How To Fix Windows Scanning And Repairing Drive On Windows

When trying to power up your computer, if your computer detects any disk issues, it runs a disk-checking program at the startup. You do have the option to skip this process but if you don’t choose the option, it leads you to the “Scanning and repairing drive” screen.

The process usually repairs all defects, and you shouldn’t encounter the screen in the next boot. However, Windows loads it on every startup in some scenarios. It is also possible to get stuck on this screen.

There are a few things you can do in each situation, which we mention in detail in the article below.

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Causes for Scanning and Repairing Drive on Windows

Here are the potential causes of the above error on Windows:

Temporary issues with the disk or system.
Presence of unformatted partition.
Logical or physical disk errors.
Improper boot settings.

How to Fix Scanning and Repairing Drive on Windows?

If you get stuck in this screen, force shut down your PC by pressing and holding the power button until it is off. Then, power it up and try again. If it still recurs, press any key on the “To skip disk checking, press any key within # seconds” screen and perform the troubleshooting steps we have listed below.

On the other hand, if you encounter this issue on more than one boot, even after the process completes each time, first reboot the PC a couple of more times. Sometimes, your system may not repair all the errors it finds, and the process can take a few cycles. If you still continue encountering the error, similarly go through the possible solutions below and apply them.

Power Cycle PC

You may encounter various errors on your hardware devices due to unexpected power failures or similar causes. In such cases, your computer’s power adapter and the devices retain some charge, affecting their proper functioning.

You need to power cycle your PC to drain such residual charges from the capacitors to fully refresh your devices and resolve such issues. To do so,

Shut down your system. You need to force the shutdown if you are stuck on the screen.
Remove all peripherals, power adapter/cable, and removable battery (if applicable).
Press and hold the power button for 30 seconds to drain the capacitor charge.
Reconnect only essential peripherals like the keyboard and mouse.
Reconnect the power cord and the battery and power up the PC.

Run CHKDSK in Safe Mode

“Scanning and repairing” is basically a process to check and resolve errors in your storage disks. However, sometimes the process may not work due to some interfering system components. You can try manually running the disk checking utility in safe mode instead of having your system perform it automatically to avoid such issues. Here’s what you need to do:

Boot your system in safe mode. To do so,
- Press and hold the Shift key while clicking the power button > Restart from your start menu or log-in screen. Doing so loads the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE).
- Here, go to Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Startup Settings > Restart.
- Select F6 or 6 to boot in safe mode with Command Prompt.
On the Command Prompt, enter the command chkdsk C: /r /x
After repairing this C: volume, run the same command while replacing C: with other partitions on your system to repair all of them.
Type shutdown /r and press Enter to restart your PC.

Run Startup Repair

Your system changes a certain boot setting to load the automatic disk repair on startup after it detects faults with your storage disk. It is possible that the system didn’t revert the setting even after successfully repairing the disk, leading to the recurring issue.

You can resolve it by running the Startup Repair. Here’s how you can do so:

Press and hold the Shift key while clicking Restart from the power options on your start menu or log-in screen to access WinRE.
Go to Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Startup Repair.

Update Windows

One of the older versions of Windows included a CHKDSK bug that prevented properly completing disk-checking processes. The startup disk check also uses the same process, so users experienced the above error due to this bug.

The subsequent Windows updates have completely resolved the issue. So, it’s always better to keep your system fully updated, especially if you have an older version.

Here’s how you can update your system:

Open Run and enter ms-settings:windowsupdate to open Update Settings.
Click on Install now if updates are available or Check for Updates if they aren’t. If you had paused updates previously, click on Resume Updates.

Check Disk Partitions

In rare cases, you may also encounter the issue due to the presence of unallocated spaces on your disk, especially if it is a secondary disk. So, you need to make sure there are no unallocated spaces left in your system.

You may also encounter the issue if there are some problems with one of your partitions. If the Disk Checking utility does not resolve such problems, you need to look for and format the partition.

First, check for unallocated space using the following steps:

Open Run.
Type diskmgmt.msc and press Enter to open Disk Management.
See if there is any unallocated space inside a disk.
If yes, you can extend one of your partitions using the space.
To do so, right-click on the partition and select Extend Volume > Next > Next > Finish.

Then, if the issue still persists, follow the steps below to search for and reformat the faulty partition:

Note down the ID you see after “Scanning and repairing drive screen(\\?\Volume (” For example, (\\?\Volume (c8327a80-02ee-44be-8080-2448c8e6b95a))
Open Run.
Type diskpart and press Enter to open this command line tool.
Enter the command list disk.
Then, enter select disk # for the first disks while replacing # with the disk number, in this case, 0.
Type uniqueid disk and check the disk ID.
Now, enter the commands below:
- list partition
- select partition 1
- detail partition
Check the ID next to Type and compare it with the ID you noted from the “Scanning and repairing drive” screen.
Use similar steps to find the ID for all disks and partitions to determine which one your system is scanning.
If it’s not a system drive, you need to delete it and then create a new partition or merge it with another.
First, back up all necessary data on the volume.
Open Disk Management.
Right-click on the partition and select Delete Volume > Yes.
To create a new partition, right-click on the Unallocated space, select New Simple Volume and follow the on-screen instructions.
And to extend another partition, right-click on that partition and select Extend Volume > Next > Next Finish.

The partition with the error may also be a hidden partition like Microsoft Reserved Partition (MSR). You can’t see it from Diskpart or Disk Management. So, you need to use a third-party partition tool to do so:

Replace Storage Disk

If you can’t resolve the issue even after performing all the above methods, it’s very likely that your disk is failing. You can conduct a (Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology) S.M.A.R.T. analysis using a third-party app to check for the drive’s health. If it is failing, your only option is to replace the device.