How to Fix CHKDSK - an Unspecified Error Occurred in Windows 10, 8, 7?

You may receive “an unspecified error occurred” code when you run CHKDSK.exe command to check and repair your hard drive. Follow this post, it will give you 5 effective methods of dealing with this error in Windows 10, 8, 7.

Posted by @Dervish January 4, 2024 Updated By @Dervish May 12, 2023

Content

Scenario

Error CHKDSK-an unspecified error occurred

Currently, I can’t access my USB HDD, so I was trying to run the CHKDSK command in Command Prompt. And it prompted a message that an unspecified error occurred. What should I do to solve it? Thanks"

- Question from Tenforums.com

What is CHKDSK command?

CHKDSK (short for check disk) is Windows system tool that scans a storage device integrity and automatically repair found error. And it also help you to know your data drive status, including disk space, bad sectors, and file number. When your hard drive become inaccessible or corrupted because of bad sector or file system error, you can turn to this checking method. Just launch Command Prompt, and type “chkdsk / drive number” on the it.

✍Note: To know detailed steps of launching “CHKDSK” command and other information, go for the page: Command Prompt: Check Disk Errors and Repair Hard Drive in Windows 10, 8, 7.

However, some users reported that they had encountered an error when executing this command. It prompted a note “an unspecified error occurred. And sometimes, it comes with an error code: 766f6c756d652e63 470 or 766f6c756d652e63 461. Don't worry. Next, this articles will give you 5 methods of fix “CHKDSK-an unspecified error occurred” problem in Windows 10, 8, 7.

How to fix “CHKDSK – an unspecified error occurred” problem

Before getting started, since your hard drive may have an error, it is wise to clone the hard drive to back up the data in case unexpected disk failure.

Method 1. Run an antivirus program.

First of all, virus and malware can lead to the CHKDSK error. The first method you can try is to run the Windows Defender immediately or turn to reliable third-party antivirus software to scan the whole hard drive. Then run the CHKDSK command again to if it is fixed.

Method 2. Restore system to previous state

OS update and resettings can be the reason for “CHKDSK an unspecified error occurred” problem. performing a system restore may help you out. Here are the steps:

Step 1. Double-click on “This Computer” on the desktop to open File Explorer, and right-click on the C drive, choose “Properties”.

Step 2. In the properties window, choose “System Protection” tab.

Step 3. Then click “System Restore” button to launch the restoring program.

Step 4. Choose a time, and click “Finish” to restore the system to previous condition.

Method 3. Run SFC to scan system

SFC scan, or System File Checker is used to check and repair corrupted system files in a Windows. When Windows 10, 8, 7 CHKDSK tool have an unspecified error, you can use this tool to scan your system files.

Step 1. Click the search button, and type “cmd”. Right-click on the result to run the elevated Command Prompt.

Step 2. In the Command Prompt, type “sfc/scannow”, and press Enter. Then it will scan and repair system files.

Method 5. Try alternative tool to run CHKDSK.exe

Besides Command Prompt, lots of people will adopt AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard run CHKDSK. exe check. It provides various powerful functions that enable you to manage your storage device well and to troubleshoot some disk issues. And it has a user-friendly interface making checking process easy-to-operate. When "an unspecified error occurred" happens, you can try AOMEI Partition Assistant. Just install this software, and follow the steps below to see how to use it.

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Step 1. Install and launch this tool, you will see the drive you want to check on the main interface. Right-click on the drive and choose “Advanced” > “Check Partition”.

Step 2. Select the “Check partition and fix errors in this partition by chkdsk.exe”, and click “OK”.

Step 3. And the software will start checking the select partition. The checking progress will be displayed on the small window as the screenshot shown.

If you need to check a whole hard disk, click “Test” in the top toolbar, and choose “Disk Surface Test”.

Method 5. Format the hard drive

If the error is still there after you try all the methods above, you may need to consider reformatting the hard drive to rebuild its file system structure. And the AOMEI Partition Assistant can assist you formatting a hard drive. And it supports a drive to NTFS, FAT32, exFAT, Ext2, Ext3, Ext4 file systems.

Step 1. Open AOMEI Partition Assistant, right-click on the drive you wanted to check, and choose “Format Partition”.

Step 2. And choose a proper file system. NTFS, FAT32 Ext2, Ext3, Ext4, exFAT are supported here. And click “OK”.

Step 3. Then at the main interface, click “Apply” to commit the change.

Conclusion

This article summarizes 5 efficient methods that are used to solve “CHKDSK: an unspecified error occurred” issue in Windows 10, 8, 7. Hope them can help you out. In addition, the AOMEI Partition Assistant is also a powerful partition manager. It enables you to create, resize, format, delete partition to manage your storage device. And the Professional Edition provides more advanced features, like recovering deleted partition, allocating free space, converting OS disk between MBR and GPT.