chkdsk /r

[hlewton]

My daughter's computer is having problems and I told her to run a chkdsk /r. It gets to 67% on step 1 of 5 and stops. Every time she reboots it again tries to run the chkdsk. Is there a way to cancel the scheduled chkdsk that can't seem to complete?

Thanks.

[John Gray]

Assuming that you're an Administrator, in a Command Prompt window type
fsutil dirty query c:
This tells you if the "dirty bit" has been set - undoubtedly it has.
Now do
chkntfs /x c:
which will turn off the dirty bit. A reboot should now not include the CHKDSK function.

However, this is only a temporary bodge - if the disk won't complete CHKDSK (say leaving it overnight to see if it gets beyond the 67%) then I'd back up urgently, and prepare to reinstall Windows on a replacement disk.

[hlewton]

Thank you. I will have her leave it on all night to see if chkdsk will finish but I am afraid she is going to have to use her "restore CDs" and put it back to it's original condition when she bought it. It appears all her trouble started with a corrupt anti-virus file when it tried to automatically update her machine.

[John Gray]

I wouldn't have said that a corrupt AV file should have affected the file structure or physical condition of the hard disk, but if it won't complete CHKDSK...

[StuartR]

chkdsk can sometimes take a VERY long time. In my experience it will usually complete if you leave it for long enough, but this could mean several hours - even overnight may not be long enough if there are enough errors.

[hlewton]

Thank both of you.