If there is any problem with the hard drive that is causing any issues, the CHKDSK command is performed on the system to scan for any errors and to repair and fix them properly.
But lately, we have been receiving many reports from windows users that when they are not able to perform the CHKDSK operation on their system’s hard drive and they are getting an error message that said – “CHKDSK cannot continue in read-only mode” and the operation stops immediately.
There could be possibly many reasons behind this error message while running the chkdsk command and they are listed below.
- Corrupted system data files in the system.
- Damaged/Corrupted hard drive.
- Files or drive is currently in use by the software or app installed on the system.
- Some services/apps are still running in the background.
In this article, we are going to guide the users on how to fix this chkdsk cannot continue in read-only mode problem on their Windows PC.
If you are also facing this problem, don’t worry! Keep reading to learn more.
Workaround – You can try running the chkdsk command in recovery mode in the safe boot by referring to this article by clicking here.
Fix 1 – Run the CHKDSK *: /f /r /x command
Some users claimed to have resolved the CHKDSK cannot continue in read-only mode issue by running this command on their system. So we highly recommend our users run this command using the steps explained below.
Step 1: Press the Windows and R keys together to open the Run command box.
Step 2: Once it opens, type cmd and press the Ctrl, Shift and Enter keys together to open the Command prompt app as an admin.
Step 3: Accept any UAC prompt on the screen by clicking Yes to continue.
Step 4: After the command prompt app opens, type the below in the command prompt and press Enter key.
chkdsk *: /f /r /x
NOTE – You need to replace the * symbol with the drive letter (Eg: C, D, E, etc.) on which you want to run the command.
Step 5: This starts checking the drive for any file error and once it completes the process, you may close the command prompt app.
NOTE – If you use C: drive for the chkdsk command, press Y and then press Enter. This restarts the system and while the system starts, it will perform the chkdsk command.
Step 6: Restart the system and see if this helped.
Fix 2 – Perform CHKDSK operation while System Reboots
Sometimes the chkdsk operation does not work on the system if C: drive is selected since it is currently in use by the system operating system and can run on system reboot. So you can schedule the chkdsk operation after the system begins to restart.
Follow the steps below on how to schedule the chkdsk operation using the elevated command prompt.
Step 1: Press the Win+R keys together on the keyboard and type cmd in the run command box that appeared on the screen.
Step 2: Next press Ctrl + Shift + Enter keys simultaneously.
Step 3: This tries to open the elevated command prompt window only after you accept the UAC prompt on the screen by clicking Yes.
Step 4: Type the below line in the command prompt window and then press Enter key.
chkdsk /r C:
Step 5: This will display a message that says “Chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use by another process. Would you like to schedule this volume to be checked the next time the system restarts? (Y/N)“.
Step 6: So type Y and press Enter.
Step 7: Now you can close the command prompt window and next time you restart the system, it will check the disk.
Fix 3 – Clear Read-only attributes in Diskpart
The main reason for chkdsk cannot continue in read-only mode is nothing but the files or volume is set as read-only mode. We have explained the method below on how you can remove the write protection using the disk part.
Step 1: Press the Windows +R keys to open the Run command box.
Step 2: Type cmd in it and press Ctrl+Shift+Enter keys together.
Step 3: Accept the UAC prompt on the screen by clicking Yes to continue.
Step 4: Type diskpart and press Enter.
Step 5: Now it will enter the DISKPART mode.
Step 6: Execute these lines given below one by one as shown below.
list disk
select disk 1
NOTE – You can replace disk 1 with the number displayed on your command prompt.
list partition
select partition 1
NOTE – You need to replace partition 1 with the number displayed on your command prompt.
attributes disk clear readonly
Step 7: Now you can close the command prompt window and try running the chkdsk on your system and see if this worked.
Fix 4 – Check if all the processes and applications are closed
If any system or data file is occupied by the application or process, then it will interrupt the chkdsk operation and throws an error message mentioned above. So before trying to check the disk on your system, it is better to make sure all the processes and applications that are running in the background are closed using the task manager.
Step 1: Press the Ctrl + Shift + Esc keys together, which opens the Task Manager.
Step 2: Click on the Processes tab and make sure there are no applications listed.
Step 3: If there are any applications listed, please right-click on them and select End task from the context menu as shown below.
NOTE – Do this for all the applications to end it.
Step 4: After it is done, close the task manager window and you can proceed with the chkdsk operation.
Fix 5 – Perform SFC Scan on your system
The corrupted files on the system can create issues in the system like the one mentioned in this article. So replacing any corrupted files can resolve most of the issues that are present in the system. So in order to find the corrupted system files, you need to run the system file checker scan which is explained in the below steps.
Step 1: Press the Win+R keys together and type cmd and then press Ctrl + Shift + Enter keys together.
Step 2: Then click Yes on the UAC prompt to continue.
Step 3: Now type sfc /scannow and press Enter key.
Step 4: This will start scanning for all the corrupted files present in the system.
Step 5: Once it is done scanning, please replace the corrupted files if any are found.
Step 6: After the corrupted files are replaced, close the command prompt window.
Step 7: Now try to run the chkdsk operation and see if it works!