How to Read the Event Viewer Log for Check Disk (chkdsk) in Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8
Information
This will show you how to read the Event Viewer log to see the scan results of Check Disk (chkdsk) in Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8.
OPTION ONE
To Read chkdsk Results Log Directly in Event Viewer
NOTE: You must be logged in as administrator to be able to open Event Viewer.
1. If you have not already, you will need to have ran Check Disk (chkdsk) in Vista/Windows 7 or Windows 8 prior before it will be in the Event Viewer System log.
2. Press the Windows + R keys to open the Run dialog, type eventvwr.msc, and press Enter.
3. If prompted by UAC, then click on Yes (Windows 7/8) or Continue (Vista).
4. In the left pane of Event Viewer, double click on Windows Logs to expand it, click on Application to select it, then right click on Application and click on Find. (see screenshot below)
5. Copy and paste Chkdsk into the line, and click on Find Next. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: You can continue to click on Find Next to search for other older application logs (if available) for Check Disk (chkdsk) to see them as well.
6. You will now see the system log for the scan results of Check Disk (chkdsk). (see screenshot below)
NOTE: The log will have the Chkdsk tag if Check Disk is ran only from within Windows.
7. Go back to the top of the log file list in the middle pane of Event Viewer, then copy and paste Wininit into the line, and click on Find Next. (see screenshot below step 5)
NOTE: You can continue to click on Find Next to search for other older application logs (if available) for Check Disk (chkdsk) to see them as well.
8. You will now see the system log for the scan results of Check Disk (Wininit). (see screenshot below)
NOTE: The log will have the Wininit tag if the computer has to restart to run Check Disk at startup instead of within Windows.
9. When finished searching for Check Disk (chkdsk) application logs, you can close the Find window. (see screenshot below step 5)
10. When finished, you can close Event Viewer.
OPTION TWO
To Create .txt file on Desktop with chkdsk Results Log
Note
This option is not available in Vista.
1. Press the Windows + R keys to open the Run dialog, type powershell.exe, and press Enter.
2. In PowerShell, copy and paste the command below, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: To paste the copied command into PowerShell, you will just need to right click in PowerShell.
Code:
[COLOR=black]get-winevent -FilterHashTable @{logname="Application"; id="1001"}| ?{$_.providername –match "wininit"} | fl timecreated, message | out-file Desktop\CHKDSKResults.txt[/COLOR]
3. You will now have a CHKDSKResults.txt file created on your desktop that is the log file of your chkdsk scan results from Event Viewer.
That's it,
Shawn
Last edited:
