Run CHKDSK on Boot Camp

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As a maintenance practice, you should always run chkdsk in Windows prior to making a Winclone image, as well as when shrinking or expanding the Boot Camp file system. Chkdsk is an internal Windows maintenance utility that checks for disk errors and repairs bad blocks. Running chkdsk should be part of routine Windows maintenance. Follow these steps to initiate the chkdsk process.

Open a command prompt as an Administrator

Click Start and type in cmd. After Windows finds “cmd”, right click on “cmd” and select “Run as administrator”.

Run Chkdsk

In the cmd prompt, run “chkdsk /b”. 

The “/b” flag tell chkdsk to perform a bad block check, which is more thorough but takes longer.

Reboot after running chkdsk

Since it’s likely that you are booted from the disk that you are trying to check, chkdsk will mark the disk to checked on next startup and warn you to reboot. Select Y (for Yes) to allow this and then reboot Windows.

Disk Check

  1. After you reboot, a full disk check is then performed. Allow it to run completely, and then Windows will reboot. Allow it to boot completely back to the Windows desktop, as the disk is not marked clean until after rebooting from chkdsk.
  2. After you have booted into Windows, shut down Windows completely. Note: do not hibernate Windows, but select “Shut Down” and allow Windows to completely shut down. Then, turn on the Mac while holding the Option key and select the Mac partition.