regedit HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\BootExecute The value for the BootExecute key should be: autocheck autochk * /r\DosDevice\C:

That seems to have fixed things. I expected to see something running BEFORE the Windows splash screen, but no. Windows Backup ran successfully after the restart, and Windows Update is no longer reporting failed updates. I tried to make a System Repair Disk, but that failed with an “unknown error,” so I’ll keep looking for an “identical” Win7 installation to make the disk.

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I tried to make a System Repair Disk, but that failed with an “unknown error,” so I’ll keep looking for an “identical” Win7 installation to make the disk.

If the you or the user choose to discontinue using Windows Backup for some reason, the suggested backup programs can create rescue media of your choice that boot Windows PE. If they allow a opening a command prompt a user should be able to invoke chkdsk.

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Jonesy47 wrote:

I tried to make a System Repair Disk, but that failed

Just make an image of the working system using one of the free backup utilities (Aomei, EaseUS, Paragon, Macrium…) – and a recovery USB from same.

cheers, Paul

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Paul T wrote:

Just make an image of the working system using one of the free backup utilities (Aomei, EaseUS, Paragon, Macrium…) – and a recovery USB from same.

Any reason I should be able to get a working recovery USB from one of those programs when I can’t get a disk or USB from Windows Backup?

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[Alex5723]

Jonesy47 wrote:

Paul T wrote:

Just make an image of the working system using one of the free backup utilities (Aomei, EaseUS, Paragon, Macrium…) – and a recovery USB from same.

Any reason I should be able to get a working recovery USB from one of those programs when I can’t get a disk or USB from Windows Backup?

The reason is simple. These apps are way better than anything Microsoft has to offer.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 9 months ago by Alex5723.

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Alex5723 wrote:

The reason is simple. These apps are way better than anything Microsoft has to offer.

I should have worded my question better. What I meant to ask was if whatever is preventing Windows Backup from making a System Repair disk or USB is likely to do the same to one of those programs?

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Jonesy47 wrote:

What I meant to ask was if whatever is preventing Windows Backup from making a System Repair disk or USB is likely to do the same to one of those programs?

Well that would depend on what the problem actually is with Windows Backup…

If it’s a software problem, likely won’t affect those.
If it’s a hardware problem, odds are that it will.

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Jonesy47 wrote:

Alex5723 wrote:

The reason is simple. These apps are way better than anything Microsoft has to offer.

I should have worded my question better. What I meant to ask was if whatever is preventing Windows Backup from making a System Repair disk or USB is likely to do the same to one of those programs?

I think these apps will succeed where Microsoft backup failed in creating a boot/rescue USB.
I myself use Acronis True Image.

https://www.techradar.com/how-to/computing/how-to-use-macrium-reflect-free-to-backup-your-pc-1319885

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As we don’t know why Windows won’t create it we can’t be sure, but experience with these products suggest they will behave.
As they are free why don’t you try one and let us know how it goes?

cheers, Paul

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