Windows often has a habit of not disk checking anymore, a far cry from the constant scans that Windows 98 and 2000 used to perform. So if you suspect there may be a problem or something has become corrupted then you may want to do a full disk scan, but Windows can't do this while a disk is in use. The way around this is to queue the check to be run on start-up. This is a simple guide on how to do that.

Firstly bring up a Windows command window. If you are using Windows XP then the quickest way to do this is to press Win and R (the Windows key is the one that looks like a flag, between Ctrl & Alt) which will present you with a pop-up window. Now type cmd into the box and press Return.



If you are using Windows Vista or Windows 7, you will need to open the Start Menu and go to All Programs >> Accessories then Right Click and select Run as administrator.



Now you should have a command prompt box appear which looks like a small black window. Inside this window type the following (Replacing C with the letter of the drive you wish to check, Windows is normally installed to C so I've used that as the example):

chkdsk C: /f /x /r

… then press enter. You should now be presented with some information about that disk and asked if you would like to schedule a disk check for the next boot. Say yes to this and you can now close the black window.



That's it, Windows will now do a full disk check on the selected drive when you reboot.