As noted in my longer post above, my problems were attributable to a program
called Haute Secure. Do you have that on your computer?


"tnahowru" wrote:

Help, i am having the same problem!

"Conley" wrote:

The chkdsk utility will no longer run. Instead, I get this error message:
"cannot open volume for direct access." I found some old KB articles
indicating that this problem had come up under Windows XP and was going to be
fixed by an upcoming service pack. Why am I getting this error message with
Vista Ultimate?

I have been running into the same problem but, unfortunately, in my case
there must be another cause as Haute Secure is not installed on my PC. It has
become a pretty annoying problem: besides getting the error message when
booting up, it turns out that Diskeeper can no longer do a boot-time
defragmentation because it doesn't have direct access, no doubt because of
the same reason. To make matters worse, when trying to do a backup using
Vista's backup module, I get a message there's a problem with my C-drive
(brand-new, by the way, although that doesn't exclude a problem of course),
kindly requesting to run chkdsk... that doesn't work.

There are a few suggestions on the Microsoft sites to solve the problem but
most apply to OSs prior to Vista. The only one that sounds most plausible for
Vista is that a 3rd party virus checker or disk monitor tool are blocking
access to the volume. Disabling an antivirus program doesn't sound like a
healthy decision, though, except to test if this is the cause of the problem.
But then, I have been using Norton AV (Corporate Edition 10.2) before, on
Vista, without running into this problem. Possibly, just possibly, it could
be that after installing and un-installing ZoneAlarm firewall (free version,
v7.1, Vista-ready) and a trial version of Norton Internet Security as
possible alternatives to Vista's built-in firewall, there are still some
leftovers in the registry (although I searched through the registry and
deleted the one ZoneAlarm leftover that I could find).

Prior to doing a clean install and hope for the best, I was wondering if
anyone has had similar problems after having installed ZoneAlarm or Norton IS?

--
Luc


"Rick Rogers" wrote:

Great feedback, Conley. Thanks!

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

"Conley" wrote in message
...
I finally discovered that the source of my problems with chkdsk and
Diskeeper
was a program called Haute Secure. I had thought that it was a toolbar or
BHO that would do nothing if IE was not open and would not in any event
dig
deep into the OS like an antivirus program. I tried every possible
uninstall/reinstall/version rollback on my Symantec software before I
grasped
at one last straw today and uninstalled Haute Secure. Chkdsk then ran on
my
next reboot. It turns out that that program is quite powerful and
involves
some kind of kernel-level driver.

System Restore is still not working from within Vista Ultimate, but I
have,
at all times, been able to run System Restore and Complete PC Restore from
the Vista DVD.

All of the messing around with the computer seems to have generated some
new
problems, and I may have to post some new questions on this forum in order
to
get back to where this all began.



"Rick Rogers" wrote:

Hi Conley,

Raxco, a maker of another disk utility, has this page of programs known
to
cause this issue. You may want to run through the list to see if any of
them
apply:
http://www.raxco.com/support/windows...id=494&issue=3

There isn't going to be a simple answer here, as under normal
circumstances
the disk checker utility will run fine when scheduled. What you have is
some
program that has altered the system and is gaining access to the drive
and
running prior to the disk checker, thus preventing the exclusive access
it
requires. Deciphering it will require some detective work, and simple
removal of any offending program will not always resolve the problem as
it
may not undo all of the changes that the original installation made. This
is
particularly so if the software was not designed for Vista.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

"Conley" wrote in message
...
Rick,

I tried this twice, with services enabled and with services disabled,
and
I
saw the same thing both times. After hitting enter at the command line
for
chkntfs /d, a new command line appeared (i.e., no text confirming
success
with resetting defaults, which may be the normal behavior). I then ran
chkdsk /r and got the same error message when it tried to run after the
reboot.

"Rick Rogers" wrote:

Hi Conley,

Try running chkntfs /d, then chkdsk.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

"Conley" wrote in message
...
Per the KB article, I disabled all non-Microsoft services and
rebooted.
(There was very little there except for the antivirus program.)

I then tried running chkdsk with various combinations of /f, /r and
/x,
and
I got the following results:

/f No text screen came up
/r The screen with the error message re
"direct
access" came up
/x No text screen came up
/f /x No text screen came up
/r /x The screen with the error message re
"direct
access" came up

Do you know of anything else that I should be looking for if the
problem
is
not attributable to a boot-loading third-party service or driver,
which
should have shown up on the Autoruns scan?

Thanks for all of your time and effort.



"Rick Rogers" wrote:

Hi,

There's this: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555484

And as well some disk utilities make system changes that are not
undone
when
they are uninstalled. You might try running chkdsk /x to force
dismounting.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

"Conley" wrote in message
...
What do you mean by "disk management software"? How does it
cause
this
issue, and how do you undo the damage?

There was a recent update to Norton Antivirus 2007, but I have
uninstalled
the program and installed AVG Free, and I still have the same
problem.
Another possibility would be a rootkit scanner called gmer that I
tried
out
recently. After it caused my computer to freeze, I uninstalled
it.
I
have
searched the registry and the file system for any lingering
traces
of
the
program and found nothing. I have also run Autoruns, and I saw
nothing
on
the list of what was loading at start-up that struck me as
unusual.



"Rick Rogers" wrote:
.
Hi,

AV programs are not the only problems, any disk management
software
can
cause this issue. In addition, an update to your existing AV and
security
software can cause the issue (have you done any prior to this
problem
beginning?).

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

"Conley" wrote in message
...
I have already tried disabling my antivirus progam before
setting
up
the
scan, and it made no difference - the scan would not run.
Besides,
when
chkdsk was working, it ran without regard to whether the
antivirus
program
was running.

"Rick Rogers" wrote:

Hi,

Do you have any boot time antivirus scanners running?

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

"Conley" wrote in message
...
The error message comes up AFTER the scan has been
requested
and
scheduled
and the computer has been rebooted so that the scan can
run.

"Rick Rogers" wrote:

Hi,

Any volume in use cannot be dismounted, which is required
for
chkdsk
to
run
a full check. Normally, one is prompted for it to be
completed
on
the
next
reboot, does this not occur for you?

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

"Conley" wrote in
message
...
The chkdsk utility will no longer run. Instead, I get
this
error
message:
"cannot open volume for direct access." I found some
old
KB
articles
indicating that this problem had come up under Windows
XP
and
was
going
to
be
fixed by an upcoming service pack. Why am I getting
this
error
message
with
Vista Ultimate?

I would try a system restore first. If you can't go back far enough to
fix the problem, try running System File Check. If sfc detects corrupt
system files and cannot repair them, at least it will identify the
corrupt files in CBS.log. You can then access good system files from
your Vista Install DVD (see tutorial on this website) to copy to your OS
to replace the corrupt files. I have had Vista Updates corrupt my
autochk.exe system file and my McAfee Security Center.


--
uvbogden

Thanks, uvbogden, for your feedback. The System File Check did find some
errors, that we successfully repaired and got rid of the error message in the
Backup and Restore Center. It did not, however, resolve the problem with
chkdsk itself, or the fact that Diskeeper 2007 can no longer do a boot-time
defragmentation.

I guess I have no other alternative but to do a clean re-install of Vista
and hope for the best. Should I learn anything during that process or find
out at what precise point in time the problem starts to occur, I'll post it
here.
--
Luc


"uvbogden" wrote:


I would try a system restore first. If you can't go back far enough to
fix the problem, try running System File Check. If sfc detects corrupt
system files and cannot repair them, at least it will identify the
corrupt files in CBS.log. You can then access good system files from
your Vista Install DVD (see tutorial on this website) to copy to your OS
to replace the corrupt files. I have had Vista Updates corrupt my
autochk.exe system file and my McAfee Security Center.


--
uvbogden

I had this same problem with my Maxtor One Touch external drive, and
tried everything mentioned here. Eventually, I just unplugged the
drive, and plugged it back in (while computer still up), and windows
re-adjusted itself to recognize the drive correctly. I have no idea,
either, what is causing the problem. This isn't the first time I've had
to do this.


--
suej196