Chkdsk is the command to check and repair a disk for bad sectors, unindexed files, and other drive issues. It requires being run from an elevated Command Prompt (run as Administrator) If a drive is in use, you will not be able to run Chkdsk on it until the next reboot where the volume can be scanned and repaired before Windows is loaded. If you try to run a Chkdsk on an in-use drive, you should receive an option to schedule the check for the next restart.
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 you answer ‘y’, the chkdsk will run the next time the computer is booting up. If you watch for it, you are given a chance to skip checking the disk but if you do nothing, the scan will commence. The scan can take some time, from 15 minutes to 24 hours, depending on the size of the drive and other factors. It might even hang at 10 or 11% even though it’s making progress in the background.
Once the scan completes, the computer will resume booting normally. If you were interested in the results of the scan, to see if something were fixed, there is no obvious means presented to see the results of the scan. Here’s how:
The results are stored in an Windows Event Viewer log.
Right-click on ‘Computer’ or ‘This PC’ and choose Manage.
In the left-hand pane, drill down through System Tools to Event Viewer and Windows Logs to find the Application log. Scroll through the Application log in the center pane to find about the time the computer finished booting normally. Look in the Source column for an entry with ‘Wininit’. If you select that record, you can view the results of the completed checkdsk in the field below on the General tab. There is a scroll bar that allows you to view the entire report or you can click inside of the area and use the arrow keys to navigate.
