Vista is just too smart for its own good. I spoke with a member friday evening that said after setting up Vista home premium his computer would give him an error to Scan and Fix his IPOD. However when he would plug his IPOD into his wife’s Windows XP machine there was no error.
I was able to recreate the error by forcibly ejecting my own ipod from a Windows XP machine. The reason for the error is that his IPOD was formatted FAT32 on Windows XP; this can affect thumbdrives, cameras, smart cards. What happens is the device was not properly dismounted by Windows XP and there is an archival bit set that Vista needs to reset before it will stop reporting there is an error.
At this point if you don’t read anything else read this: don’t click the “Scan and Fix” button.
Instead open up a command line prompt by clicking on the windows logo key and then clicking on the command prompt icon:
At the command prompt type the following command.
chkdsk (device drive letter): /f
for instance my ipod was mounted at drive l so I typed
chkdsk l : /f
Once the chkdsk process is completed you should not see the “Scan & Fix” dialog for your ipod or other device again.
- Mark Flavin
{ 3 trackbacks }
{ 191 comments }
← Previous Comments
Thanks for the tip! It worked for me.
Hi, I have a 5th gen 80gb classic and when I get down to about 30gb’s it will stop syncing but stay connected and say it is still syncing. This could go on all day. Any ideas on how to either scan and fix this or should I just not go below 30gb’s? It works fine until I get that low on disk space.
Thanks,
Tim
When I typed chkdsk l : /f it said that the drive, path or the file name is not valid. What do i do????
hi there i was having same problem as everyone else searched eveywhere 4 a fix then stubled across this site . i managed to sort out the scan fix problem but now my itunes freeze’s when i plug my ipod in if i just leave it to see wat happens windows just restarts can anybody help with this issue
Regarding the ” cannot open volume for direct access ” result from the command prompt:
This can be fixed within iTunes. However, it does involves wiping the iPod data completely (”restoring” it to its original state when you first got it). This isn’t a big deal for a shuffle, but may be a real hassle for a larger GB iPod.
1. Open iTunes.
2. click on iPod icon.
3. click on “settings” at the top, to the left of contents.
4. click on “restore” under the Version heading.
5. follow instruction on restoring the iPod to its original state.
6. Add back all of your music.
Best. Site. Ever! Thank you so much for all your help! My ipod had more problems than I thought o.O
restoring my ipod was the best option though
oh and I’m not sure if I did that checkdisk process correctly but it got rid of that annoying popup! ^^
I am having a similar problem with my Ipod –
Was having problems a while ago when it stopped playing certain songs and got fed up so reset it and also wiped it clear ready to re-sync with Itunes. Now when I plug it into Itunes I get the ‘Do you want to run scan scan fix la la la” I originally said yes to this and it doesnt do much except pop up a window saying that It cannot run the scan whilst the Ipod is in use. So I read somewhere else that I could try and do this manually by pressing ‘Fast Forward’, ‘Rewind’, ‘Menu’ and ‘Action’ at the same time and that it would scan it’self. Tried this and nothing happened. I read your notes abouve about typing in a Command but I’m no whiz and don’t know how to do this or even how to find a command prompt. One person said to click ’start’ then click run but my computer doesnt seem to have a ‘run’ option? My computer is laptop with Vista and my Ipod is 120gb classic…..not sure if this plays an important role? Can someone please shed some light? I need music!
alix i kno what you going thru and i followed his steps but it aint make my i pod work it just got rid of that thing that asked me if i wanted to scan but i couldn’t put music on. this is what i do friend so listen up and it will surely work for you. when you hook up ya i pod if i tunes comes up just close it out it must be closed out. go to start or that button that has the window logo in the bottom left corner you know it. go to computer or my computer .and if your i pod hooked up you will see it their. click it once then right click on it and give it some time it may be a lil slow to respond but it will just bare with it for music sake. a list will come up click on format. you will see file system ntfs default. change it to exfat. ((if that dont work just leave it on ntfs and hit quick format)) and check the box that says quick format. then hit start. the bar will load up then when its done unhook ya ipod and hook it back up this puts in in factory mode where you have to rename ya ipod after that just check the play lists you want to put on ya ipod and hit sync my friend
o yea doing that process also gets ride of that stupid message there for it saves you the hassle of clickin run prompt and typin all that weird stuff
i have the ipod classic 120 gb
Thatnks for the tip but sadly it didn’t work either. When I clicked quick scan it just said that windows couldn’t complete the scan. I made sure Itunes was closed etc, and the other option that you mentioned to change the formatt wasnt their either so can’t work out why it didn’t work!
Any one else have anything to add to this annoying little problem…..please let me know!|!
did you change the format to exfat or did you leave it on nfts
make sure you changed the format to exfat then hit quick format and the start button
after pressin format, you should see file system .you should be able to switch between ntfs and exfat so change it to exfat and check quick format hit start and let me kno what happen.
Worked perfectly, thanks so much!
no prob
Brilliant, thats been annoying me for some time now. Thanks
Hey if you guys are having trouble with the chkdsk part, I toyed around with it since I was getting some error messages and I finally reached some success with “chkdsk j:/”
And in reference to my previous post, it should be noted that “j” was the drive where my ipod was located. If you click on My Computer you’ll see it. I just took out the “1″ in the previous directions since I had nothing to indicate any numberical drive number.
I have been trying to resolve this for months. I have followed almost every piece advice on every blog, save the one that eventually worked for me.
I have had all the problems mentioned – computer did not recognize the device, or showed it as unknown device, or showed it as Mass Storage. I’ve uninstalled and reinstalled drivers again and again only to get the message the best drivers are installed or the driver can not be started. I’ve seen the scan & fix message. I’ve seen the Ipod corruption message. I’ve managed to get the hardward scan to install IPod drivers occasionally. I’ve had the IPod spin and spin and even crash my computer twice. I could not do the chkdsk since the few times I managed to even see the device in My Computer, it wasn’t accessible.
The one piece of advice I kept ignoring was “try a different cable”. I lost my original cable a long time ago and have used an off-brand cable successfully on my old computer with no problems for at least a year. So I was certain this was not the problem. After spending HOURS trying to fix this, I finally borrowed an IPod cable and the only problem I had after that was that I saw the Scan & Fix message. But since my IPod showed up as an IPod in My Computers, I was able to do the chkdsk mentioned in this article. And my IPod showed up in ITunes perfectly and let me sync it.
It’s a wonder my IPod survived all the resets, restores, installs, etc I’ve put it through, but my advice is ….. at least try to find an original cable if you are using a knock off.
Thank you so much!!! This fixed my problem!!! WONDERFUL!
Thanks for the tip! My daughter’s iPod mini (older one) was giving me fits in Vista. Now we can load up the Hannah Montana! (Groan…)
Thanks! You’re the man… damn that’s been hacking me off for ages!
Thanks! Ran the chkdsk like you suggested, during scan i was asked if i wanted ti fix “truncated” data and convert them to files. I said “No” and the scan completed successfully. No More Scan and fix message. Kewl!
i ran the check, and it keeps telling me “insufficient disk space to correct disk error please free some disk space and run chkdsk again” i cant free up files if it wont sync to my itunes. PLEASE HELP!!!!
“One person said to click ’start’ then click run but my computer doesnt seem to have a ‘run’ option? ”
For anyone having this particular problem….
Instructions given are for Vista Home Premium. I’m ASSUMING other versions of Vista would be the same.
First, right-click any empty space on the taskbar and select “Properties.” Go to the “start menu” tab, and next to whichever version of the start menu you’re using (list in later steps is slightly different based on whether you’re using Classic or not, but otherwise there’s no difference), you want to click “customize.” Now, in the long list of options to customize how the Start Menu should look, somewhere you should find something about the “Run command.” In Classic, it says “Display Run,” in non-Classic, is says “Run command.”
If this box is unchecked, check it.
You should now have the “Run” option on your Start Menu, and can now follow related instructions.
(Please note, in some versions/editions of Windows, there is a way to show/hide various options besides this customize method–like the “absence” of games in Vista Business; I DON’T know if “Run” is affected by that manner, but you may need a more roundabout method if my suggestion doesn’t work.)
when i typed it in it said “Access Denied as you do not have sufficient privileges. You have to invoke this utility running in elevated mode.
when i typed it in it said “Access Denied as you do not have sufficient privileges. You have to invoke this utility running in elevated mode.” can anyone tell me what this means.
Thanks went away. But noticed every few days I have to repeat the step. Any ideas??
Worked great for me. However, I did have to pre-type the chkdsk… in the command prompt and then have “My Computer” window open. I had to hit enter as soon as it appeared there because it would disappear quickly and the command wouldn’t work otherwise. Now it works with the dumb warning window popping up.
So what happens if you did click “scan” on, say, a 250GB MyBook with a buttload of files on it and now the Mybook locks up windows and you can’t access anything on it?
Worked for me, thanks!
Still doesn’t work consistently. I do the chkdsk, it’s good for 3-4 syncs and then it comes back again. Need a long term fix.
Hi, I tried this and my computer keeps saying :”chkdsk:” is not recognized as sn internal or external command, operable program or batch file. Any soultions?
doesn’t work for me either.
It worked ONCE… until I added new music to my library
and tried to sync…
mine says cannot open volume for direct access
YOU DO NOT NEED TO SCAN AND FIX ON A PC!!!
The same with ALL solid state drive, you should not defrag or run CHKDSK on it. I am on my second IPOD, had the same problem with my first one and the one day i decided to “repair” it, the unit stopped working properly the next day.
Your IPOD will work just fine without repairing on PC.
Thank you so much, Mark. My ipod was working fine anyway besides that “scan and fix” pop up window that was driving me nuts. At first, I got the error “cannot open volume for direct access.” I then realized why you said don’t “click the “Scan and Fix” button.” It seems to me that you have to leave that pop up window open so that the ipod won’t disappear from “my computer” and that command can be run. At least that’s what I did and it worked for me, thanks again so much.
.
Thanks, I did the command prompt approach and it helped me a lot!
Hi, whenever i connect my ipod touch to my computer, itunes freezes so i have to close itunes down. I have tried connecting my old ipod video and that works fine. Any ideas why my touch makes itunes freeze everytime?
thanks a lot
“…you should not see the “Scan & Fix” dialog for your ipod or other device again” Not true. Still an issue. Works for a couple of times, but still get the pop up. Closing the window or clicking ‘continue without scanning, eventually it comes up again.
There is a much easier way to fix this. When you first plug your iPod into the computer and the pop-up comes up, click “Continue without scanning”. Go to iTunes and go to your iPod. Where it says “Options”, click Enable disk use, then click Apply over to the side. When it’s done applying, unplug your iPod from your computer and then plug it back in again. This time, when the pop up comes up, cick “Scan and fix”. It will scan your iPod this time (if you did this before without enabling disk use it would say it couldn’t scan your iPod and the pop-up would continue coming up) and hopefully say nothing is wrong with it. If there is nothing wrong with it, the pop-up won’t come up anymore!
This is not an ‘Enable Disk Use’ issue and it does not solve the pop-up. It has always been checked. In Vista, this is randomly appearing then no longer appears then randomly appears again. You can run the DOS macro, but eventually comes back regardless of steps taken.
If I already clicked “scan and fix”, am I screwed? Or is there any way to reverse this? Itunes wont read my ipod and the iPod shows no music, even though all the files are still there… PLEASE HELP
Willie,
No, just start over. From what I gather, the ipod needs to be listed just like any other drive in “My Computer” for the command to work. This time when you plug in your ipod don’t click “scan and fix.” Just ignore it. Open up a command prompt by typing “command” in the run box. Then run the command.
Thank you SOOOOOO much for this article. My iPod would mount fine on my wife’s laptop, but never on my desktop. i was considering throwing it out the window until I found this article.
Thanks!
I just want to say a BIG THANK YOU to Darryl who helped me here with my iPod – completely formatted and syncing perfectly!
THANK YOU!
how to fix error from usb nad said error opening when I scan
Mine will come up with the scan fix, i typed in the command and it will come up with the fat32 but will not but then it says “cannot read boot sector” Any ideas?
I can not open itunes when my ipod is plugged in. I also can not properly disconnect the ipod becuase it says that it is in use. I have throw other Ipods on this computer and it works fine. I also went to the apple store and of course my ipod worked fine there on both there mac and windows XP, I am running windows 7. Any help would be much appreciated
← Previous Comments
Comments on this entry are closed.