Chkdsk F in XP

‘Chkdsk’ is a command to check the file integrity status of hard disks, floppy disks or external storage disk for fixing the logical system errors.  The command is used on computers running DOS and Microsoft Windows operating systems. Windows XP help says that it is a very powerful tool to scan for errors in hard drives, bad sectors and to fix the issues with the system.

This article focuses into the instructions by Windows XP help for running the Chkdsk command in XP.

Instructions by Windows XP help

These steps by the help team of XP will help you fix the hard drive and file issues with the operating system. Note that Chkdsk no longer needs to be run from the DOS command line. The steps are as follows:

• Run Windows XP normally, allow it to load fully.
• Access the My Computer menu.
• Click the My Computer menu option.
• Right-click on the drive on which you wish to run the Chkdsk F command.
• Click Properties in the right-click context menu.
• Click on the Tools tab in the Properties window.
• Click on the Check Now button in the Error-checking frame of the Tools tab.
• Click in the Automatically fix file system errors check box under the Check diskoptions frame in the following window.
  

  Chkdsk F in XP

• This is the step which enables the /f command in Chkdsk.
• Click Start to begin the Chkdsk scan.
• If there are a lot of processes running in the background, or if Chkdsk determines that it should be run when you next restart your computer, it would be better to run the Chkdsk over a restart in this case.
• Set the system to safe mode with the /SAFEBOOT command from the MSCONFIG program.
• Click Start and choose Rbun.
• Type MSCONFIG and enable the /SAFEBOOT option from the BOOT.INI tab if your anti-virus or anti-spyware software is conflicting with the Chkdsk process.

With these steps the Chkdsk scan will start in your system.

Tips and Tricks

Don’t perform Chkdsk F if you are working on other projects. The disk scan of the drives can seriously affect the system performance. Before doing the disk scan, always back up important files. Chkdsk F will make changes to the files and drives. You will then be left with no way to know which files are affected until the process is completed.