Who would have thought one of the more useful troubleshooting tools in Windows 10 – good old ones chkdsk– could get caught in a crippling bug that could block your PC. Not I, that’s for sure, given the “Check Disk” command is usually used to search for and repair errors with your file system (and related metadata).
According to Windows 10 update KB4592438, released earlier this month, an error introduced by the said update can cause dangerous problems with the PC. As Microsoft has described:
“A small number of devices with this update installed have reported that when running chkdsk / f, their file system may become corrupted and the device may not boot. “
If I had to rank typical computer problems by severity, I would say that ‘a troubleshooting tool that basically blocks your system rather than helping you’ would be at the top of my list. Microsoft claims it has already fixed this problem so make sure you have installed everything available to you in Windows Update to make sure you are not bothered by this really frustrating bug. After that, wait as the official solution will be rolled out to your system automatically.
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What if chkdsk has already drilled your system?
Assuming you’re staring at a system that refuses to boot as it normally would, don’t panic. Or rather, you probably already have been panic, so it’s good that you got the most stress already out of your body. There is even a solution to the problem if you can’t head to Windows 10 to deal with it with ongoing updates. As Microsoft describes:
- The device should automatically boot into the Recovery console not booting after a few times.
- Select Advanced options.
- Select Command Prompt from the list of actions.
- Once Command Prompt open, type: chkdsk / f
- To allow chkdsk it may take a while to complete the scan. When it’s done, type: Exit
- The device should now boot as expected. If it reboots in Recovery console, select Exit and proceed to Windows 10.
Once you’re back in Windows 10, wait a while. Microsoft is implementing its solution for chkdsk the next day or so, so I’d hold off running chkdsk until the end of the week, minimal.
Also a word about that: In general, you should avoid running the specific command that causes this bug:chkdsk / f– without taking a few precautions. This command locates and fixes found errors. If I were you I would just run normally chkdsk [drive letter] command first to scan your system. If, or when, errors are found, use a tool such as Reflect macrium to create a full image or clone of your drive (just in case). Then try to run chkdsk / f. If you don’t run into any issues after that, great. If you do, you will still have your data and / or you can restore your system to a more usable state.
As always, remember you don’t have any chkdsk / r on an SSD, as it is completely unnecessary due to the way data is stored versus a mechanical hard drive. And if you suspect that your PC’s drive has a mechanical problem instead of a file system problem, chkdsk won’t help much. Instead, consider checking health by running a SMART report.