Stop Chkdsk from running during start-up

[Administrator]

Stop Chkdsk from running during start-up

Question:

Recently I have noticed that each time I boot my system, the
operating system (Windows XP Pro SP2) runs ScanDisk on my D:
drive, stating that the computer did not shut down properly,
which is not true. The system then runs a full ScanDisk on
drive D: and gives an error-free report. Then after that,
each time I boot, it runs ScanDisk on my D: drive all over
again, finds no errors. Kindly suggest how to get rid of this
annoyance. (Intel P4 1.4GHz, 256MB RD-RAM, 40GB Seagate
Barracuda with equal partition, C: and D:, C: being the
primary drive). Thanks in anticipation.

Submitted by: Anup J. of West Bengal, India

Answer:

Hello, what you're experiencing is what Windows refers to as \"setting the dirty bit\" and what you have to do is unset that bit. Every time Windows XP starts, autochk.exe is called by the kernel to scan all volumes to check if the volume dirty bit is set. If the dirty bit is set, autochk performs an immediate chkdsk /f on that volume. Chkdsk /f verifies file system integrity and attempts to fix any problems with the volume. It is usually caused by a hard shut down or a power loss during a read-right operation on that particular drive.

How do I fix it, you ask?

Well, that's easy. First click Start> Run> bring up a command prompt by typing in \"CMD\" and type \" fsutil dirty query d: \". This queries the drive, and more than likely it will tell you that it is dirty. Next, type \"CHKNTFS /X D:\". The X tells Windows to NOT check that particular drive on the next reboot. At this time, manually reboot your computer, it should not do a Chkdsk and take you directly to Windows.

Once Windows has fully loaded, bring up another CMD prompt and type and now you want to do a Chkdsk manually by typing \"Chkdsk /f /r d:\". This should take you through 5 stages of the scan and will unset that dirty bit. Finally, type \"fsutil dirty query d:\" and Windows will confirm that the dirty bit is not set on that drive. Good luck!

Submitted by: Darrin S.