How to stop Chkdsk from running

 

I have seen so many customer requesting how to stop the chkdsk from checking the drive during boot time especially when they have luns in Tera bytes and they cannot afford chkdsk running and hitting the production and uptime of the server. There are 2 ways of stoppng it and another way to do it on cluster volumes. All the ways and related Microsoft support articles are mentioned below.

Steps for stopping chkdsk given below:

When running the chkdsk /f /r command, Windows prompts the administrator whether chkdsk should be scheduled to run the next time the system starts. To prevent the chkdsk /f /r command from running, follow these steps:

1. Start the Registry Editor.

2. Locate the following subkey:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager

3. Change the BootExecute entry from autocheck autochk * /p \??\C: autocheck autochk * to autocheck autochk *.

If chkdsk was scheduled to run on multiple volumes, there is an autocheck entry for each volume. Repeat steps two and three of this procedure for each volume that should not be checked. To determine the volumes to be checked during the next startup process, view the entries in the BootExecute registry key.

 

Another way

The chkntfs /x command also adds a /k command-line switch before the asterisk. The /k option excludes volumes from being checked for the dirty bit.

For example, the command chkntfs /x d: modifies the default registry entry value to autocheck autochk /k:d *.

 

BootExecute Entries

Registry Value Function

/k:Volume * Excludes chkdsk from running against the volume

Command Examples

Sample Command Registry Entry Value

chkntfs d: e: /x Autocheck AUTOCHK /k:D /k:E *

for more information please have a look at the article given below

160963  CHKNTFS.EXE: What You Can Use It For

https://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;160963

 

the things change a little on cluster volumes

 

first way

The CHKDSK will be initiated when the clusdisk driver finds any inconsistency on the disk. It is recommended to run CHKDSK if cluster finds any inconsistency. Best procedure to run CHKDSK on the volume is to run in offline mode.

To run CHKDSK in offline mode, please follow the below procedure.

1.            Keep the disk resource on passive node

2.            Stop the cluster service on the node and mark the start-up type of the service to “Manual”

3.            Open regedit

4.            Locate the key “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Clusdisk”

5.            Select “Clusdisk” and will show parameter keys on the right side

6.            Change the value of “Start” key to “4”

7.            Restart the node

8.            Once the system is back run “CHKDSK /f /r” on the disk resource from this node

Once the CHKDSK is finished, please follow the below procedure to bring the node back in to the cluster

1.            From the services console mark the start-up type of the cluster service to “Automatic”

2.            Open regedit

3.            Locate the key “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Clusdisk”

4.            Select “Clusdisk” and will show parameter keys on the right side

5.            Change the value of “Start” key to “1”

6.            Restart the node

7.            This will join the node back to the cluster.

 

second way

We have an easy way of running chkdsk on a cluster physical disk. Server 2008 and 2003 maintenance mode lets you do it and you need not to create downtime for whole cluster.

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>cluster.exe res "disk s:" /maint:1

Setting maintenance mode for resource 'disk s:'

Resource             Group                Node            Status

-------------------- -------------------- --------------- ------

disk s:              Group 1              BLR3R07-16      Online(Maintenance)

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>chkdsk s:

The type of the file system is NTFS.

Volume label is New Volume.

WARNING!  F parameter not specified.

Running CHKDSK in read-only mode.

CHKDSK is verifying files (stage 1 of 3)...

 

 

To stop the CHKDSK running on the disk resource till we get the downtime to run the CHKDSK offline, please run the following command.

"cluster clustername res "Disk E" /priv Skipchkdsk=1"

Once we finish the CHKDSK offline please run the command “cluster clustername res "Disk E" /priv Skipchkdsk=0" to revert back the previous change.

For more details on How to run the "chkdsk /f" command on a shared cluster disk : <https://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;176970>

223023  Enhanced disk resource private properties when using Cluster Server

https://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;223023

 

The Information provided here is "AS IS"

Gaurav Anand