Controlling ScanDisk After Improper Shutdown

Controlling ScanDisk After Improper Shutdown

If Windows 95"B" is shut down improperly -- from a power failure, for example -- it automatically runs ScanDisk when it restarts. The problem is that Windows 95 just sits there with a "Press any key..." prompt and I need my system to reboot without any operator input.

Actually, ScanDisk will run after 60 seconds if you don't respond to the prompt. There are two things that cause the "B" release (formally known as OEM Service Release 2) to exhibit this sort of behavior: improper shutdown or the possibility of one or more bad disk sectors. Article Q152404 in the Microsoft Technical Support Knowledge Base discusses the subject in some detail, but here are the essentials:

You can control this sequence by modifying the Msdos.sys file in your root directory. (Note: Msdos.sys is a read-only, hidden system file. You must change these attributes prior to editing the file and restore them afterward.) Add or modify the AUTOSCAN setting in the [options] section as follows.

AUTOSCAN=0	ScanDisk does not run.
AUTOSCAN=1	The default: Windows 95 issues the "Press any key..." prompt; if you don't do anything for 60 seconds, ScanDisk runs automatically.
AUTOSCAN=2	ScanDisk runs automatically; no prompt is issued.

Reference: Microsoft Knowledge Base, article Q152404.

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