What is an "open file"?

[Richard]

What exactly is the problem when you run a check on a partition and you get
the message that the partition contains open files?

I get this on my C: (Which is FAT32) and on all partitions in the extended
partition (All NTFS).

I think it all started when I started converting partitions from FAT32 (as
everything was originally) to NTFS.

CHKDSK /R does not fix the problem. I think it should. (I don't have CHKDSK
/F option, probably /R is the same?) Why does not CHKDSK solve my problem?

Right-clicking on a volume/drive in "My Computer" and selecting "Properties"
causes Explorer to stop responding.

TIA.

 

[Wesley Vogel]

Chkdsk needs exclusive use of the volume(s) to work. In order for this to
happen you have to reboot.

The /r switch implies the /f switch, meaning that if you type..
chkdsk c: /r
chkdsk is going to locate bad sectors and recover readable information & fix
errors on the disk.

When you see this message...
[[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 and hit Enter. Then Reboot your machine.

To see what chkdsk did 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.]]

To see help for chkdsk, in a command prompt type
chkdsk /?
and hit Enter.

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