Important Notice

The pages on this site contain documentation for very old MS-DOS software, purely for historical purposes. If you're looking for up-to-date documentation, particularly for programming, you should not rely on the information found here, as it will be woefully out of date.

◄Notes►  ◄Examples►
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 
                                   CHKDSK
 
Checks the status of a disk and displays a status report. Can also fix disk
errors.
 
The status report shows errors found in the MS-DOS filing system, which
consists of the file allocation table and directories. CHKDSK also displays
a summary of disk usage. (CHKDSK does not verify that the information in
your files can be accurately read.) If errors exist on the disk, CHKDSK
alerts you with a message.
 
Note:  The ScanDisk program is the preferred method of fixing drive
       problems, and should be used instead of the CHKDSK /F command. For
       more information, see the <SCANDISK> command.
 
Syntax
 
    CHKDSK [drive:][[path]filename] [/F] [/V]
 
To display the status of the disk in the current drive, use the following
syntax:
 
    CHKDSK
 
Parameters
 
drive:
    Specifies the drive that contains the disk that you want CHKDSK to
    check.
 
[path]filename
    Specifies the location and name of a file or set of files that you want
    CHKDSK to check for fragmentation. You can use wildcards (* and ?) to
    specify multiple files.
 
Switches
 
/F
    Fixes errors on the disk. Do not use this option when running CHKDSK
    from other programs; for more information, see "Using CHKDSK With Open
    Files" in <CHKDSK──Notes>. In general, when fixing disk errors, use
    <ScanDisk> instead of CHKDSK.
 
/V
    Displays the name of each file in every directory as the disk is
    checked.
 
                                      ♦