Chkdsk runs, dirty flag set, how to stop

[XPDave]

I'm having a problem that I'm finding many others are also having. At
startup, chkdsk runs, finds no problem, but does not reset the 'dirty' flag.
As a result, defrag and system restore cannot be made to run on my NTFS
machine.



I have done a lot of investigating, tried everything I can find to try and
have not been able to resolve the problem.



What has happened is this:



The computer worked fine until I installed Service Pack 1. I did this as a
network install, that is, downloaded the complete file and then installed
it, rather than installing on the fly while downloading. I installed SP1 on
another computer first, so I believe there is no problem with the SP1
software.



After installing SP1, a message appeared stating that the file c:\$mtf was
corrupt and chkdsk needed to be run. At the same time, chkdsk began running
at each boot up on its own. It did nothing to fix the corrupted file. A
friend told me to turn off System Restore, run chkdsk and then everything
should be fine.



I did that, and the message about the corrupt file has not appeared since.
However, chkdsk continued to run at each bootup. I found right away that
system restore could not be enabled because of the disk 'problem'.



To solve the problem, I ran the recovery console and have run chkdsk from
there and from My Computer. In fact, when it runs from My Computer, it
states the drive is 'Clean'. However, 'fsutil dirty query c:' returns
'dirty'.



After much research, the only apparent 'solution' is to reinstall Windows or
edit the registry so that chkdsk doesn't run at startup. The latter clearly
is no solution, as things remain affected because the dirty flag is still
on.



It seems, from the experiences of others, that nothing is wrong except that
the dirty flag refuses to be reset by chkdsk. Microsoft offers no solution
except to run chkdsk. Does anyone have any clue if this can be 'fixed' in
some way?



Any ideas will be greatly appreciated.



Dave

 

[xe77]

Backup all the data on the volume then delete the
partition then recreate it and reformat it as NTFS and
restore your data.

 

[Doug Knox MS-MVP]

Open a Command Prompt window and enter

CHKDSK X: /F

where X is the actual drive you want to check. If prompted to unmount the
volume tell it no. If asked if you want to do it at the next reboot, answer
yes.

 

[XPDave]

I've run chkdsk many times, from the recovery console, from within 'My
Computer' (schedules it to run at next boot up) and from the command prompt,
all with no effect. It seems that many other people have tried that also,
with the same result.

Thanks anyway, Dave

 

[Doug Knox MS-MVP]

Dave,

After booting your system and letting CHKDSK run, log on and run REGEDIT
Go to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager

Look in the right pane for the BootExecute value. It should read

autocheck autochk *

By default. If it doesn't, double click the BootExecute value and modify
it. Note, some application like Perfect Disk can modify this value, so it
looks like:

PDBoot.exe autocheck autochk *

This is normal. The part your concerned with is the autocheck autochk *
portion.

I've run chkdsk many times, from the recovery console, from within 'My
Computer' (schedules it to run at next boot up) and from the command prompt,
all with no effect. It seems that many other people have tried that also,
with the same result.

Thanks anyway, Dave

 

[Durand]

If you're using the recovery console, once you're logged in, type "chkdsk /r c:"
at the prompt which will force a reset of the dirty flag once it runs it's
course.

--
Regards,

Durand


| I'm having a problem that I'm finding many others are also having. At
| startup, chkdsk runs, finds no problem, but does not reset the 'dirty' flag.
| As a result, defrag and system restore cannot be made to run on my NTFS
| machine.
|
|
|
| I have done a lot of investigating, tried everything I can find to try and
| have not been able to resolve the problem.
|
|
|
| What has happened is this:
|
|
|
| The computer worked fine until I installed Service Pack 1. I did this as a
| network install, that is, downloaded the complete file and then installed
| it, rather than installing on the fly while downloading. I installed SP1 on
| another computer first, so I believe there is no problem with the SP1
| software.
|
|
|
| After installing SP1, a message appeared stating that the file c:\$mtf was
| corrupt and chkdsk needed to be run. At the same time, chkdsk began running
| at each boot up on its own. It did nothing to fix the corrupted file. A
| friend told me to turn off System Restore, run chkdsk and then everything
| should be fine.
|
|
|
| I did that, and the message about the corrupt file has not appeared since.
| However, chkdsk continued to run at each bootup. I found right away that
| system restore could not be enabled because of the disk 'problem'.
|
|
|
| To solve the problem, I ran the recovery console and have run chkdsk from
| there and from My Computer. In fact, when it runs from My Computer, it
| states the drive is 'Clean'. However, 'fsutil dirty query c:' returns
| 'dirty'.
|
|
|
| After much research, the only apparent 'solution' is to reinstall Windows or
| edit the registry so that chkdsk doesn't run at startup. The latter clearly
| is no solution, as things remain affected because the dirty flag is still
| on.
|
|
|
| It seems, from the experiences of others, that nothing is wrong except that
| the dirty flag refuses to be reset by chkdsk. Microsoft offers no solution
| except to run chkdsk. Does anyone have any clue if this can be 'fixed' in
| some way?
|
|
|
| Any ideas will be greatly appreciated.
|
|
|
| Dave
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|