Chkdsk problem "Cannot open volume for direct access"

Hope that someone can help?

Running WinXP SP3 and due to a diagnosis of some disk errors (nothing too serious) I scheduled chkdsk /f to run at the next restart (from a right click on drive icon in My Computer then Properties\Tools\Error Checking\Check Now, etc.)

At reboot chkdsk started, or tried to, but then gave the following message "Cannot open volume for direct access" at which point chkdsk stopped and windows loaded.

Needing to get get chkdsk run I used a Windows Recovery Disk to boot and ran chkdsk from that apparently successfully (and without message & abort) as a number of things were reported as fixed. Once that was complete I rebooted into Windows but the same message came up again, and now does so every time I boot.

Now this in itself is not causing a practical problem. It is just that the messge is getting annoying and should not really be there.

Does anyone have any ideas about how I can rid myself of this message definitively?

Any ideas gratefully accepted/considered.

Regards




Balders

 

Take a look at this thread. You may not find your particular solution but it may give you some pointers. You don't have a DigiTV card, do you?

Graham

 

Thanks Graham. Will take a look...and no, I do not have a DigiTV or any other of such kiind of card.

 

Hello,
I cant get a chkdisc to work on C: (system drive) unless i uninstall kis2009.

so I just uninstall kis2009 reboot run chkdisc and then reinstall it.

I dont know what the problem is.

 

Hi Baldrick.

Try what lodore suggested. I remember having this problem with chkdsk while I was using kis2009. I did a clean uninstallation using kaspersky cleaning utility then ran chkdsc without a hitch. Maybe you can try disabling Kaspersky self defense and see if this would help

 

Have you tried killing all third party startups in msconfig to see if that releases the disk from anything that's getting in there first?

From reading around, it seems you will have to find the offending app that's locking chkdsk out.

philby

 

Hi Hanzo & Iodore

Have been running KIS since v6 and have run chkdsk a number of times over that period and have NEVER had this issue before. Am currently running v8.0.0.506a all the way through the beta to final version during which I have run chkdsk and NEVER had the issue until last weekend. So I do not think that the old 'chesnut' that has surfaced has anything to do with it.

Hi Philby

Have tried the 3rd party apps with msconfig but to no avail.

I therefore cannot see what the issue.

 

OK, have you tried this: chkdsk c: /x

philby

 

You could also try the MS Clean Boot utility from here. It may just disable a few other things which you might miss manually.

Graham

 

Hi Graham

Thanks for the link. The Command CHKntfs /X C: listed in a couple of the posts seems to have worked. At present no more issues. I think that I will keep a wary eye open and let a couple of days go by without further issues before I rejoice.

Also someone also recommended that the best way to run 'chkdsk' is boot from a Windows cd, choose 'R' to enter Repair Console, then run 'chkdsk.' This should avoid problems.

Once again, my thanks.

@ all other posters

Thanks for taking the trouble & time to respond. This is what makes Wilders the BEST IMHO

 

Baldrick,

pay attention that the CHKntfs /X C: command does not fix the problem, it only disables chkdsk from running on the specific drive (not a very good idea IMHO).

Panagiotis

 

I see. So how do you re-enable chkdsk for the specific drive. I will try that and see if re-enabling after an un-able helps.

 

chkntfs /d
more info about the chkntfs commands http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb490877.aspx

Panagiotis

 

Yes, that's what I was thinking (I'm just interested in trying to understand this).

Shouldn't the OP now run chkntfs /c c: to switch things back so that windows will attempt to check the disk at next reboot?

Has anything really then been done to remedy the issue?

Ultimately, running chkdsk using installation disks is not really satisfactory.

I'd be interested in knowing a more sustainable fix for the original error message.

How about running chkdsk c: /x to dismount the volume, release handles etc. and then try the 'normal' chkdsk c: /f /r to see if the check will be performed without the error message at next boot?

If that's a dopey suggestion, please feel free to put me straight. I just like learning about this stuff...

philby

 

Muchas Gracias / Merci Beaucoup. Will take a careful read.

 

- The d command resets everything to their default values.

- Well not all the errors can be fixed with a chkdsk. Sometimes the ntfs mft gets corrupted and then is time to save what one needs and format it again.

-Also you should consider that Baldrick is a RBrx user and I have seen rollback modify the checksums of files, corrupt the mft, modify or destroy partition tables, etc. ;the reason that I finally decided to uninstall it after playing with it for 2 years...

Panagiotis

 

You are welcome.

Panagiotis

 

OK - a few words for me to Google there...

Thanks for response.

philby

 

mft = master file table (stores the info about the size,place,name,etc. of your files in the partition)
RBrx = RollbackRX
partition table = a part of the master boot record that stores the info about your partitions(their size, type,etc.)

Panagiotis

 

OK! Interesting!

I ran chkntfs /d and then rebooted and still no more of the annoying "Cannot open volume for direct access" message.

So this has got me wondering if by:

Running chkntfs /x c:
Rebooting
Running chkntfs /d
Rebooting

one might effectively 'free' whatever was locking the c: drive?

Anyway, if it happens again I will try that sequence and see if it does the trick.

 

Could have a point there as I have had the rig since 2002 and never, ever reformated and re-installed Windows XP. Have kept it going with careful maintenance and trying to make sure that I minimise the amount of rubbish installed...but then again this may be the start of the slippery slope?

Have only been running RB Rx for some 5 months (but ran GoBack for about 4 years before) and to date (touchwood) it has not put a foot wrong...however, again this may be an early manifestation of something deeper caused by RB Rx...but then again every time I have heard about an RB Rx issue it has seemed to be much more drastically serious, ie, unable to boot or access data, etc., which thankfully is not (yet) the case here.

I will just have to hope that Windows 7 comes out soon (prompt to by new rig avoiding Vista)

 

Baldrick,
Regarding post #1, I would rerun chkdsk x: /r on all partitions on your computer. If it finds errors, repeat the command again. This checking for errors would include any external disks you might have.

I would also run msconfig and check the startup tab for any commands related to this.

Also, would empty my temp files using a program such as Ccleaner.

I recently had a problem of Windows wanting to repeatly check my disk for errors. It kept checking C drive but the errors turned out to be on the other partitions.

 

I would agree with this advice. Before you end up reformatting your disk o ) do give Clean Boot a quick go. You need the symptom to be there first though before you know if it makes any difference . In the thread I linked to, I ended up re-installing XP only to discover that it was something as stupid as a debug log file which was getting in before chkdsk could get exclusive access. I would never have thought that could happen until then.

One other small comment. You don't mention in your first post if you had RB installed at that point. If you did, I presume rolling back to your baseline didn't resolve the issue (?). Also, if you did have RB installed, then running chkdsk from a recovery CD to fix errors was possibly a bit of a brave thing to do . This obviously didn't cause the problem and it seems like it was ok in the end but.......

Graham