Have you ever been unable to use the Disk Defragmenter on Windows XP because of Checkdisc (Chkdsk/f)? If yes, read further.

You are running Windows XP Service Pack 2.
You try to run disk defragmenter. A window pops up and you get the message: “Disk Defragmenter has detected that Chkdsk is scheduled to run on the volume (C). Please run Chkdsk /f.”
Note: The /f tells the Check Disk to automatically fix disk errors. If you disk is NFTS, you can as well run Chkdsk /x.

To run the Chkdsk /f, you click on “Start”, choose “Run”; type “cmd” and hit enter.
You then run Chkdsk /f and you get pop up window with the message:
“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”

You type in Y, hit enter.
You then reboot up your computer and it performs no checkdsk.

You wonder what to do.

You then go to verify the scheduled tasks and, surprise, you find no Check Disk scheduled.

What does all that means?
That means that there are processes (applications) which are running when you reboot your computer and which prevent the Windows XP from performing the chckds /f command.

How do you go around this catch 22 problem?

Here’s how I solved the problem:

1. Set your system to safe mode with the “/SAFEBOOT” command from the MSCONFIG program. Click on “Start” and choose “Run”. Type in “MSCONFIG” and click “OK”.
Choose the BOOT.INI tab and enable the “/SAFEBOOT” option.
Choose the STARTUP tab and disable programs such as anti-virus or anti-spyware software or network monitors or …
These might be the ones preventing Chkdsk from functioning.
When you disable those programs, you might have an ‘Access Denied’ message. Ignore it and go ahead. You might have a dialogue box such as: “An Access Denied was returned while attempting to change a service. You may need to log on as Administrator account to make the specified changes”. Just click on “OK” and go ahead.

2. Go on Start again, choose “Run”; type “cmd” and hit “OK”.
Type in “Chkdsk /f” (or Chkdsk /x if using NTFS file system).
If you get the message:
“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”, type in “Y” and hit the Enter key.

3. Reboot the computer and here you go: Windows starts by scanning the disk.

4. After scanning the disk, Windows goes on and asks you to log in the Safe Mode. Log in. You certainly want to take this opportunity to defragment the disk before doing anything else.

5. Right-Click on “My Computer” and choose “Manage”.
On the Computer Management window, under “Storage”, Choose Disc Management, choose the disc you want to defragment and click on “Analyze”.
The defragmenter should start analysing your disk. After analyzing the disk, you get a report and if you want to go ahead with defragmentation, you choose “Defragment”.

6. Have a break (it can be long!). Do not use the computer until it has finished defragmenting.

7. Do not forget to go back to MSCONFIG to uncheck the “/SAFEBOOT” and reactivate the applications you want on the Startup tab.

That’s it. Congratulations! You have now solved the problem!


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