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Chkdsk, the hard-disk-drive checking and repair diagnostic utility in Windows XP/Vista/Windows 7, runs at startup but stops with error message: "Unable to read security descriptors"

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Problem

When Windows XP boots, it runs its Chkdsk hard-drive checking and repair utility automatically, which did not used to happen when my PC started up. Chkdsk stops working, and an error message: "Unable to read security descriptors" comes up. Windows XP can boot past this error message, but another error message comes up that contains Windows\system32\Nvcpl.dll. I have scanned the system with Norton Antivirus, Trend's free online virus scanner, and Microsoft Security Essentials, all fully-updated, but they found nothing.

Answer

The Chkdsk hard-drive diagnostic and repair utility that is part of Windows XP (it is also available in Windows Vista and Windows 7 largely unchanged) can be used with any of the latest large hard disk drives. Click here! to go directly to information on it in the Recovering Windows XP page on this site. Use your browser's Back button to return here.

A web search found that Nvcpl.dll is part of your nVidia video/graphics card's drivers. To find out what happens yourself, you can try entering the file name as the search query in a search engine.

Downloading the latest driver file from http://www.nvidia.com/, removing the old drivers by using Add or Remove Programs in the Control Panel, installing the standard Windows VGA driver by using the Update Driver option for the named video card under Display adapters in the Device Manager (by right-clicking with the mouse pointer on the entry for the video card), and then installing the latest nVidia driver file for the video card, might remedy the situation, but, unfortunately the problem is probably the result of a corruption of the setup on the hard disk drive.

There is probably something seriously amiss with the New Technology File System (NTFS) being used by the hard disk drive. If Chkdsk - the equivalent of the ScanDisk utility in Windows 9.x systems - can't fix it, then I don't know of a tool that can fix it - safely.

Usually the only solution is to reformat the hard disk drive and reinstall Windows. Unfortunately, there may be physical damage to the drive, such as bad sectors. Note that if your desktop or laptop PC came with a Recovery CD/DVD (or uses a recovery partition on the hard drive that contains the backup files) instead of a Windows XP/Vista/Windows 7 CD/DVD, you will have to format the drive that has Windows installed on it (usually the C: drive) and then use the Recovery CD/DVD according to the instructions provided by the PC's manufacturer.

A security descriptor is an entry in the NTFS that describes the owner of a file or folder, and the permissions (set in Windows) that are associated with it. Damage to these descriptors would make all of the files, or part of them, inaccessible on the hard disk drive.

If this is the case and you want to save the inaccessible data, the best option would be to read the files with software that can ignore the security features in Windows.

This can be done by using a version of Linux that can be booted from its CD/DVD. Ubuntu Linux from http://www.ubuntu.com/ can be downloaded as an ISO file which can be burned to CD that becomes fully bootable. You can use this distribution of Linux from the CD/DVD without ever installing it on the hard drive. It should install the device drivers for the motherboard, video card, sound card, USB devices, and the hard drive from the CD/DVD. If you use a wireless router to access the web it will also allow you to access the web if you enter any security encryption key that is protecting the network.

Boot disks of the above-mentioned kind can use the NTFS file system, and therefore allow you to access the folders and files in Windows. The following how-to article shows you how to use Ubuntu Linux to go about it.

How To: Reading Files From Windows Partition(NTFS) in Ubuntu Linux -

http://www.obharath.net/blog/2005/10/05/...

If there aren't too many, a handy way to save files would be to save them to a USB flash drive (memory stick) that can have 2GB, 4GB, 8GB, 16GB and 32GB from Kingston, SanDisk, Lexar, Transcend and MyMemory. Or, if there are too many files to make use of that method, if you have a separate CD-writer, use Linux to burn them to recordable CD/DVDs. You could also install another hard disk drive and copy the files to it or make use of an external USB hard disk drive.

Norton Ghost has an option that works with some damaged drives. It is a DOS-based program that can run from a floppy disk - if your PC has a floppy disk drive, which many new PC no longer have. You would use it to copy the files from an NTFS partition to another hard disk drive. But beware, because it may copy the corrupted part of the NTFS (file system) that is preventing access to the data in the first place.

If the problem with the hard disk drive was caused by physical damage, having recovered any data, you would have to trash the drive. But, if the problem was caused by a corrupt NTFS, you would be able to keep the drive in use after the drive has been reformatted and Windows XP has been reinstalled from its CD, not from a system backup, because it may also have copied the corrupt part of the NTFS.

Computer diagnostics: How to solve or fix common desktop and laptop PC problems

Click a link below to visit the described category of computer problems and solutions addressed on this website:

1. - Recovering and repairing Windows XP when a computer crashes or fails to boot

2. - Recovering and repairing Windows Vista when a computer crashes or fails to boot

3. - Windows Vista problems: How to fix problems with Windows Vista

4. - Recover, restore and repair Windows 7 (Win7) when a computer crashes or fails to boot

5. - Windows 7 problems: How to diagnose and fix problems with Windows 7

6. - Windows XP: How to troubleshoot and fix shutdown, restart (reboot), and startup problems

7. - Typical DLL (Dynamic Link Library) device driver problems

8. - Software problems: How to fix problems with Windows, programs, and utilities

Also visit the Software pages on this site for more information on specific software-related information and problems.

9. - Motherboard and power supply problems: How to fix common problems with faulty motherboards (mainboards) and power supplies (PSUs)

10. - RAM memory problems: How to fix problems with the Random Access Memory

11. - Hard disk drive problems: How to fix computer hard disk drive (HDD) problems

12. - CD/DVD drive problems: How to fix problems with CD and DVD drives and discs

13. - Processor problems: How fix common processor (CPU) problems

14. - Video/graphics card problems: How fix common computer video and graphics problems

15. - USB and FireWire problems: - How to fix common USB and FireWire problems

16. - Network problems: How to fix common wired and wireless networking and internet problems

17. - Laptop/notebook problems: How to address or fix the most common laptop/notebook problems

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