"Cannot open volume for direct access" in chkdsk

[Guest]

I am running Windows XP SP2 and I have BitDefender 9 IS, Q&Q Defragmenter 8.0
and Norton Ghost 2002. I have four primary partitions : C,D,E,F.BitDefender
and Q&Q are installed on E and Ghost on F. I have recently made a backup of
Local C Drive with Norton ghost and stored the backup on F. After making the
backup files succesfully and closing Norton Ghost and rebooting, Q&Q offline
defragmentation started. It defragmented C,D,E drives, but when it got to F (
thats where i had put the recently made backup files ) it said defragmenting
files 2 of 1 ?? It was taking sooo long to defragment them so I restarted and
cancelled the defragmentation. I got in Windows and I successfully
defragmented all drives and canceled offline defragmentation for q&q. It took
me two hours to defragment F in q&q !. I also defragmented everything with
the windows defragger before doing that again with q&q. From then on I never
allowed offline defragmentation for q&q because I didn't want to wait 2 hours
before I could get into XP. Today, I ran Check Disk from Windows explorer on
F,E and D succesfully but when I wanted to check C after I restarted it said
"Cannot open volume for direct access'' and ''Windows finished disk check "
or something like that. I don't know why it is malfunctioning, because of the
anti-virus or because of the defragger ? What should I do about the offline
defragmentation in Q&Q, activate it or not or on which drives only. Your help
and suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I hope this issue would be
fixed with your help.

 

[Wesley Vogel]

If you are getting one of these messages:

Cannot lock volume for direct access
or
Cannot open volume for direct access

Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Edition 9.0 can cause the problem.

Chkdsk.exe or ScanDisk fails to run on Windows XP or Windows 2003 after
installing Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Edition 9.0
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPOR...6e22005026f1/52d79c84c363973488256ea600542b5a

A program called Hitman Pro can cause the problem.

A really old version of ZoneAlarm (a version from 2004) can cause the
problem.

BitDefender Internet Security 9 can cause the problem.

[[Ok BitDefender live support told me yesterday that they are working on it
and
sending people analyse tools but she didn't send me one.....]]
from...
(e-mail address removed) 21 May 2006

Spyware Doctor can also cause the problem.

The /x switch doesn't work if Spyware Doctor is installed. Spyware Doctor
needs to be uninstalled or you can do this...

Quoted from *PCTools*, *Spyware* *Doctor*...
1. Exit from Spyware Doctor (to exit from Spyware
Doctor please right click on the Spyware Doctor icon in
the notification area (next to the clock on the Windows
taskbar) and select Exit from the menu that appears)

2. Delete the file
ikhlayer.sys from %windir%\system32\drivers\
or
from c:\windows\system32\drivers\

3. Restart Spyware Doctor

Chkdsk, defrag and error-checking should now work.
-----

You can also try this.

To run chkdsk from a command prompt.

Start | Run | Type: cmd | Click OK |
In the command prompt, type:

chkdsk C: /x

Hit your Enter key.

The following error message appears:
Chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use by another process. Would you
like to schedule this volume to be checked the next time the system
restarts? (Y/N)

Type Y, hit Enter and close the command prompt.

Reboot.

The /x switch: Use with NTFS only. Forces the volume to dismount first, if
necessary. All open handles to the drive are invalidated. /x also includes
the functionality of /f. The /F switch fixes errors on the disk.

Unable to run CHKDSK
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555484

[[Message 1
Cannot lock volume for direct access
Message 2
Cannot open volume for direct access ]]
You receive an error message when you run the Autochk.exe utility on a
partition after you restart the computer or when you schedule the Chkdsk.exe
utility to run on a partition on a Windows 2000-based computer or a Windows
NT-based computer
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/160654

This can sometimes work.

Schedule chkdsk and reboot in Safe Mode.

The way to do that in this instance is to use the msconfig method.

Start | Run | Type: msconfig | Click OK |
BOOT.INI tab | Under Boot Options select: /SAFEBOOT

The /SAFEBOOT switch causes Windows to start in Safe Mode.

After making those boot.ini changes using msconfig, you need to click Apply
and Close.

Then click on: Restart.

See if chkdsk runs correctly.

Then before you shutdown or reboot again, open msconfig...

UNSelect: /SAFEBOOT under the boot.ini tab | Click Apply |
Under the General tab Select: Normal Startup - load all device drivers and
services | Click Apply and Close

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

 

[Guest]

If you are getting one of these messages:

Cannot lock volume for direct access
or
Cannot open volume for direct access

Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Edition 9.0 can cause the problem.

Chkdsk.exe or ScanDisk fails to run on Windows XP or Windows 2003 after
installing Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Edition 9.0
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPOR...6e22005026f1/52d79c84c363973488256ea600542b5a

A program called Hitman Pro can cause the problem.

A really old version of ZoneAlarm (a version from 2004) can cause the
problem.

BitDefender Internet Security 9 can cause the problem.

[[Ok BitDefender live support told me yesterday that they are working on it
and
sending people analyse tools but she didn't send me one.....]]
from...
(e-mail address removed) 21 May 2006

Spyware Doctor can also cause the problem.

The /x switch doesn't work if Spyware Doctor is installed. Spyware Doctor
needs to be uninstalled or you can do this...

Quoted from *PCTools*, *Spyware* *Doctor*...
1. Exit from Spyware Doctor (to exit from Spyware
Doctor please right click on the Spyware Doctor icon in
the notification area (next to the clock on the Windows
taskbar) and select Exit from the menu that appears)

2. Delete the file
ikhlayer.sys from %windir%\system32\drivers\
or
from c:\windows\system32\drivers\

3. Restart Spyware Doctor

Chkdsk, defrag and error-checking should now work.
-----

You can also try this.

To run chkdsk from a command prompt.

Start | Run | Type: cmd | Click OK |
In the command prompt, type:

chkdsk C: /x

Hit your Enter key.

The following error message appears:
Chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use by another process. Would you
like to schedule this volume to be checked the next time the system
restarts? (Y/N)

Type Y, hit Enter and close the command prompt.

Reboot.

The /x switch: Use with NTFS only. Forces the volume to dismount first, if
necessary. All open handles to the drive are invalidated. /x also includes
the functionality of /f. The /F switch fixes errors on the disk.

Unable to run CHKDSK
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555484

[[Message 1
Cannot lock volume for direct access
Message 2
Cannot open volume for direct access ]]
You receive an error message when you run the Autochk.exe utility on a
partition after you restart the computer or when you schedule the Chkdsk.exe
utility to run on a partition on a Windows 2000-based computer or a Windows
NT-based computer
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/160654

This can sometimes work.

Schedule chkdsk and reboot in Safe Mode.

The way to do that in this instance is to use the msconfig method.

Start | Run | Type: msconfig | Click OK |
BOOT.INI tab | Under Boot Options select: /SAFEBOOT

The /SAFEBOOT switch causes Windows to start in Safe Mode.

After making those boot.ini changes using msconfig, you need to click Apply
and Close.

Then click on: Restart.

See if chkdsk runs correctly.

Then before you shutdown or reboot again, open msconfig...

UNSelect: /SAFEBOOT under the boot.ini tab | Click Apply |
Under the General tab Select: Normal Startup - load all device drivers and
services | Click Apply and Close

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

I am running Windows XP SP2 and I have BitDefender 9 IS, Q&Q Defragmenter
8.0 and Norton Ghost 2002. I have four primary partitions :
C,D,E,F.BitDefender and Q&Q are installed on E and Ghost on F. I have
recently made a backup of Local C Drive with Norton ghost and stored the
backup on F. After making the backup files succesfully and closing Norton
Ghost and rebooting, Q&Q offline defragmentation started. It defragmented
C,D,E drives, but when it got to F ( thats where i had put the recently
made backup files ) it said defragmenting files 2 of 1 ?? It was taking
sooo long to defragment them so I restarted and cancelled the
defragmentation. I got in Windows and I successfully defragmented all
drives and canceled offline defragmentation for q&q. It took me two hours
to defragment F in q&q !. I also defragmented everything with the windows
defragger before doing that again with q&q. From then on I never allowed
offline defragmentation for q&q because I didn't want to wait 2 hours
before I could get into XP. Today, I ran Check Disk from Windows explorer
on F,E and D succesfully but when I wanted to check C after I restarted
it said "Cannot open volume for direct access'' and ''Windows finished
disk check " or something like that. I don't know why it is
malfunctioning, because of the anti-virus or because of the defragger ?
What should I do about the offline defragmentation in Q&Q, activate it or
not or on which drives only. Your help and suggestions would be greatly
appreciated. I hope this issue would be fixed with your help.

Thank you for your kindly help ! I woder if it would be better to uninstall
BitDefender, run check disk and then reinstall it again OR wait for the 10th
version of it in hope that they will resolve this issue. I tryed disabling
all BitDefender actions from services.msc but it still doesn't work. I also
have spy sweeper. Maybe spy sweeper is making all the trouble ? Who knows,
but I think I will just hope they fix it in BitDefender 10.

 

[Frank]

I am running Windows XP SP2 and I have BitDefender 9 IS, Q&Q Defragmenter 8.0
and Norton Ghost 2002. I have four primary partitions : C,D,E,F.BitDefender
and Q&Q are installed on E and Ghost on F. I have recently made a backup of
Local C Drive with Norton ghost and stored the backup on F. After making the
backup files succesfully and closing Norton Ghost and rebooting, Q&Q offline
defragmentation started. It defragmented C,D,E drives, but when it got to F (
thats where i had put the recently made backup files ) it said defragmenting
files 2 of 1 ?? It was taking sooo long to defragment them so I restarted and
cancelled the defragmentation. I got in Windows and I successfully
defragmented all drives and canceled offline defragmentation for q&q. It took
me two hours to defragment F in q&q !. I also defragmented everything with
the windows defragger before doing that again with q&q. From then on I never
allowed offline defragmentation for q&q because I didn't want to wait 2 hours
before I could get into XP. Today, I ran Check Disk from Windows explorer on
F,E and D succesfully but when I wanted to check C after I restarted it said
"Cannot open volume for direct access'' and ''Windows finished disk check "
or something like that. I don't know why it is malfunctioning, because of the
anti-virus or because of the defragger ? What should I do about the offline
defragmentation in Q&Q, activate it or not or on which drives only. Your help
and suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I hope this issue would be
fixed with your help.

This behavior has to do with the compression that Ghost uses. It is not
prudent to place backups on these _partition schemes_. The best place
to put a backup is on an external drive, using FAT32which is disconnected when not in use.

 

[Wesley Vogel]

That BitDefender bit was from 21 May 2006 about three months ago.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

If you are getting one of these messages:

Cannot lock volume for direct access
or
Cannot open volume for direct access

Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Edition 9.0 can cause the problem.

Chkdsk.exe or ScanDisk fails to run on Windows XP or Windows 2003 after
installing Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Edition 9.0
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPOR...6e22005026f1/52d79c84c363973488256ea600542b5a

A program called Hitman Pro can cause the problem.

A really old version of ZoneAlarm (a version from 2004) can cause the
problem.

BitDefender Internet Security 9 can cause the problem.

[[Ok BitDefender live support told me yesterday that they are working on
it and
sending people analyse tools but she didn't send me one.....]]
from...
(e-mail address removed) 21 May 2006

Spyware Doctor can also cause the problem.

The /x switch doesn't work if Spyware Doctor is installed. Spyware
Doctor needs to be uninstalled or you can do this...

Quoted from *PCTools*, *Spyware* *Doctor*...
1. Exit from Spyware Doctor (to exit from Spyware
Doctor please right click on the Spyware Doctor icon in
the notification area (next to the clock on the Windows
taskbar) and select Exit from the menu that appears)

2. Delete the file
ikhlayer.sys from %windir%\system32\drivers\
or
from c:\windows\system32\drivers\

3. Restart Spyware Doctor

Chkdsk, defrag and error-checking should now work.
-----

You can also try this.

To run chkdsk from a command prompt.

Start | Run | Type: cmd | Click OK |
In the command prompt, type:

chkdsk C: /x

Hit your Enter key.

The following error message appears:
Chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use by another process. Would
you like to schedule this volume to be checked the next time the system
restarts? (Y/N)

Type Y, hit Enter and close the command prompt.

Reboot.

The /x switch: Use with NTFS only. Forces the volume to dismount first,
if necessary. All open handles to the drive are invalidated. /x also
includes the functionality of /f. The /F switch fixes errors on the
disk.

Unable to run CHKDSK
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555484

[[Message 1
Cannot lock volume for direct access
Message 2
Cannot open volume for direct access ]]
You receive an error message when you run the Autochk.exe utility on a
partition after you restart the computer or when you schedule the
Chkdsk.exe utility to run on a partition on a Windows 2000-based
computer or a Windows NT-based computer
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/160654

This can sometimes work.

Schedule chkdsk and reboot in Safe Mode.

The way to do that in this instance is to use the msconfig method.

Start | Run | Type: msconfig | Click OK |
BOOT.INI tab | Under Boot Options select: /SAFEBOOT

The /SAFEBOOT switch causes Windows to start in Safe Mode.

After making those boot.ini changes using msconfig, you need to click
Apply and Close.

Then click on: Restart.

See if chkdsk runs correctly.

Then before you shutdown or reboot again, open msconfig...

UNSelect: /SAFEBOOT under the boot.ini tab | Click Apply |
Under the General tab Select: Normal Startup - load all device drivers
and services | Click Apply and Close

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

I am running Windows XP SP2 and I have BitDefender 9 IS, Q&Q
Defragmenter
8.0 and Norton Ghost 2002. I have four primary partitions :
C,D,E,F.BitDefender and Q&Q are installed on E and Ghost on F. I have
recently made a backup of Local C Drive with Norton ghost and stored the
backup on F. After making the backup files succesfully and closing
Norton Ghost and rebooting, Q&Q offline defragmentation started. It
defragmented C,D,E drives, but when it got to F ( thats where i had put
the recently made backup files ) it said defragmenting files 2 of 1 ??
It was taking sooo long to defragment them so I restarted and cancelled
the defragmentation. I got in Windows and I successfully defragmented
all drives and canceled offline defragmentation for q&q. It took me two
hours to defragment F in q&q !. I also defragmented everything with the
windows defragger before doing that again with q&q. From then on I
never allowed offline defragmentation for q&q because I didn't want to
wait 2 hours before I could get into XP. Today, I ran Check Disk from
Windows explorer on F,E and D succesfully but when I wanted to check C
after I restarted it said "Cannot open volume for direct access'' and
''Windows finished disk check " or something like that. I don't know
why it is malfunctioning, because of the anti-virus or because of the
defragger ? What should I do about the offline defragmentation in Q&Q,
activate it or not or on which drives only. Your help and suggestions
would be greatly appreciated. I hope this issue would be fixed with
your help.

Thank you for your kindly help ! I woder if it would be better to
uninstall BitDefender, run check disk and then reinstall it again OR wait
for the 10th version of it in hope that they will resolve this issue. I
tryed disabling all BitDefender actions from services.msc but it still
doesn't work. I also have spy sweeper. Maybe spy sweeper is making all
the trouble ? Who knows, but I think I will just hope they fix it in
BitDefender 10.

 

[Guest]

This behavior has to do with the compression that Ghost uses. It is not
prudent to place backups on these _partition schemes_. The best place
to put a backup is on an external drive, using FAT32which is disconnected when not in use.

The problem is that I don't have such an external drive but I think I will
put the backups on DVDs

 

[Guest]

I have also tryed the command chkdsk C: /x and everything worked correctly
until I went to Start-Turn off computer-Restart ( so chkdsk could execute
the command ). It said something with a program "sw" and a process dwwin.exe
saying that it can't start because machine is getting shut down and something
that memory cannot be read at " something like 029392xb or ... ?? " and other
error like things.I didn't try chkdsk /d. I also tryed with services.msc and
shut down everything that could enterbut SAME STUPID ERROR. I will try asking
about this error at BitDefender shops here in my country and maybe on the net
to see if they have this solved in next versions of the anti-virus. Do you
think chkdsk will start if I uninstall BitDefender ?

 

[Guest]

I have tryed chkntfs /d succesfully and when I rebooted nothing happened, so
maybe none of my drives is dirty. Although chkdsk in read-only mode says ''
correcting errors in the Volume Bitmap. Windows found problems with the file
system. " for C:. I really don't get what's happening. What should I do ?
Thank you very much for helping me again.

 

[Guest]

I ran PowerMax from Maxtor and there was NO problem. Maybe the read-only
version is lying about my C drive because when I executed chkntfs /d and
restored engine to default nothing happened at startup, meaning all of my
drives were clean ! Check disk in read-only mode is lying. I will try running
it from recovery console and see what happens.

 

[Guest]

Now I tryed running recovery console it gave me an error about floppy.sys or
something like that. And now I also got the stupid KB890859 problem which
just downloads and downloadsand I can't fix it. Maybe I should get restore my
system with ghost.I feel so lost ! If someone could please help me !!

 

[Wesley Vogel]

Don't even bother running CHKDSK in read-only mode. It is a waste of time
and prone to not accurately reporting information. CHKDSK might report
spurious errors because it cannot lock the drive.

If you do not check any boxes, CHKDSK is in read-only mode..

1. In My Computer or Windows Explorer, right-click the volume you want to
check, and then click Properties.
2. On the Tools tab, click Check Now.
3. Check both boxes:

o To run Chkdsk by using the /f parameter, select the Automatically fix file
system errors check box, and then click Start.
[[Specifies whether Windows repairs file-system errors found during disk
checking. All files must be closed for this program to run. If the drive is
currently in use, a message asks if you want to reschedule
the disk checking for the next time you restart your computer. Your drive is
not available to run other tasks while the disk is being checked.]]

o To run Chkdsk by using the /r parameter, select the Scan for and attempt
recovery of bad sectors check box, and then click Start.
[[Specifies whether Windows repairs file-system errors found during disk
checking, locates bad sectors, and recovers readable information. All files
must be closed for this program to run. If the drive is currently in use, a
message asks if you want to reschedule the disk checking for the next time
you restart your computer. Your drive is not available to run other tasks
while the disk is being checked. If you select this option, you do not need
to select Automatically fix file system errors. Windows fixes any errors on
the disk.]]

You have to reboot for Error-checking to run.

For a look at the chkdsk log.

Open the Event Viewer...
Start | Run | Type: eventvwr | Click OK |
Look in Application | Listed as Information |
Event ID: 1001
Source: Winlogon
[[Description: This includes file system type; drive letter or GUID, and
volume name or serial number to help determine what volume Chkdsk ran
against. Also included is whether Chkdsk ran because a user scheduled it or
because the dirty bit was set.]]

[[When Autochk runs against a volume at boot time it records its output to a
file called Bootex.log in the root of the volume being checked. The Winlogon
service then moves the contents of each Bootex.log file to the Application
Event log.]]

[[This file states whether Chkdsk encountered any errors and, if so,
whether they were fixed.]]
-----

[[Chkdsk might not accurately report information in read-only mode.]]
From...
Chkdsk
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/...windows/xp/all/reskit/en-us/prmb_tol_pwfd.asp

[[If you run chkdsk without the /f command-line option on an active
partition, it might report spurious errors because it cannot lock the
drive.]]

[[Using chkdsk with open files
If you specify the /f command-line option, chkdsk sends an error message if
there are open files on the disk. If you do not specify the /f command-line
option and open files exist, chkdsk might report lost allocation units on
the disk. This could happen if open files have not yet been recorded in the
file allocation table. If chkdsk reports the loss of a large number of
allocation units, consider repairing the disk.]]
From...
Chkdsk
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/chkdsk.mspx

[[In read-only mode, CHKDSK quits before it completes all three phases if it
encounters errors in earlier phases, and CHKDSK is prone to falsely
reporting errors. For example, CHKDSK may report disk corruption if NTFS
happens to modify areas of a disk while CHKDSK is examining the disk. For
correct verification, a volume must be static, and the only way to guarantee
a static state is to lock the volume. CHKDSK locks the volume only if you
specify the /F switch (or the /R switch, which implies /F). You may need to
run CHKDSK more than once to get CHKDSK to complete all its passes
in read-only mode. ]]
From...
An Explanation of the New C and I Switches That Are Available to Use with
Chkdsk.exe
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;314835

To take advantage of all the Chkdsk parameters, use the command-line version
of Chkdsk.

Describes how to use the chkdsk command at the command line.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/...WINDOWSXP/home/using/productdoc/en/chkdsk.asp

Understanding what CHKDSK does
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314835/en-us#XSLTH3154121123120121120120
From...
An explanation of the new /C and /I Switches that are available to use with
Chkdsk.exe
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314835


--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In