How to Cancel Scheduled CHKDSK Operations in Windows

CHKDSK is one of the important command line utilities that is designed to repair errors that usually appear in the hard disk drive. In Windows you can run the chkdsk command manually by simply entering the command chkdsk in the elevated command prompt. Since chkdsk cannot check for the errors while the system is still running, Windows configures it to run when you boot your system the next time.The time to correct the errors in the next boot session will totally depend on the number of errors and the severity of the errors you have on the hard disk. But if you don’t want Windows to take its time when you next boot into your system, here is how you can cancel scheduled disk error checking in Windows.

Cancel CHKDSK Using Command Prompt

To cancel scheduled chkdsk using the Command Prompt, press “Win + X” and select the option “Command Prompt (Admin)” in Windows 8. If you are using Windows 7 or Vista, search for the command prompt in the start menu, right-click on it and select the option “Run as administrator” to start the elevated command prompt.

Before trying to cancel the scheduled chkdsk, you can actually see if there is a scheduled task. To do that, simply enter the following command in the Command Prompt and press the Enter button. If there is a chkdsk task scheduled you will receive a response that is similar to “chkdsk has been scheduled manually to run on next reboot.”

chkntfs C:

Once you have confirmed, copy the below command and enter it in the command prompt to cancel the scheduled chkdsk task. As soon as you execute the command, Windows will cancel the task and display a response that doesn’t make any sense.

chkntfs /x C:

If you want to, just run the first command discussed above to see if the chkdsk scan is still effective. If there is no scheduled task, Windows will display a response that reads something like “Drive is not dirty.”

Cancel CHKDSK Using Windows Registry

Besides using the Command Prompt, you can also cancel scheduled chkdsk from the Windows registry. To do that, press “Win + R,” type regedit and press the Enter button to  open the Windows Registry editor.

Here, navigate to the following key in the left pane.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager

Find and double click on the Multi-String value “BootExecute.”

The above action will open the “Edit Multi-String” window. Replace the string autocheck autochk * /r\DosDevice\C: with the below string. Once replaced, click on the “Ok” button to save the changes.

autocheck autochk *

That’s all there is to do, and it is that simple to cancel a scheduled chkdsk scan on a Windows system either by using the command prompt or by using the Windows Registry.

Even though cancelling the scheduled chkdsk scan is fairly easy, it is recommended that you continue the scan as it is quite essential for your Windows operations and also helps you in recovering some critical errors on your hard disk.

Hopefully that helps, and do comment below sharing your thoughts and experiences by using the above methods to cancel scheduled chkdsk scans on your Windows system.

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