Windows 98 ScanDisk Command Line Switches
Microsoft Windows 98 included two distinct versions of the ScanDisk
utility: the real-mode MS-DOS version (SCANDISK.EXE) and
the protected-mode Windows graphical version
(SCANDSKW.EXE). Both tools supported various command-line
switches designed for system recovery, automated drive maintenance, and
batch file execution. This guide provides a direct breakdown of the
switches available for both executables.
MS-DOS ScanDisk
(SCANDISK.EXE) Switches
The DOS-based ScanDisk tool was typically run before Windows loaded
or during recovery environments. The standard syntax was
SCANDISK [drive: | /ALL] [options].
drive:– Specifies the drive letter (e.g.,C:) to be checked./ALL– Checks and repairs all non-removable local drives on the system./AUTOFIX– Fixes errors automatically without prompting the user. Lost clusters are saved as files by default unless combined with/NOSAVE./CHECKONLY– Scans the drive for errors and reports them without making any modifications to the disk./CUSTOM– Runs ScanDisk using the settings defined in the[CUSTOM]section of theSCANDISK.INIconfiguration file./NOSAVE– Discards lost clusters rather than saving them as.CHKfiles (used in conjunction with/AUTOFIX)./NOSUMMARY– Suppresses the full-screen summary report that appears after scanning each drive./SURFACE– Automatically initiates a full surface scan without prompting the user first./MONO– Configures the user interface for monochrome monitors./TEXT– Uses plain text mode instead of extended graphical character sets./NEW– Forces the use of the newer system architecture for specific check routines./MOUNT– Used to scan and mount compressed volume files (DriveSpace/DoubleSpace)./UNMOUNT– Unmounts a specified compressed volume file.
Windows ScanDisk
(SCANDSKW.EXE) Switches
The Windows-based utility (SCANDSKW.EXE) was executed
inside the Windows 98 graphical desktop or through shortcuts and Run
dialogs. The basic syntax was
SCANDSKW [drive:] [options].
drive:– Specifies the target drive to scan (e.g.,C:)./Aor/ALL– Automatically checks all local hard drives sequentially./N– Runs ScanDisk non-interactively and automatically closes the program when the scan completes without errors./P– Runs the scan in preview mode, preventing ScanDisk from making any actual repairs to identified errors./S– Performs a thorough surface scan of the selected drive./F– Automatically fixes any errors encountered during the scan without prompting.