SUMMARY
Chkdsk is a native Windows NT tool that can determine the extent of file
and file system corruption. If Chkdsk is to run in write-mode to attempt to
remedy corruption, in most cases, there will be locked files and it
requires restarting to have exclusive access to the partition or
partitions. This process can be automated and requires no user
intervention. Usually, a user needs to press "y" to schedule Chkdsk to run
in write-mode on the next restart; however, this process can be automated
as follows:
Create a batch file and then disseminate it to the preferred system or
systems:
@echo off
echo y|chkdsk [target drive, i.e. D:] /f/r
rem sleep 3600
rem c:\utils\shutdown.exe /l /r /y /t:6
The last two lines are optional. Sleep.exe and Shutdown.exe are from the
Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 Resource Kit. "Sleep 3600" causes the system to wait for 60 minutes before proceeding to the next line in the batch file. Shutdown.exe is then called to shut down and restart the target system. If Shutdown.exe is not called, and the drive could not be locked for exclusive use, Chkdsk runs the next time you manually restart the target system.
In those cases where you would like Chkdsk, or the above batch file, to be
scheduled to run on specific days or times, AT Scheduler (command-line
interface) or WinAT Scheduler (GUI-based interface that has added
functionality) can be used. You can find WinAT in the Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 Resource Kit.