Error Message: The File or Directory Is Corrupt...

ID: Q176646

The information in this article applies to:

SYMPTOM



When you attempt to open, delete or rename a file or folder using Windows NT Explorer, File Manager or a command prompt, you may receive one of the following error messages:


CAUSE

This behavior can occur if the file, folder or file system index (Master File Table [MFT] or File Allocation Table [FAT]) is damaged.


RESOLUTION

WARNING: When Chkdsk detects problems with the file system and attempts to repair the damage, data loss can occur. Microsoft does not recommend running Chkdsk with the /f command-line switch unless you have a full backup of your hard disk.

Attempt to repair the damaged file, folder or file system index using Chkdsk. To do so, follow these steps:

  1. Click Start, and then click Run.


  2. In the Open box, type chkdsk /f <drive>:, where <drive> is the letter of the drive on which the damaged file, folder or file system index exists.


  3. Click OK.


NOTE: If the hard disk is large, Chkdsk may take several minutes to several hours to complete.


MORE INFORMATION

Chkdsk saves each repaired file in the root folder as a File<nnnn>.chk file, and each repaired folder in the root folder as a Found.<nnn> folder, where <n> is a number.

For information about how to use Chkdsk, click Start, click Help, click the Index tab, type "chkdsk" (without quotation marks), and then double- click the "Chkdsk Command" topic.

For more information, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

ARTICLE-ID: Q156571
TITLE : How to Perform Scandisk in Windows NT 4.0

ARTICLE-ID: ID: Q160963
TITLE : CHKNTFS.EXE: What You Can Use It For

ARTICLE-ID: Q161801
TITLE : Chkdsk reports an erroneous Event ID 41

Additional query words: corruption autochk 


Keywords          : kberrmsg kbsetup ntfilesys NTSrvWkst 
Version           : 3.50 3.51 4.00
Platform          : winnt 
Issue type        : kbprb

Last Reviewed: January 22, 1999