Microsoft scandisk

Introduction
MS-DOS Scandisk
Windows 3.x Scandisk
Windows 95 / 98 Scandisk
Windows ME Scandisk
Windows NT Scandisk
Windows 2000 / XP Scandisk
Technical Support

Introduction

Scandisk is a Microsoft utility that was purchased originally from Norton which is now Symantec. Scandisk is designed to check the integrity of a computer hard disk drive to verify that there are no significant issues which could cause issues with your computer data.

MS-DOS scandisk

Scandisk was first available in MS-DOS 6.2 and was available ever since. If  you are running MS-DOS 6.2 or 6.22 and would like to run scandisk, follow the below steps.

• If you are in Windows 3.x, click File and then Exit to get to the MS-DOS prompt.
• From MS-DOS, type CD\DOS and press enter.
• From the C:\DOS> type scandisk and press enter which should begin running scandisk on the computer.

Finally, some computer manufacturers have changed the installation directory of where scandisk is located; if you are unable to run scandisk from the DOS directory, go to the Windows directory by typing CD\Windows.

MS-DOS 6.2 and below Scandisk switches can be found on our below section under MS-DOS troubleshooting.

Windows 3.X scandisk

If you are running Windows 3.x and MS-DOS 6.2 or above please refer to the MS-DOS scandisk section for information on how to run scandisk.

Windows 95/98 scandisk

Windows 95 improved the functionality of scandisk, as did Windows 98; to run scandisk from Windows, follow the below steps.

• Click Start 
• Click Run and type scandisk in the run box
• Click ok
• Within the scandisk window select the drive that you wish to be checked.
• Choose the option between standard and through. It is recommended you run standard first, if you encounter issues with scandisk then run the through scan.
• Finally, click start to begin scandisk.

In addition, Windows 95 OSR2 and Windows 98 will run scandisk automatically if the computer is shutdown improperly to check to see if the hard disk drive encountered issues when the computer was improperly shutdown.

Windows ME scandisk

Like Windows 95 and Windows 98 Windows me has scandisk located in the same location, to run Scandisk in Windows ME follow the below instructions.

• Click Start 
• Click Run and type scandisk in the run box
• Click ok
• Within the scandisk window select the drive that you wish to be checked.
• Choose the option between standard and through. It is recommended you run standard first, if you encounter issues with scandisk then run the through scan.
• Finally click start to begin scandisk.

Windows NT scandisk

Windows NT is not shipped with Microsoft Scandisk. However, various third-party companies offer utilities that can scandisk and check your hard disk drive for you. Symantec a well respected computer company offers such a program.

Windows 2000 / XP scandisk

Keep in mind that if Windows 2000 and XP is a networking operating system and it's possible that the privileges to run scandisk may have revoked by the system administrator. To run Scandisk we recommend you follow the recommend steps.

• Double-click My Computer
• Highlight a local hard disk drive by clicking on it once.
• right-click the highlighted local drive
• Click properties
• Click the tools tab and click check now to check the drive for errors.
• The computer will need to restart in order to run scandisk in a Safe Mode.