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CHKDSK Command Syntax

The document describes the chkdsk command syntax and options used to check disks for errors in Windows. It provides explanations of common chkdsk command options like /F to fix errors, /V for verbose output, and /R to recover data from bad sectors. Examples are given showing how to run chkdsk on the C: drive to fix errors or perform an online scan without fixing issues immediately.

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Bojan Jerotijević
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388 views

CHKDSK Command Syntax

The document describes the chkdsk command syntax and options used to check disks for errors in Windows. It provides explanations of common chkdsk command options like /F to fix errors, /V for verbose output, and /R to recover data from bad sectors. Examples are given showing how to run chkdsk on the C: drive to fix errors or perform an online scan without fixing issues immediately.

Uploaded by

Bojan Jerotijević
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Chkdsk Command Syntax

chkdsk [volume:] [/F] [/V] [/R] [/X] [/I] [/C] [/L:size] [/perf] [/scan] [/?]

How to Read Command Syntax


Chkdsk Command Options
Item Explanation
volume This is the drive letter of the partition for which you want to check for errors.
:
/F This chkdsk command option will fix any errors found on the disk.
/V Use this chkdsk option on a FAT or FAT32 volume to show the full path and name
of every file on the disk. If used on an NTFS volume, it will show cleanup messages
(if there are any).
/R This option tells chkdsk to locate bad sectors and recover any readable information
from them. This option implies /F when /scan is not specified.
/X This command option implies /F and will force a dismount of the volume if
necessary.
/I This option will perform a less vigorous chkdsk command by instructing the
command to run faster by skipping over certain regular checks.
/C Same as /I but skips over cycles within the folder structure to reduce the amount of
time that the chkdsk command runs.
/L:size Use this chkdsk command option to change the size (in KB) of the log file. The
default log file size for chkdsk is 65536 KB; you can check the current log file size
by executing /L without the "size" option.
/perf This option allows chkdsk to run faster by using more system resources. It has to be
used with /scan.
/scan This chkdsk option runs an online scan on an NTFS volume but does not try to repair
it. Here, "online" means that the volume does not need to be dismounted, but can
instead remain online/active. This is true for both internal and external hard drives;
you can continue using them throughout the course of the scan.
/spotfix This chkdsk option dismounts the volume only briefly in order to fix issues that were
sent to the log file.
/? Use the help switch with the chkdsk command to show detailed help about the
commands listed above and other options you can use with chkdsk.
Other less commonly used chkdsk command switches exist too, like /B to re-
evaluate bad clusters on the volume, /forceofflinefix which runs an
online scan (a scan while the volume is active) but then forces the repair
to run offline (once the volume has been
dismounted), /offlinescanandfix which runs an offline chkdsk scan and
then fixes any problems that were found, and others that you can read
more about through the /? switch.
The /offlinescanandfix option is the same as /F except that it's only allowed
on NTFS volumes.

If you're using the chkdsk command from the Recovery Console in older
versions of Windows, use /p in place of /F above to instruct chkdsk to
perform an extensive check and repair errors on the hard drive .
Chkdsk Command Examples
chkdsk

In the above example, since no drive or additional options were entered,


chkdsk simply runs in read-only mode.

If problems were found when running this simple chkdsk command, you'll
want to make sure to use the example from below to correct any issues.
chkdsk c: /r

In this example, the chkdsk command is used to perform an extensive


check of the C: drive to correct any errors and to locate any recovery
information from bad sectors. This is best used when you're running
chkdsk from outside of Windows, like from a recovery disc where you
need to specify which drive to scan.

chkdsk c: /scan /forceofflinefix

This chkdsk command runs an online scan on the C: volume so that you


don't have to dismount the volume to run the test, but instead of fixing
any issues while the volume is active, the problems are sent to a queue
that will be resolved in an offline repair.

chkdsk c: /r /scan /perf

In this example, chkdsk will fix problems on the C: drive while you're


using it, and will use as much system resources as allowed so that it will
run as quickly as possible.

Chkdsk Related Commands


Chkdsk is often used with many other Command Prompt commands
and Recovery Console commands .

The chkdsk command is similar to the scandisk command used to check


a hard drive or floppy disk for errors in Windows 98 and MS-DOS.

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