Nowadays, a computer is perceived as an ordinary Appliances, whose presence in every home no longer surprises anyone. But this was not always the case. Surely most of readers will remember what a miracle it was just recently to have your own computer, which cost as much as a car.
And it doesn’t matter that its power was sometimes only enough for the most primitive toys, but you could spend hours studying its “guts” and getting acquainted with the principles of operation of the equipment. As a result, in those years there were few PC owners who did not know at least the most basic principles of caring for it.
Unfortunately, the current generation of users is often not so “savvy” in these issues, and therefore even basic problems cause them to panic. Do you know what window sometimes appears when the system starts? If you understand anything about the English dialect, then you probably noticed that you can press the “C” button to cancel some
This is the CHKDSK program. What is it and what is it for?
Basic information
You have to start from afar. If you have at least a basic understanding of organizing data storage on hard drives, then you also know about the possibility of various types of errors occurring. They appear by various reasons, but the result is the same - data corruption and the need to format the media.
Of course, things don’t always come to such severe consequences, but anything can happen. It is to prevent such cases that the CHKDSK utility is needed. What is this program? Simply put, this application is responsible for checking hard drive for the presence of logical and physical errors, as well as for their correction.
The program is included in all versions of Windows OS, and therefore there is no need to install it separately.
What is done with physically damaged sectors?
If you read carefully, you were probably surprised to see information about correcting even physical errors on the surface of hard drives. No, the program does not send nanorobots there, but it can mark “faulty” areas with a special marker.
As a result, the OS no longer writes any information to these cells. We remind you that the SCANDISK utility was responsible for performing this work in earlier versions of the Microsoft OS.
In general, if you run the utility with the checkbox for detecting and correcting physical errors selected, be prepared to wait a long time. It is best to leave this operation overnight without touching the computer while it is being performed.
Running the scan on Windows XP/7
Let's take the simplest path first. Running the program this way is absolutely no problem. To do this, go to “My Computer”, right-click on the disk you need to check, and select “Properties” in the context menu.
The “Service” tab will open in which you need. There is an item “Check disk for errors”. Click on the appropriate button, after which the utility we need starts. Check the boxes you need, and then click on the “Launch” button.
Possible problems
Attention! It is not so rare that various kinds of difficulties arise. The peculiarity of Windows is that if the disk is used by some application, it cannot be scanned. In this case, a dialog box will appear in which the user will be asked to postpone checking the disk until the next time the computer is restarted.
Remember how we talked about this at the very beginning of the article? The moment you start your computer, the CHKDSK text interface will appear. We have already found out what this is. If the disk you select is not a system one, then the check will be performed from within the Windows OS itself.
Some nuances of Windows XP
In our country, to this day, it often happens that in the midst of the working day, electrical energy in the network suddenly disappears. Computers shut down in an emergency, the file system falls into a deplorable state...
Naturally, at the next reboot the disk check program should be launched, but with the old XP this does not always go smoothly. Even if CHKDSK (we have already learned what it is) did not start automatically when the system started, it is better to force it to start.
The fact is that errors in the file system (and they almost always appear during an emergency shutdown) can manifest themselves suddenly and completely unexpectedly. This can be expressed in inappropriate behavior of the OS, crashes and incorrect operation of applications.
Run from the command line
We have already described above the simplest way, with which you can launch such a useful utility. But we would recommend doing this in emulation mode. Why?
The fact is that from under the graphical shell the program can start with only two main parameters: correcting logical or physical problems of the hard drive. And in command line mode you can adjust almost dozens of parameters.
Of course, for novice users all this is unnecessary, but over time you will still come to the need to use advanced settings.
Enough words, let's get down to business. How to launch the command line? To do this, click on the “Start” button and find the “Run” item there. Click on it, after which a field for entering commands will appear in front of you. You need to insert something like this into it: chkdsk with: /f.
Detailed information on launch options
How will CHKDSK run in this case? The parameters in this case are specified by the letter “F”. It means that the utility will detect and correct only logical errors on the hard drive. If you put the /v parameter there (chkdsk with: /v), then the utility will first display all the directories that will be scanned.
If you are interested in finding and repairing damaged hard drive sectors, put /r at the end of the command. The value of this parameter is that the utility begins not only to search for such problems, but also tries to save from faulty areas the data that can still be read.
Important!
The last operation is only possible (!) when the disk is locked. Accordingly, in normal conditions This command cannot be executed from under Windows itself. To correct this omission, compose the command as follows: chkdsk with: /x /r.
This technique can only be used (!) on disks with the NTFS file system. /x parameter in this case blocks the hard drive, after which the program can continue working. By the way, the same command fully uses the functionality of /f, so if it is necessary to correct the same logical errors, it should not be re-written.
It often happens that there is not enough time to carry out technological operations. Is there any way to reduce the execution time of the CHKDSK utility? The parameters allow this. Just enter this into the command line: chkdsk with: /i. In this case, the check will be performed with a less thorough check of the index entries.
Attention! This option should also only be used with NTFS file system drives. So before you run the CHKDSK utility, we strongly advise you to double-check everything.
It must be remembered that there are many commands and conditions for their use. To fully characterize them all, the scope of this article is clearly insufficient. If you want to learn more about some parameters, use the following command: chkdsk with: /?. In this case, quite detailed help will appear on the command line.
Important Note
While reading this article, you have already come across some comments more than once. In a word, one more moral lesson definitely won’t hurt! The fact is that beginners often cannot use any command, since the OS displays messages like: “Access denied.”
What's happened? It's simple - your account does not have the necessary rights. Yes, the vast majority of domestic users constantly work under “Administrator”, but in the latest versions of Windows (starting with Vista), there is good “fool protection”.
All actions that, even in the long term, could harm the system must be launched with built-in administrator rights. To get the “administrator” command line at your disposal, you need to perform a few simple operations.
Before you run the CHKDSK program with extended privileges, you must click on the “Start” button and write CMD in the “Search” field. A list of found files with the same name will open on the right side of the window. Right-click on the first one (as a rule, there won’t be any more), and in the context menu that opens, select “Run as administrator.”
All! After this, you can scan the disk with the keys that are necessary to perform the type of scan you need.
If the problems are more serious...
All this is good, but how to run the CHKDSK program if Windows itself refuses to start at all? Alas, in this case you will not be able to do without the original boot disk from which you installed the OS.
You insert it into the drive, reboot into the BIOS, and set it to start from a CD. After that, reboot again, wait for the first inscriptions to appear. In Windows XP, to exit to the console you need to press the “R” key, and in Vista/7/8 you should select the item of the same name in the graphical menu.
When you go to the console, you will be asked to indicate the Windows number for which you would like to use the CHKDSK utility. How to run the required one? To do this, you need to enter the number under which it appears in the list provided, and then press Enter.
If your Account is protected by a password, you will need to enter it as well. All. After this you can use the CHKDSK command. How to run it with the parameters you require? It's simple. To do this, you should use the keys that we have already written about above.
Another important note
Everything would be fine, but owners of OS 2003, XP and Vista should be on their guard: Microsoft reports that the disk check utility on these systems contains a critical error. In some cases, it appears, after which a message is displayed stating that “handles are not supported” or “CHKDSK is corrupt.”
Until relatively recently, there was no solution to the problem, and therefore it was often necessary to completely reinstall the system. Currently, the support service advises using a small utility called secedit, which, even after the end of XP support, is available on the official Microsoft website.
Unfortunately, even its use does not guarantee anything. In particular, there are often problems with starting services, and the program itself can simply crash without explanation. Sometimes running it as an administrator helps (as we already wrote about above). Most often, the CHKDSK error will continue to “delight” you until you reinstall Windows.
Keep track of installed programs!
We should not forget that not only in life, but also in your computer, everything is interconnected. On all thematic resources, users have been told many times that under no circumstances should they install applications from dubious sources, but few people pay attention to these warnings.
If, after installing a utility, a disk check (CHKDSK) starts when Windows starts, this clearly indicates that there is something wrong with this program. It is possible that her installer was written crookedly. There is also a possibility that it was simply not installed correctly.
In this case, we can recommend reinstalling the program, and to remove it it is better to use specialized utilities (Revo Uninstaller Pro, for example), which can completely remove all traces of an unsuccessful installation.
How to remove disk check from startup?
It happens that on a completely stable system, on which nothing new has been installed for a long time, a rather annoying window of this utility begins to appear every time you start it. As we have already said, there can be many reasons. It's possible that Windows CHKDSK is giving you desperate signals. HDD, on the very brink of painful death.
Be that as it may, you can remove this program from startup. Attention! You do this entirely at your own peril and risk!
First, click on the “Start” button, look for “Run” there, and then enter the Regedit command. A Registry Editor dialog box opens, in which you need to find the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager key. Go to it, look for the BootExecute item, and then completely erase all its contents. Click on the "OK" button, exit and reboot. As a rule, extraneous windows no longer appear during startup.
Here is CHKDSK. You also already know how to run Windows 7 without it.
Windows malfunctions, emergency shutdown of the computer, experiments with disk space management software, the consequences of viruses - these and other problems can lead to the automatic launch of the standard Windows Chkdsk utility, designed to correct errors in the file system of hard drives. Incorrectly completed operation of the operating system with files leads to file system errors, and sometimes even damage to the file system. In emergency cases, the Chkdsk utility turns on itself before Windows starts, scans disk partitions and corrects errors. However, the fact that there are problems with the file system may not make itself felt during normal use of the computer and only become apparent when trying to manage disk space. So, for example, when trying to shrink a disk partition using standard Windows tools, we may receive the following notification: “It is possible that the volume selected for compression is damaged. Use Chkdsk to troubleshoot the problem, and then try shrinking the volume again."
In this case, disk check will not start automatically. How to run Chkdsk manually in Windows 7, 8.1 and 10? How can I use Chkdsk to fix disk errors if this problem is the reason the operating system is unable to boot?
Inside Windows, the Chkdsk utility can be launched in several ways.
1. Run Chkdsk using Windows GUI
To run Chkdsk, in the system explorer on drive C, right-click and open “Properties”.
In the disk partition properties window that opens, go to the “Services” tab, and in it click the “Check” button (or “Run check” for Windows 7).
In versions of Windows 8.1 and 10, if everything is in order with the disk file system, in the window that appears next, we will see a notification that checking is not required. But if you wish, you can start checking the disk with the Chkdsk utility by clicking “Check disk”.
If the system suspects file system errors, this window will contain a button to start scanning and repairing the disk.
For Chkdsk to work relative to drive C, you must restart the computer. You can do this immediately or delay running the scan until the next reboot.
After restarting the computer, we will be able to observe the operation of Chkdsk.
In Windows 7, launching Chkdsk is slightly different: to the preinstalled option of automatic error correction, you can add another possible option - checking and repairing bad sectors of the hard drive. When activating this option, it is worth considering that in this case Chkdsk may take longer to run.
As with Windows 8.1 and 10, in version 7 the system drive C cannot be scanned within a running operating system. To start the scan, the computer must be restarted. Click “Schedule disk check”.
When checking a non-system partition of a disk, if it is used by some programs, the situation is simpler than with the system partition. In the window with a notification that the disk is currently in use, you just need to click the “Disconnect” button to, accordingly, disable this partition for the duration of the scan.
2. Run Chkdsk using the command line
To run Chkdsk using the command line, first, accordingly, launch the latter.
In the command line enter a command like this:
In this command, instead of drive C, we each time substitute the letter of the desired partition on which the scan is required. If Chkdsk needs to check the system partition C, as with the GUI, you will need to restart the computer. When a message appears in the command line about the impossibility of locking the specified drive, you need to enter “Y”, then restart the computer.
In addition to the /f parameter, which is responsible for correcting disk errors, Chkdsk can be run with the /r parameter, designed to search for bad sectors and restore data. As a result of Chkdsk running with this parameter, hard disk clusters with unreadable sectors will be listed as damaged (bad blocks) and their functions will be transferred to a new cluster. Therefore, it is recommended to run Chkdsk with the /r parameter only when the usual error correction - running the utility with the /f parameter - did not help necessary results. Using the same drive C as an example, the command would look like this:
3. Running Chkdsk on a non-booting Windows
If Windows freezes at a certain point in the boot process, one of the possible reasons This problem is file system errors. In this case, you need to run Chkdsk by booting from the rescue media. As such, you can use regular installation media with versions of Windows 7, 8.1 or 10. With its help, we will launch the Chkdsk utility inside the command line. At the first stage of starting the system installation process, press the command line launch keys – Shift+F10.
In the command line that opens, before running the Chkdsk command, you need to clarify which letters define the disk partitions. This is easy to do using a notepad. I launch it with the command:
Click the notepad menu “File”, then “Open”.
In the explorer that opens, remember the new drive designations. As a rule, in Windows 8.1 and 10, the C drive partition (as it exists inside the running operating system) is listed as D, since the letter C is assigned to the first technical partition of the system. And all other sections are shifted by one letter of the alphabet.
Having decided on the letters of the disk partitions, close Notepad, then, returning to the command line, enter a command like this:
As with Chkdsk inside Windows, you must first try to fix disk errors by running the utility with the /f parameter. And only if the problem is not solved, only then run the command with the /r parameter, as indicated in the previous paragraph of the article.
In cases where Windows is unable to boot, you can pre-burn an emergency Live disk with a selection of various tools to restore the operating system. Among these, for example, is AdminPE based on WinPE. Its image for recording on a disk or flash drive can be downloaded from the official website of the project Adminpe.Ru. Using AdminPE, you can launch a command prompt and enter the Chkdsk launch commands discussed above. But in this Live disk, the Chkdsk utility has its own interface and is launched using a script. The shortcut to launch the utility is placed directly on the desktop.
In the drop-down list to check the disk, select the desired disk partition. Next, activate the checkboxes for restoring damaged sectors and forcibly disabling a partition (volume). Let's check the launches.
AdminPE's tools include a number of other utilities for working with hard drives, as well as the well-known programs Hard Disk Sentinel and Victoria.
Have a great day!
CHKDSK is a standard application for checking a hard drive for errors, detecting bad sectors on a hard drive, and correcting file system errors. The CHKDSK application (short for Check Disk) is built into the operating system Windows system.
The Chkdsk.exe program finds file system errors, bad sectors on the hard drive, and eliminates detected problems. If checking the disk for file system errors reveals problems, the CHKDSK check runs when the computer is turned on.
When using Chkdsk.exe in different versions Windows, there are some differences:
- IN operating system The Windows XP utility chkdsk finds file system errors and repairs bad sectors on the disk.
- In Windows 10, Windows1, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, with default settings, the CHKDSK application finds file system errors, but does not fix them. To correct file system errors and check disk sectors, you must manually set certain parameters.
Problems with the Windows operating system affect its performance. File system errors occur in the following situations:
- Due to a power outage - if the computer suddenly turns off, an unexpected system failure may occur (to prevent such situations, use a UPS - uninterruptible power supply).
- If the system is infected with malware.
- Due to a computer hardware malfunction.
Bad sectors may appear on the surface of the hard drive. When checking a disk using chkdsk, bad bad sectors of the hard disk are marked as damaged, and the system no longer reads or writes information from bad sectors of the disk. The system will try to recover data from damaged sectors (clusters, directories), if possible.
The chkdsk disk scan runs in two modes:
- in the graphical interface using the system tool;
- using the command line.
If your computer does not boot due to a problem, you can check your hard drive using the Windows installation DVD. After booting from removable media, in the system recovery options, select the command line to run a disk error check.
In this tutorial, I will show you how to use the CHKDSK application using the Windows 10 operating system as an example.
CHKDSK check for file system troubleshooting in GUI
The easiest option for checking the file system for errors is to run the CHKDSK program in the graphical interface using system tools.
Follow these steps:
- Launch Explorer.
- Right-click on the local disk on which you want to scan.
- In the “Properties: Local disk (X:)” window, go to the “Tools” tab.
- In the “Check for errors” section, click on the “Check” button.
- In the “Checking errors (Local disk (X:))” window that opens, select “Check disk”, despite the fact that the operating system writes that no errors were found when checking the disk.
In Windows 7, additional scanning options are available; to launch them, you need to check the boxes next to the items:
- Automatically fix system errors.
- Check and repair bad sectors.
- The scanning process begins and will take some time. The scan time depends on the size of the local disk and the amount of data on the disk.
When checking file system errors, the status is scanned:
- The basic structure of the file system is checked.
- File name connections are checked.
- Security descriptors are checked.
- The USN log is checked.
- After completing the verification process, information about its result will open. In this case, the disk was successfully scanned and no errors were detected. If errors are found, you will be asked to fix them.
For detailed information, click on the "Show Details" link.
In the Event Viewer window, click Details.
In the “Event Properties” window, in the “General” and “Details” tabs, detailed information about the result of the disk scan is available.
The information obtained about checking the disk for file system errors can be copied into Notepad or another text editor for further study.
How to run CHKDSK (check disk) on the command line
The chkdsk command to check a hard drive with the specified parameters is executed from the command line:
- Run Command Prompt as Administrator. Read How to Find the Command Prompt in Windows
- To check the system partition (system drive) in the command line interpreter window, enter the command:
- Press the "Enter" key.
- A message appears in the Command Prompt window indicating that the CHKDSK command cannot be executed because the specified volume is in use by a system process. To start checking the system disk after rebooting the system, press the “Y” key and then press the “Enter” key.
- During system reboot will be tested and restoring the system disk.
A sample command template looks like this: ["chkdsk" (application name)], space, [drive letter of the drive being checked followed by a colon ("c:", "d:", "f:", etc.), path, or filename], space, [command options].
Command parameters have the following meanings:
- /F - checks the file system and automatically corrects errors found.
- /R - search for bad sectors on the disk, restore the contents (the command requires the /F key, example: “chkdsk C: /F /R”).
- /V - displays full file paths, displays file names on the disk, in the NTFS file system - displays cleaning messages.
- /X - disconnect the disk before checking, descriptors of this disk will not be checked (the mandatory /F key must be set, example command: “chkdsk C: /F /X”).
- /I - Performs a less stringent check of index items; CHKDSK performs a faster but less thorough check.
- /C - skips checking cycles within the folder structure.
- /L: size - Changes the log size to a value specified in kilobytes.
- /B - reset the scan results, re-check previously found damaged hard disk sectors (the /R key is required, example command: “chkdsk C: /F /R /B”).
In most cases, to check the file system and eliminate bad sectors on the hard drive, it is enough to use the “F” and “R” flags.
How to disable disk check in CHKDSK when Windows boots
In some cases, disk check runs when you turn on the computer, before loading the Windows operating system. In most cases, you need to wait until the check is completed; a restart will not follow.
Constantly checking the disk every time the system starts, indicates the presence of problems and the need to eliminate them. You may need to consider replacing your hard drive. There are programs, for example, that constantly monitor the status of computer disks.
To disable Chkdsk from running when booting Windows you can use 2 methods: changing values in the operating system registry, or using the command line.
Disabling disk check on the command line:
- Run Command Prompt as Administrator.
- In the command line interpreter window, enter the command (“C:” is the name of the drive on which you want to disable the startup of Check Disk when the system boots), and then press the “Enter” key:
- If you need to disable scanning on several drives, add the corresponding drive letters to the command separated by spaces, for example, “chkntfs /x c: d:”.
- Using the command “chkntfs /d” you can return the original settings.
You can disable automatic disk check when loading the operating system in the following way:
- Launch Registry Editor (type “regedit” in the search field, run the command).
- Follow the path:
- Click on the “Session Manager” option.
- Find the “BootExecute” parameter, left-click on it.
- The Edit Multiline window displays the default value.
- To disable disk checking during Windows startup, add the following parameter before the asterisk:
- To disable scanning on multiple partitions, add drive letters separated by a space. Example for drives “C:” and “D:”:
Conclusions of the article
The CHKDSK system application, built into the Windows operating system, is used to check the file system for errors and to detect bad sectors on the computer's hard drive. Using the utility, you can fix system errors and eliminate negative impact(disable writing and reading) on the system due to the presence of bad sectors of the hard drive.
Scenario: You have system errors that need to be fixed.
The Microsoft CHKDSK (“Check Disk”) utility for checking and correcting hard disk errors was introduced more than 30 years ago, but is still used today. Even users latest versions Microsoft operating systems can use this command to check their hard drives for errors and fix them if necessary. Below are instructions for running CHKDSK on Windows 10.
If you still get errors after using CHKDSK, try .
First, select “Search Windows” and search for Command Prompt by typing “cmd”. Right-click on the shortcut and select “Run as administrator” from the context menu.
After logging in as an administrator, you will find yourself in the Windows Command Prompt, familiar to users of operating systems before Windows NT. Type the command “chkdsk”, press the spacebar and then the drive letter you want to check or fix. In our case, this is the external drive “L”.
Running the CHKDSK command without arguments will only show the status of the disk and will not fix any errors present on the partition. To ask CHKDSK to fix errors on the disk, you need to specify parameters. After entering the drive letter, enter the following parameters, each separated by a space: “/f /r /x”.
The “/f” parameter tells CHKDSK to fix any errors it finds; “/r” tells the program to detect bad sectors on the disk and restore readable information; “/x” causes the disk to be unmounted before the process begins. Additional options are available for more specialized jobs, and are detailed on the Microsoft website.
As a result, the complete command that needs to be entered into the Command Line looks like this:
chkdsk [Disk:] [options]
In our case:
chkdsk L: /f /r /x
It's worth noting that CHKDSK must lock the drive, so it will fail to check the system boot disk if the computer is running. In our case, the target disk is external, so the process will begin immediately after entering the command. If the target drive is bootable, the system will ask you if you want to run the command before the next boot. Type “yes”, restart your computer, and the command will run before the operating system boots, giving you full access to the disk.
The CHKDSK command can take a long time to complete, especially on large drives. When completed, the program will summarize the results, such as the total amount of disk space, byte placement, and most importantly, information about the errors found and corrected.
The CHKDSK command is available in all versions of Windows, so both Windows 7 and Windows XP users can follow the above steps to initiate a hard drive check. In case of using old Windows versions, you can do the following:
- Click “Start – Run…”
- Enter cmd
- Enter chkdsk [Disk:] [options]
Stages of “CHKDSK”
The 5 main stages are described below:
Step 1: Checking the basic structure of the file system...
In the first stage, files with entries in the MFT (master file table) are compared and checked.
Stage 2. Checking file name associations...
At this stage, directories and structure are checked. They are checked to match the file size and timestamp information.
Step 3: Checking Security Descriptors...
In the last verification step (3), files and folders are checked for security descriptors, including NTFS rights owner information.
The fourth and fifth stages are executed only if the /r argument is present!
Stage 4. Search for damaged clusters in user file data...
Cluster sectors, including data, are checked for usability.
Stage 5. Search for damaged and free clusters...
At the fifth stage, the cluster sectors are checked for missing data.
If it is not possible to solve hard drive problems using “CHKDSK”, it is recommended to use the corresponding manufacturers.
Also on Windows you can access the CHKDSK GUI
To perform the test using the GUI, do the following:
Right-click on the drive you want to check. Select Properties – Tools – Run check.
This is the “CHKDSK” GUI. The two options correspond to the “/f” and “/r” parameters.
In operating systems of the Microsoft DOS and Windows line chkdsk utility used to correct errors that have occurred on the hard drive. Its name speaks for itself - the abbreviation was obtained by shortening two words “check disk” (disk check). The program can correct errors in the file system, and starting from Windows NT, it can also find damaged sectors of the hard drive. If any are found, they will be specially marked as damaged, and their further use will be discontinued. This may help if you frequently experience the Blue Screen of Death.
Read more here - blue screen of death what to do.
Console Commands
If you run the utility chkdsk by default, a standard error check will be performed on all logical volumes of the hard drive. As a result, you will receive a report about the errors found or their absence, without any further action. For more fine-tuning, console commands are used. — Volume. In the event that you need to check one specific volume, you should indicate the designation Latin letter. —/F. By setting this parameter, errors found will be corrected whenever possible. — /R. Program chkdsk will look for bad sectors, try to fix them, or mark them as inaccessible. This parameter only works in conjunction with /F. These are the three main console commands. They are quite sufficient for diagnosing and correcting errors on the hard drive. Other parameters are used much less frequently.
Running CHKDSK
To begin with, it should be noted that if the PC is turned off incorrectly, the next time you boot, the process of checking the disk for errors will be automatically initialized. Let's look at manually starting the program chkdsk. Method 1. You should use the launch console Windows programs 7 - to launch it, click Win+R. Dial service command chkdsk with all the necessary parameters, and to launch it, click OK. The same can be done in the console, having first launched it by typing in the program launch window cmd.exe. Method 2. Now we will use the properties of the local volume. Open “My Computer” and right-click on the one we want to check. Select “Properties” and go to the “Service” tab.
Now we should select the “Run check” item.
Mark the required parameters and click “Launch”. The disk check will begin. If the check is not possible while the operating system is running, the utility program chkdsk prompt you to schedule the scan to start the next time you turn on your computer. Either way, you need to know how to run the chkdsk utility. It will be useful for various tasks.
