I can't run my disk defragmenter because it says chkdsk is scheduled to run! I ran chkdsk /f and chkdsk /r, it asked me if i wanted to schedule a disk check the next time I restarted, I said Y. Then when I restarted it said disk check couldn't get direct access to the drive and stopped. I then tried running chkdsk /c which gave warning messages and said it was running on read-only mode, so I understood I had run a wrong command. Then I changed my registry at "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control/Session Manager/Boot Execute" from "autocheck autochk /p \??\C: autocheck autochk *" to "autocheck autochk /r \??\C: autocheck autochk *" which still didn't work!What should I do? I don't have my Windows XP Installation Disc (Don't know what happened to it), and I also don't have any space to backup my hard disk, except an 8 GB USB Drive and a 4 GB on-line space provided by Norton.My System Specs:MS Windows XP Professional SP3Intel Core2 CPU T5600 @ 1.83Ghz, 1.0 GB RAM, NVIDIA Geforce Go 7400\Thank you!1 person needs an answerI do too

Here is your other thread for reference:http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/xpperformance/thread/87eebf87-d71d-4e03-8269-16873fb511b7Do, or do not. There is no try.I need YOUR votes and points for helpful replies and Propose as Answers. I am saving up for a pony!

Remove the pending manual check disk in the in the BootExecute section of registry by entering the following command from a Command Prompt window:chkntfs /dThen look at your registry again and verify that all you see in HKLM\SYSTEM\CURRENTCONTROLSET\CONTROL\Session reads like this:autocheck autochk *That is the default value. That means that XP will automatically check the dirty bit on all volumes and will run check disk on any dirty volumes on the next reboot, so reboot.If you are really low on disk space, the check disk will not run until you free up some space for it to work.You need about 15% free space on the volume for check disk to run. Do you have at least 15% free space on the troublesome volume?You will have a chance to skip the check disk as Windows is starting, but if you choose to skip the check disk on reboot, that will not clear the dirty bit. The only thing that can clear the dirty bit is a check disk with error correction.Let chkdsk finish and correct any problems it might find. It may take a long time to complete or appear to be 'stuck'. Be patient. If the HDD light is still flashing, it is doing something. Keep an eye on the percentage amount to be sure it is still making progress. It may even appear to go backwards sometimes.When chkdsk runs automatically on a reboot, the results are shown in the Event Viewer Application log. You need to look there after check disk has run and XP has finished loading for the results and for any problems. If it looks like nothing happened, look at the report in the Event Viewer Application log.To see the Event Viewer logs, click Start, Settings, Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Event Viewer.A shortcut to Event Viewer is to click Start, Run and in the box enter:%SystemRoot%\system32\eventvwr.mscClick OK to launch the Event Viewer.Look in the Application log for an event sourced by Winlogon, something like (yours may be different):Event Type: InformationEvent Source: WinlogonEvent Category: NoneEvent ID: 1001Description:Checking file system on C:The type of the file system is NTFS.One of your disks needs to be checked for consistency. Youmay cancel the disk check, but it is strongly recommendedthat you continue.Windows will now check the disk. CHKDSK is verifying Usn Journal...Usn Journal verification completed. 976751968 KB total disk space. 31923620 KB in 81911 files. 24564 KB in 5968 indexes. 0 KB in bad sectors. 188136 KB in use by the system. 65536 KB occupied by the log file. 944615648 KB available on disk. 4096 bytes in each allocation unit. 244187992 total allocation units on disk. 236153912 allocation units available on disk.Windows has finished checking your disk.Please wait while your computer restarts.If the error correction is successful, the dirty bit will be cleared, so check the dirty bit again from the Command Prompt like you did before and see what it says. The volume is dirty or it is not dirty.If the check disk on reboot did not clear the dirty bit, you should reboot again and check the log and check the dirty bit again until the volume is not dirty.If the automatic check disk on reboot will not clear the dirty bit, I would run the check disk manually by booting into the XP Recovery Console using a CD that you can make, then you can better see what is happening and decide what to do.If your dirty bit will not clear, you could have a problem with your hard disk and consider replacing it. If you don't want to replace the drive you can tell XP to never check the dirty bit on the volume again, but that is risky behavior.If you do not have a bootable XP Recovery Console CD to run the check disk manually, you can make one (no XP media required). You would probably like to have one anyway if you have no bootable CDs, so we can make on later if you want.Do, or do not. There is no try.I need YOUR votes and points for helpful replies and Propose as Answers. I am saving up for a pony!

I removed the pending manual check, and saw that the registry value for boot check was autocheck autochk *. I also checked and verified that the volume c was dirty. It still gives a message saying: "Can not get direct access to the volume C" when I schedule a manual check. I don't know why it doesn't attempt to check at reboot, even though I have 69% free disk space.Thank You!

That's good.What happened after cleaning up the registry, seeing the drive was dirty and then rebooting to let the built in check disk run automatically?When you reboot, and the XP progress bar in the bottom of the screen goes from left to right a few times, then you should see the automatic check disk kick in. What do you see when reboot? Do you see the message you describe: Can not get direst access to the volume C" or does it really say "Cannot Open Volume for Direct Access". Does it just look like XP doesn't even try to check the volume?Do you see any winlogon type events in the Event Viewer after this reboot where the automatic check disk should be starting? If there is a report from the automatic check disk attempt, we need to know what it says.Why are you trying to schedule a manually check at this time when you know the volume is dirty and you know that only a check disk is able to clear the dirty bit? Don't try to schedule anything manually until the dirty bit gets cleared. Let's figure this part out first :). You need to let XP try to straighten things out (if it can) before you start scheduling your manual checks so we don't get mixed up.Sometimes third party softwares that include disk monitoring tools or disk protection tools will interfere with the XP check disk operations. Example would be Diskeeper, ZoneAlarm, Spyware Doctor, Auslogics). Is any of that sort of thing installed?Do you now of have you ever had any third part disk defragmenter or disk optimizing softwares installed or have you just always use the built in XP tools?Describe your current antivirus and anti malware situation: McAfee, Norton, Spybot, AVG, Avira!, MSE, Defender, ZoneAlarm, PC Tools, Comodo, etc. Have you ever used any third party applications on your system where the product description includes such descriptive phrases as:cleaner, mechanic, detective, doctor, cure, optimize, clean up, tune up, speed up, fix up, compact, compress, faster, power, boost, booster, guaranteed. Do, or do not. There is no try.I need YOUR votes and points for helpful replies and Propose as Answers. I am saving up for a pony!

Automatic check disk doesn't kick in after the XP progress bar movement, and the OS reboots normally, showing for a few seconds the original HP wallpaper, and then reversing back to my normal desktop wallpaper along with the desktop icons. I attempted to reboot manually to see the error message I keep forgetting, but you exactly mentioned in your post (Cannot Open Volume for Direct Access), in order to write it here for further information about my current situation.XP doesn't even try to clear up the dirty bit when rebooting.I have no entry in my Event Viewer after the reboot, only a Winlogon entry dating back to the 28th of October this year, where it says "The shell stopped unexpectedly and Explorer.exe was restarted".The only third-party systems software I use are CCleaner, PeaZip, and Quality Media Converter (QMC). CCleaner has a registry error checker which I use when I'm suspicious about my registry's integrity, It also has a disk cleaner tool which I used once to see what it did, and what difference it had with Windows Disk Cleanup Wizard. I doubt it did any harm. I use the built-in XP tools otherwise.I have a Norton 360 installed, and I also use its Startup Manager to uncheck all the startup programs, so that my OS boots up within 30 minutes. It still takes a long time to boot up though although I disabled all of the startup programs.I think that covers all the questions. Thanks

Automatic check disk doesn't kick in after the XP progress bar movement, and the OS reboots normally, showing for a few seconds the original HP wallpaper, and then reversing back to my normal desktop wallpaper along with the desktop icons. I attempted to reboot manually to see the error message I keep forgetting, but you exactly mentioned in your post (Cannot Open Volume for Direct Access), in order to write it here for further information about my current situation.XP doesn't even try to clear up the dirty bit when rebooting and everything is cleared as I mentioned earlier.I have no entry in my Event Viewer after the reboot, only a Winlogon entry dating back to the 28th of October this year, where it says "The shell stopped unexpectedly and Explorer.exe was restarted".The only third-party systems software I use are CCleaner, PeaZip, and Quality Media Converter (QMC). CCleaner has a registry error checker which I use when I'm suspicious about my registry's integrity, It also has a disk cleaner tool which I used once to see what it did, and what difference it had with Windows Disk Cleanup Wizard. I doubt it did any harm. I use the built-in XP tools otherwise.I have a Norton 360 installed, and I also use its Startup Manager to uncheck all the startup programs, so that my OS boots up within 30 minutes. It still takes a long time to boot up though although I disabled all of the startup programs.I think that covers all the questions. Thanks