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Take Charge of Windows Vista Check Disk Failures

Windows Vista’s Check Disk utility doesn’t always run as expected or runs at every start up despite your preferences. In this case, you don’t need a complete Windows Vista IT training course to learn how to work around these issues. Here’s how to take charge of Vista’s Check Disk utility.

Windows Vista comes with a version of Check Disk that operates in much the same way as in previous versions of Windows. However, it doesn’t always cooperate. For example, “full repair” mode occurs when the “Automatically Fix File System Errors” and “Scan for and Attempt Recovery of Bad Sectors” are both selected. When selected, Check Disk is scheduled for the next start up and you should be prompted to restart the computer. In a perfect world, you would restart your computer, Check Disk would run, and the repairs would be made. However, it’s not uncommon for Check Disk to fail to run or to run at every start up.

IT professionals who have extensive Windows Vista training are well-equipped to go into the Windows registry and make the necessary changes. You can do the same if you follow these instructions carefully.

Check Disk Doesn’t Run as Scheduled
What happens in this case is that in order for the Check Disk utility to run at start up, instructions must be entered into the Windows registry. This is done automatically when you originally make your selection. Unfortunately, glitches and corruption can and do happen. If Check Disk fails to run at start up, the configuration within the registry either didn’t occur or is incorrect.

You’ll need to manually edit the registry to instruct Check Disk to run at the next start up. Registry editing is extremely risky, so make sure to back it up before beginning. Go to the Start button and enter “regedit” into the Search bar. Now, click the Regedit.exe icon that appears in the program list.

Once inside the Registry Editor, find your way to this folder:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESystemCurrentControlSetControlSession Manager

Find and double click BootExecute value. It should say, “autocheck autochk *” if not, enter this into the field. Click OK, exit out of Regedit, restart your computer, go back into the Check Disk utility, make your selections, and reboot your computer once again. This time, the Check Disk utility should run when you restart Windows Vista.

Stopping Check Disk from Running Every Time Vista Starts
In this case, the BootExecute value didn’t get reset properly after Check Disk ran. Manually changing the registry’s BootExecute value as you did above often solves this problem. However, it doesn’t always. Sometimes, the “Dirty Bit” becomes stuck.

First, you’ll need to confirm that Dirty Bit is stuck by using the Fsutil command. Go to the Command Prompt (making sure that you are signed on as an Administrator) and type in the following command:
Fsutil dirty query C:

Replace “C:” with the drive letter that you are checking when checking hard drives other than C. For illustration purposes, “C” will be used.

If the dirty query comes up with a result saying that the drive is dirty, then you’ll need to disable Check Disk for next start up by using the Chkntfs command. Type in the following command (substituting your drive letter for C if needed):
Chkntfs /x C:

You should see a result saying that the drive has a NTFS file system. Exit out of the Command Prompt and reboot your computer. It should load Windows Vista without first running the Check Disk utility. If Check Disk does run, go back to a Command Prompt and enter:

Chkdsk /f /r C:

This instructs Check Disk to run at start up in full repair mode. Click Yes to agree to run it at start up and reboot the computer. Once Check Disk runs, it should reset the Dirty Bit and your problems should be solved.

Want to learn more Windows Vista troubleshooting? Online computer training and computer based training courses covering Windows Vista are excellent ways to master the intricacies of this operating system.

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