How to Fix chkdsk Stuck in Windows 7, 8, and 10 – The Right Way

“CHKDSK” stands for “check disk”. It is the short form mainly used, which is a system tool in OS/2, DOS, and Windows. It verifies the integrity of the file system of a volume and fixes all the errors of the logical file system. It is identical to the fsck command in Unix. On NT operating systems of Windows, CHKDSK can also perform the checking task of the disk surface for bad errors in surface and then mark them. In Windows 9x and MS-DOS 6.x this task is done by Microsoft SanDisk. CHKDSK in Windows server version is RAID-aware that can totally recover data of a disk in bad sectors of it in an array of RAID-1 or RAID-5, if other disks are in intact with the set.

Any time if you encounter any Hard Drive error or any strange behavior you might not initially want to associate with the Hard Drive. In such case “check disk” or “chkdsk” can prove to be a lifesaver.

Now, do you find your chkdsk stuck and is running every time you open your computer? Before you do anything make sure that your “chkdsk” is not set to a Scheduled Task. Also, make sure that your “chkdsk” is not scheduled to “Run” option. If it still doesn’t fix the issue then further solutions are discussed below. But before going through the solutions in this article make sure your hard drive is “C:”. It can be some other letter too, so check that out before proceeding with the solutions.

Ways to Fix CHKDSK Errors:

Is your chkdsk stuck on your computer? Well, it won’t work properly until and unless you ask it to do it. You need to give a command to the chkdsk for repairing disk errors or clean things up. If chkdsk stuck on your computer then solving the issue is done by adding “command line flags” like “/f” for fix disk errors and /r for recover info from the bad sectors.

Ways to Fix on Windows 7:

On Windows version 7 the fixation can take quite a long time. It may be for an hour or two, or may be the whole day or even more than one day, so do make sure you have enough time for it to spare. You don’t want to interrupt “check disk” once it has started its task.

First, click on the ‘start button’ of your computer,

Then in the “Search programs and files” box type ‘command prompt’,

The top result that you should get be this ‘cmd.exe’,

Then right-click on it and select the option ‘run as Administrator’,

Once the command prompt window opens, type the command in it – ‘chkdsk C: /r’

Then press the ‘enter button’.

After this the /r flag do try in recovering information from bad sectors and assumes that you want any repairing disk errors. Thus, you don’t need /f flag.

You will notice after this command prompt showing you that it cannot run because the volume is being used by another process. It then shows and ask whether you, want to schedule this volume and be checked the next time the system restarts? (Y/N) option appears. Type ‘Y’ and then press ‘enter’ for scheduling the check disk with the repair option. After all, this restart your PC and let it do its job. Once everything is done your file system will be repaired and chkdsk won’t run anymore on start up unless some other issue occurs.

Ways to Fix on Windows 8 and Windows 10:

Things are more advanced in Windows 10 and 8. It takes care of such issues itself in much efficient way. The file system is always checking issues for itself. Issues are solved immediately that doesn’t require the hard drive to be offline. The items that requires the drive to be offline needs to be fixed. “Check Disk” can complete such task within a second or may be couple of minutes.

First, click on the “start” button,

Then in the “Search programs and files” box type ‘cmd’,

The result on top should be “cmd.exe”, right click on it,

Then after right clicking select the option ‘Run as Administrator’,

Now to make sure that all the issues have been found and dealt with, you need to run a scan of the ‘check disk’ first,

To run the check disk scan you need to type- ‘chkdsk C: /scan’.

Then press the ‘enter’ key after that. Once the scan starts running it will fix any issues that it can, without being offline.

Once the scan finishes up type in the command- “chkdsk C: /spotfix”

Now press the “enter” key,

After this you will see a command prompts telling you that it cannot run because it is in use,

Then it will ask you whether, you would like to schedule this volume and want it to be checked the next time the system restarts? A “Y/N” option prompts.

Type “Y” after that and press the “enter” key to schedule “Check Disk”,

Now restart your computer.

This time “check disk” will start running and will fix anything that was identified during the scan process. This process takes only a few seconds to complete since it’s fixing only those specific problems that were identified. Your file system is now repaired. Now “chkdsk” should not anymore run on start up whenever you start your PC unless some other issues occur.

After fixing all the chkdsk errors, there’s only one way to check whether chkdsk will again run on the start up, so restart your computer. Most probably it should not and will not run. If it doesn’t then you can normally bounce back to your usual work. But if it does then your PC might have some other serious issues. In that case you may need to perform a “Windows Recovery System” or clean and re-install Windows drive again or even new hard drive installation.