Chkdsk will Not Run at Startup in Vista

How to Fix Chkdsk will Not Run at Startup in Vista​

   Information

If after you set Check Disk or chkdsk to run at startup it will not run, then this will show you how to fix this problem so chkdsk will run at startup. This problem is usually caused when the autochk.exe file gets corrupted, or the registry BootExecute data value is incorrect.

This is not for if chkdsk cannot finish or stops running.

   Note

• Check Disk uses the file autochk.exe to run chkdsk.
• If you still cannot run chkdsk at startup after this, then you might consider performing a System Restore, Repair Installation, or Clean Installation to fix the problem. See related links below.
• If you had changed your default boot screen, then you will need to temporarily uncheck the No GUI boot to be able to see what is happening when chkdsk is running at boot up. See: How to Enable or Replace the Hidden Aurora Boot Screen in Vista

STEP ONE

Safe Mode Workaround

   Note

This is to see if something may be loading before the check disk program preventing chkdsk from running.

1. Schedule check disk to run using chkdsk /f (STEP FIVE below) in the command promt.​

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2. Run msconfig (step 1 in METHOD TWO at link), and click on the Boot​

tab and click on Safe boot with the minimal button selected. (See screenshot below)​

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3. Restart the computer to hopefully have chkdsk run.​

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4. Set msconfig (step 2 in METHOD TWO at link) to boot normally again.​

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5. If chkdsk still will not run at startup, then proceed with the steps below. If it did, then you're done.​

STEP TWO

Reset chkdsk BootExecute

   Note

• This will reset chkdsk back to it's default setting of not to run at startup.
• This step will also fix the problem of chkdsk always running at startup.
• If BootExecute already has a Data value of autocheck autochk *, then you do not need to do this. (See the Manual Way below to check) Continue to STEP THREE below instead.

Through a Download:​

1. Click on the download button below to download the Reset_chkdsk.reg file.​

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2. Click on Save, and save the .reg file to the Desktop.​

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3. Right click on the .reg file (on Desktop) and click on Merge.​

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4. Click on the Run button for Security Warning pop-up.​

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5. Click on Continue (UAC), Yes, and then OK when prompted.​

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6. When done, you can delete the .reg file (on Desktop).​

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The Manual Way:​

1. Open the Start Menu.​

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2. In the white line (Start Search) area, type regedit and press Enter.​

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3. Click on the Continue button in the UAC prompt.​

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4. In regedit, go to: (See screenshot below step 5)​

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HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager​

5. In the right pane, right click on BootExecute and click on Modify.​

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6. Type autocheck autochk * and click on OK. (See screenshot below)​

NOTE: You will be replacing autocheck autochk /p \??\C: with autocheck autochk* instead. If BootExecute already has a Data value of autocheck autochk *, then you do not need to do this. Go to STEP THREE below.​

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7. Close regedit.​

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STEP THREE

Run a SFC /SCANNOW Command

1. Try running a sfc /scannow command to see if it can fix chkdsk.​

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2. When SFC is finished, try running chkdsk again.​

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3. If chkdsk still will not run at startup, then proceed with the steps below. If it did, then you're done.​

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STEP FOUR

Replace autochk.exe File

NOTE: This will show you how to replace your corrupted copy of the autochk.exe file with clean copy to be able to run chkdsk at startup.

1. Be sure that you already have ran a SFC /scannow from STEP THREE above to see verify that the autochk.exe file was foud to be corrupted first in the sfcdetails.txt file. If it's not, then you do not need to do STEP FOUR.​

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2. In Windows Explorer, go to C:\Windows\System32\autochk.exe. (See screenshot below)​

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3. Take ownership of the file autochk.exe at the C:\Windows\System32\autochk.exe location, and "Allow" your user account "Full Control" of it. (See screenshot above)​

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4. Right click on autochk.exe and click on Properties. (See screenshot below step 2)​

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5. Click on the Details tab. (See screenshots below)​

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A) Make note of what File version the autochk.exe file is.​

NOTE: If the File version is blank or you have SP1 installed, then do step 6. If not, then do step 8.​

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6. Download the same version that you have in step 5.​

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7. For the Vista 6.0.6002.18005 SP2 Version of autochk.exe​

NOTE: This is for the 32 bit and 64 bit Vista with SP1 and SP2 installed.​

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A) Click on the download button below to download the 6.0.6002.18005.zip file.​

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B) Go to step 10.​

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8. For the Vista 6.0.6001.18000 SP1 Version of autochk.exe​

NOTE: This is for the 32 bit and 64 bit Vista with SP1 installed.​

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A) Click on the download button below to download the 6.0.6001.18000.zip file.​

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B) Go to step 10.​

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9. For the Vista 6.0.6000.16386 RTM Version of autochk.exe​

NOTE: This is for the 32 bit and 64 bit Vista without SP1 or SP2 installed. This version has been reported to still work with or without SP1 installed, so you may try it if you still have problems with the newer 6.0.6001.18000 SP1 or 6.0.6002.18005 SP2 version.​

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A) Click on the download button below to download the 6.0.6000.16386.zip file.​

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10. Save the ZIP file to your desktop.​

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11. Open on the downloaded autochk.exe.zip file.​

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12. Extract (drag and drop) the autochk.exe file from wihtin the ZIP file to your desktop.​

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13. Right click on the autochk.exe file on your desktop and click on Properties and the Unblock button under the General tab. (See screenshot below)​

NOTE: If you do not have the Unblock button, then it is already unblocked. Continue on to step 14.​

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14. Right click on the autochk.exe file on your desktop and click on Copy.​

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15. Go back to the Windows Explore window at C:\Windows\System32\autochk.exe. (See screenshot below step 2)​

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16. Right click on a empty space in the Windows Explorer window and click on Paste. (See screenshot below step 2)​

NOTE: If it will not let you Copy or Paste the new autochk.exe file (on desktop) over, then rename the old one and repeat step 14, then delete the old renamed autochk.exe file afterwards.​

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17. Click on Copy and Replace. (See screenshot below)​

NOTE: This replaces your autochk.exe with the downloaded clean one on the desktop that has not been taken ownership of.​

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18. Click on Continue for Access Denied prompt.​

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19. Click on Continue for UAC prompt.​

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20. Close the Windows Explorer window.​

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STEP FIVE

Set Chkdsk to Run at Startup

1. Try the different methods in this tutorial below to run chkdsk to see which one works best for you.​

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That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Run Check Disk at Startup in Vista
• How To Perform a Repair Installation For Vista
• How to Do a Clean Install of Vista with a Upgrade Version
• How to Do a Clean Install with a Full Version of Vista
• How to Do a System Restore in Vista
• How to Repair and Verify the Integrity of Vista System Files with System File Checker
• How to Change Vista Disk Check Press Any Key Timeout Value at Startup
• How to Read the Event Viewer Log for Check Disk (chkdsk) in Windows

 

[hbrion]

Many thanks, Shawn. After several hours working on my Toshiba Satellite P205D w/ Vista Home Premium SP1, I found the correct sequence of steps. Just a couple of notes for others with this configuration.

The Boot Execute data kept reverting to the value autocheck autochk /p \??\C: after each reboot, so I had to change it back again to autocheck autochk * when I tried the "non-SP1" version of autochk.exe (.16386) and, voila, it worked!

I guess my configuration is one of the exceptions to the SP1 rule. Thanks again, Harvey

 

[Brink]

You're welcome Harvey. I'm happy to hear that you got it sorted despite the SP1 issue.

That reminds me that I needed to update this to include the SP2 version as well.

Shawn

 

[casperolewis]

Thank you for sharing that. It does work. My question is why does it happen as this is about the third time i've used this method? Also, Vista is not seeing one of my external HDD's that it had before. It will come up and ask to format it, which i loathe doing, cuz it's got most of my music files, etc on it. So what i'm asking is is it the HDD / VISTA not playing nicely or is the drive boot sector jacked? Its an acomada 500 gig external. And is there any way if the boot sector is bad that i can either retrieve or wipe it clean. It wont let me scan it, as it either freezes dear VISTA or sez fomat and it wont. Thanks for the helpgeek:

 

[Brink]

Hello Lewis,

Not sure exactly what may be causing it, but backing up your music and formating it from within Vista will hopefully help.

 

[PhoenixHawke]

I've been fiddling with this all morning, finally got the disk check to run. You might consider adding the steps described in the last reply to the following to your tutorial, as it's what finally fixed my problem and got disk check to run

http://www.vistax64.com/vista-performance-maintenance/151576-check-disk-not-working.html

 

[Brink]

PhoenixHawke,

Could you post back the permalink (top right corned in post) for that individual post with the solution that worked for you? (right click, copy shortcut, paste) I'm unclear if it is the last post in the thread or in the page for the link you posted.

 

[PhoenixHawke]

PhoenixHawke,

Could you post back the permalink (top right corned in post) for that individual post with the solution that worked for you? (right click, copy shortcut, paste) I'm unclear if it is the last post in the thread or in the page for the link you posted.

Sure

http://www.vistax64.com/vista-performance-maintenance/151576-check-disk-not-working.html#post706569

~Brian

 

[Brink]

Thank you Brian. It has been added as STEP ONE.

 

[PhoenixHawke]

Thank you Brian. It has been added as STEP ONE.

Haha, awesome. Thanks for having this up here though - Even though what you initially had posted didn't solve my particular variation of this problem, it brought enough people with similar problems together that I was able to track down something that worked. Much appreciated.

Oh, and now FireFox isn't locking up my system and forcing me to do a hard-shutdown to recover anymore! :D

 

[Brink]

That's great news. I'm happy to hear everything seems to be sorted out now for you.

 

[PhoenixHawke]

That's great news. I'm happy to hear everything seems to be sorted out now for you.

You and me both. I was about ready to pull my hair out - this laptop is only about a month old lol

 

[Brother Patrick]

I have followed the steps down through attempting to replace the autochk.exe file - at this point permission is asked for (after selecting Copy and replace) - I click to give permission and receive message "Try Again".

How do I authorize the system to perform this file copy.

FYI - I received the same message when I tried to rename the original autochk file.


Any help you can offer will be greatly appreciated.

God Bless

 

[PhoenixHawke]

I have followed the steps down through attempting to replace the autochk.exe file - at this point permission is asked for (after selecting Copy and replace) - I click to give permission and receive message "Try Again".

How do I authorize the system to perform this file copy.

FYI - I received the same message when I tried to rename the original autochk file.


Any help you can offer will be greatly appreciated.

God Bless

You need to give yourself permissions - first take ownership of the file, then close properties, reopen properties, and give yourself "Full Control" permissions. If you do not do both of these steps in order, you will not be able to replace the files.

Full instructions for this are located in the original tutorial post (Click the link for "taking ownership".)

 

[Brother Patrick]

I've gone through downloading the Take Ownership patch, but when I right click on the desktop file, I don't find the "Take Ownership" option.

I know this is probably simple, but it's virtually Greek to me.

Thanks

 

[PhoenixHawke]

I've gone through downloading the Take Ownership patch, but when I right click on the desktop file, I don't find the "Take Ownership" option.

I know this is probably simple, but it's virtually Greek to me.

Thanks

I've only ever done it the manual way, through windows explorer.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/67717-take-ownership-file.html

Do Method two, option two

 

[s660117]

Hi,
I run Vista Home Premium at level Service Pack 1 on a Dell Inspiron 537s x64 laptop. I too cannot get Check Disk to run after booting. Using MSCONFIG to set SAFE mode doesn't help and SFC runs clean. My Boot Execute registery entry is equal to "autocheck autochk *" before I invoke Check Disk from the Tools panel and "autocheck autochk /r\??\C:autocheck autochk *" afterwards. This is exactly what I see on my other Vista PC, where Check Disk runs every time. I went on to try to replace the AutoChk file. I first attempted to take ownership of the file --
takeown /F C:\Windows\System32\autochk.exe
icacls C:\Windows\System32\autochk.exe /grant Rachel:F.
I then downloaded the SP1 file and extracted autochk.exe. But when I went to cut and paste the new file or rename the old one, I got the message "You'll need to provide administrative permission to copy to this folder". I selected contine and then got the admin waring prompt "Windows needs your permission to continue". Again, I chose to continue, at which point, I got "Destination folder access denied".
I assume I'm doing something wrong with either takeown or icacls, but don't know what it is.
Thanks in advance,
s660117

 

[Brink]

Hello s660117, and welcome to Vista Forums.

Try the manual Method two, option two in the tutorial below instead to see if you have ownership and full permission of the autochk.exe file.

Take Ownership of file

 

[s660117]

Yes, option 2 worked fine and ChkDsk did run once I refreshed autochk.exe.
Thanks for your help,
s660117

 

[Brink]

You're welcome s660117. I'm happy to hear that you got it to run now.

 

[Ray VS Vista]

Instructions Question

Step Four
#4
NOTE: If the File version is blank or you have SP1 installed, then do step 6. If not, then do step 7.

6. For the 6.0.6002.18005 SP2 Version of autochk.exe -
NOTE: This is for the 32 bit and 64 bit Vista with SP1 and SP2 installed.

My file version is blank and I have SP1 installed. In the sfc scannow log it says it is version 6.0.6001.18000, the SP1 version. Please verify. You want me to install the SP2 version, even though I don't have SP2 installed?