Why Does Chkdsk Start Runnning When Windows XP Starts Up?
The Microsoft utility Chkdsk scans hard drives for errors. You can invoke it manually, but most users will come across it when it starts automatically during Windows startup. There are a few reasons this could be happening.
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Improper Shutdown
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Windows is designed to run Chkdsk automatically if the previous session of Windows wasn't shut down properly. If you turned off the computer without using the "Shut Down" tool, Windows will likely run Chkdsk when you reboot.
Schedule
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Chkdsk can be scheduled to run at regular times. Since the best time to run Chkdsk is before the operating system has fully booted, these scheduled runs will probably take place when you turn on your computer.
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Dirty Disk
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If Windows encounters a problem with a drive, it will set that drive's "dirty bit," alerting Chkdsk to run on the next startup. (Shutting the computer down improperly also sets the dirty bit, so technically this is the same cause as in Section 1.) If Chkdsk is consistently running at startup, you may have a serious problem with your drive. Allow the scan to complete at least once and examine the results.
Disabling Chkdsk
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If your drive is still working fine, Chkdsk scans find nothing serious, and yet the system continues to scan at every reboot, you can disable Chkdsk on a particular drive. Click "Start," then "Run." Type "cmd" (without the quotes) and press Enter; then, at the command line that appears, type:
chkntfs /x c:
where "c:" is the letter of the drive Chkdsk keeps scanning. Only do this if you are sure your drive has no problems--disabling Chkdsk will keep Windows from diagnosing and repairing any problems that do arise with the disk.
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References
- Photo Credit Rigid computer disk. image by Yuri Bizgaimer from Fotolia.com
