How to Use Command Prompt: Check Disk Errors and Repair Disk in Windows 11, 10, 8, 7?

The Review of Check Disk tool

Check Disk, commonly known as "CHKDSK," works on Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8/8.1, 10, and 11. This utility is often used in situations where a computer experiences freezing, Windows blue screens, inaccessible files or folders, or a corrupted file system that leads to the inability to access a specific disk. CHKDSK is designed to assess the file system integrity of your hard disk and can detect various file system errors on FAT16, FAT32, and NTFS drives.

In addition to checking file system integrity, this utility also helps users identify and diagnose issues such as bad sectors, lost clusters, and more. With this practical tool, users can ensure proper computer system functioning while preventing potential data loss or system crashes. However, due to its highly logical and experience-oriented features, it is recommended that users with technical knowledge or experience to run this tool, as it may cause errors if not used correctly.

If you face problems and want to run command prompt check disk, you can move on to the next partition to learn how to check and repair disk using CMD.

How to run Check Disk tool for disk repair? [3 Ways]

In this section, we'll show you three ways to run a disk check. If you're familiar with checking disk with Command Prompt, you can follow the below step-by-step guide. However, for a simpler and safer option, we recommend trying the second method. For those who just want to see basic disk health and status, we also provide a third option to choose from. Based on your needs, you can directly go to the part you need from the left Table of Contents.

Way 1. Run Check Disk from Command Prompt

The most common way to access Windows CHKDSK is from an elevated Command Prompt. There are the corresponding check disk commands to help check and fix errors on the selected partition.

Step 1. To use command prompt check disk, you need to open the Command Prompt as administrator. Next, follow the example of  how to use the disk check cmd on Windows 10:

Step 2. Press Windows + R simultaneously, type cmd, and press Enter. Then, you will get into a command prompt and you can start to check disk with the command line. If you do not know how to use it, you can type chkdsk /? and hit Enter, which will give you its parameters or switches.

If you cannot boot your computer, you can run cmd for check disk either by booting the operating system into the recovery mode or by using the original installation disc to run the command prompt.

For example, if you want to test the integrity of the G: drive, you can type the command in the prompt: "chkdsk g:", To find and repair any errors that are found in G: drive, type "chkdsk g: /f" instead.

About the different CHKDSK parameters, here simply explain what does CHKDSK /f /r /x means:

What does CHKDSK /f /r /x mean?

/f: Fixes disk errors. Without this, CHKDSK only reports errors without fixing them. (The /f command will lock the selected drive for checking. If it can't lock it, you'll be asked to schedule a check for the next restart. On Windows 10, scanning for errors will prompt you to do this at the next system boot.)

/r: Finds bad sectors and recovers readable data. This is a detailed check that may take more time, especially on big or busy drives.

/x: Dismounts the disk before scanning to ensure CHKDSK has exclusive access for repairs, closing any open files to prevent data corruption.

★★★Notice: Check Disk can't repair volumes that are in use. If the volume is in use, it will display a prompt that asks if you want to schedule the volume to be checked the next time you restart the system. Click Yes.

Way 2. Launch chkdsk.exe tool with free partition software

As we previously introduced, although using cmd to check disk is useful, it is has risks of causing errors or losing data permanently once you misuse any commands. So, if you want to safely and easily check disk, using a third-party tool is a good idea.

It is recommended to use the AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard. This multifunctional free disk partition manager can help you check and fix errors on disk partitions along with testing disk speed. It supports Windows 11, 10, 8.1, 8, 7, both 32-bit and 64-bit. You can use it with a straightforward interface that even a computer novice can operate to fix problems. Here we will show how to check for and fix errors on disk partitions with the free AOMEI Partition Assistant.

AOMEI Partition Assistant

The Best Windows Disk Partition Manager and PC Optimizer

Download Freeware
Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7

★★★Notice: If you are a Windows Server user, the powerful software offers the Server edition.

Step 1. Free download the software, install and launch it. It will display to you the basic situation of your hard drives. Select the partition that you want to check for, right-click it, select Advanced -> Check Partition.

Step 2. It will pop up a small window that you can select the way of checking errors to perform. Choose one according to your needs and click OK. It will proceed immediately.

Notes:
①There are 3 ways you can select to perform: check partition and fix errors in this partition by using chkdsk.exe; check the partition for errors by using chkdsk.exe; check whether there are bad sectors on the partition. Select the one as your command.
②If the partition you selected is being used by another process, you cannot continue the operation. A window will pop up to tell that you can continue the operation again if this partition is dismounted. But it will make all the running programs invalid. When asked “would you like to force a dismount on this partition”. click Yes, it will execute the task, click No, it will cancel the operation.

Way 3. Run Check Disk from Partition Properties

Apart from using Command Prompt to launch the Check Disk tool, you can also access it from the partition properties. This method can only offer basic information on disk health and status. For errors detecting or repairing, it is advisable to choose the above 2 methods.

Step 1. Double click “My Computer/This PC” -> Right-click Drive ->Properties > Tools tab -> Check or Check Now.

Step 2. Here you will get two options for “Automatically fix file system errors” and “Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors”. choose one according to your need, and click Start.

★★★If the drive to be checked is in use, you may have to schedule the chkdsk at reboot.

Conclusion

In this post, we not only tell how to check for disk through cmd prompt, but also share another two ways to access chkdsk.exe tool. Apart from checking partition for bad sectors or errors, AOMEI Partition Assistant has many other features that can help you manage your hard drives on Windows 11/10/8/7 better. For example, you can check the entire hard disk for errors via “Surface Test”, merge two partitions, move partitions, clone partitions, etc.

To unlock and enjoy more advanced features such as allocate free space from one partition to another, convert system disk between MBR and GPT without deleting partitions, recover lost partitions, and more, you can upgrade to AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional.