Share via

“Fixing (C:) Stage 1...” has been processing for days

Anonymous
2019-10-19T23:25:51+00:00

I left my computer on several days ago and after walking away from it...

I returned to it on its startup screen with the following line across the bottom (the values are the most recent but started from—at least when I finally returned to my computer—when I found it at Stage 1: 51% and total 18%): 

Fixing (C:) Stage 1: 53% (295928 of 556800); Total: 19%; ETA: 966:12:12

I have searched a bit for what to do but have basically found that what you need to do is just be patient and wait it out until it finishes. 

So I have 3 questions: 

  1. How long should I expect for it to take? It’s already been almost a week and the total percentage only increased by one so far.
  2. Is it ok to interrupt it by turning my computer off?— because there’s no sign of it finishing anytime soon and I need to use my computer.
  3. What does the “ETA” part stand for? Is it estimated time to finish, elapsed time, or something else entirely?

Thank you in advance for any help you have in answering my questions.

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Performance and system failures

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments

Answer accepted by question author

  1. Igor Leyko 110.7K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2019-10-19T23:39:15+00:00

    Hi,

    1. No need to wait. Abort scanning and check drive's SMART using third party tool e.g. CrystalDiskInfo. Probably your hard drive is on his road to death.
    2. Yes, it is possible but you may press Ctrl+C and wait up to few minutes. Skip a test on next reboot.
    3. Estimated time to finish.

    100+ people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments

Answer accepted by question author

  1. Kapil Arya 37,686 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2020-08-16T06:38:06+00:00

    Hello,

    Reboot and skip disk checking. If you can't skip it, let it complete once and then login.

    Now try these steps after creating a System Restore point:

    1. Open Registry Editor.
    2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSetControl\Control\Session Manager.
    3. In the right pane, look for registry multi string (REG_MULTI_SZ) named BootExecute.
    4. Double click on it and make sure its Value data is set to autocheck autochk *. If it already has 

    autocheck autochk * as default value, set it to autocheck autochk /k:C *.

    1. Close Registry Editor, reboot and check if this issue is resolved.

    Hope this helps!

    60+ people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments

4 additional answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2019-10-20T19:32:13+00:00

    Thank you for your reply. 

    How should I abort scanning? I tried using the power button and it won’t boot up past pressing any button to skip the scan or just a plain black screen. I tried to put it into safe mode as well but with the same result. Each time I tried letting it reboot I waited between 10-20 or so minutes before shutting it down.  

    Is there anything else I could do before having to bring it somewhere for repair? 

    As a last resort, is there a way to retrieve my documents(photos, pictures, videos) without it booting up?

    10+ people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2020-03-01T00:55:55+00:00

    If you abort it then it will corrupt system files even more. If you don’t care about your personal files on your HDD then create bootable USB thumb drive with Windows system on it and reinstall your Windows. CHKDSK process slow when corruption happens, even on SSD, even tho the year 2020 now and everything is still working slow no matter how many hundreds CPU cores you have or ram. And it’s just ridiculous if you ask me.

    10 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  3. Igor Leyko 110.7K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2019-10-20T20:07:19+00:00

    You get black screen after skipping scan and this mean the system is not bootable. Replace drive with new one, install Windows, than attach drive as a secondary one and try to copy your documents. May be it will be unsuccessful and you'll need to use any data recovery service near you.

    10 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments