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HarrisonMills's avatar
HarrisonMills
Iron Contributor
Jun 18, 2025

Check Disk will not run at startup in Windows 11

While diagnosing another problem on my Windows 11 home computer, I got a message that my C: drive had errors and that chkdsk /f needed to be run.

I opened a command prompt as administrator and requested chkdsk /f, which said it would take place at the next restart of my computer.

However, whenever i restarted my computer, after a delay countdown of 8 seconds it would display "Scanning and repairing drive (C:)", but then appeared to skip the chkdsk operation and go directly to Windows 11.

By following a youtube video, i was finally able to perform a manual chkdsk /f via Settings, System, Recovery - Advanced Start - Troubleshoot - Advanced Options - Command Prompt, and this appeared to correct some c: drive errors.

However, I still cannot seem to run chkdsk /f at a normal system restart. Running the DISM and SFC commands did not disclose any integrity violations.

Does anyone have a suggestion on how I could safely fix this?

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2 Replies

  • Winow's avatar
    Winow
    Iron Contributor
    Jun 27, 2025

    This can tell you if the scan is being scheduled but not executing properly, or if underlying disk issues persist.

  • Jeasdsson's avatar
    Jeasdsson
    Iron Contributor
    Jun 26, 2025

    If it still won’t run on restart, you could also consider running chkdsk /r from Safe Mode or WinRE as you did, which is often more reliable.

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