Windows 10 Chkdsk Bug Causing Boot Failures Addressed By Microsoft

Microsoft recently acknowledged an issue that some Windows 10 customers have been complaining about. The issue caused the Windows 10 devices to fail to boot when the chkdsk tool was used to repair file system errors. For those unfamiliar, chkdsk is a command-line tool used to check Windows drive volumes for logical and physical errors.

While Microsoft confirmed the issue exists, it didn't confirm which versions of Windows 10 are impacted. There are currently updates available for Windows 10 versions 2004 and 20H2. Microsoft said the update was meant to address a "small number of devices" that were reported to get damaged when running chkdsk /f leaving the device is unable to boot.

Microsoft says the issue is resolved for all non-managed devices, but it could take up to 24 hours for the fix to propagate to all impacted devices. Microsoft suggests users should restart any potentially impacted devices to process and prioritize the fix. Enterprise devices that installed the update and encountered the boot fail issue can be resolved using a special Group Policy.

Microsoft did offer steps for end-users to mitigate any damage potentially caused by the chkdsk issue. The steps include:

- The device should automatically start up into the Recovery Console after failing to start up a few times.

- Select Advanced options.

- Select Command Prompt from the list of actions.

- Once Command Prompt opens, type: chkdsk /f

- Allow chkdsk to complete the scan, this can take a little while. Once it has completed, type: exit

-The device should now start up as expected. If it restarts into Recovery Console, select Exit and continue to Windows 10.

Once the process is followed, users should run chkdsk again to address any logical or physical errors without fearing their machine won't boot.