Fix Disk Defragmenter (dfrgui.exe) Does Not Launch in Windows 7

When you start Disk Defragmenter using any of these ways in Windows 7, nothing may happen except a brief blue circle (hourglass):

  • Right-click on a hard disk drive-letter, click Properties, and click Defragment now… from the Tools tab.
  • Access Disk Defragmenter from the Start menu shortcut or Search results.
  • Run Dfrgui.exe from the Windows\System32 directory.

This happens if the Disk Defragmenter service isn’t turned on. To enable the service, use these steps:

Login to a user account with administrative privileges

1. Click Start, type Services.msc and press {ENTER}

2. Double-click Disk Defragmenter service from the list

3. Set the Start type to Manual

4. Click OK.

Try launching Disk Defragmenter now.

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Ramesh Srinivasan is passionate about Microsoft technologies and he has been a consecutive ten-time recipient of the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional award in the Windows Shell/Desktop Experience category, from 2003 to 2012. He loves to troubleshoot and write about Windows. Ramesh founded Winhelponline.com in 2005.

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6 thoughts on “Fix Disk Defragmenter (dfrgui.exe) Does Not Launch in Windows 7”

  1. I installed windows 10. Hated it. Downgraded back to 7 via security features and now dfrgui no longer works. Tried your suggestion but it still did not work. Please help.

    Reply

  2. I had to read a few pages of pure bullshit to finally get to your page/site, once I found your page, everything is clear precise and concise, I have learned something good today, Thanks a lot!!!

    Reply

  3. For problems launching Defrag or Task Scheduler errors:
    Probably a little late for this response. But i had the massive task errors too and could not defrag after a failed windows 10 upgrade. I followed someone’s reply above to go to the system32 folder (c:/windows/system32/tasks) and go into the tasks folder. there i
    found and killed five on the main page that were not folders, but more importantly i went into the windows sub folder (c:/windows/system32/tasks/microsoft/defrag) and killed the
    only task in it. I was able to go back into the regular defrag function and still got the error that is was a scheduled task already. I clicked the bottom left to free it from the scheduled task (not sure the exact wording on the button) on it and success! I was able to get into defrag. still need to fix all the other tasks though and not sure its safe to do so yet but i got my defrag to work.

    Hope it helps anyone in the future looking to fix this. 🙂

    Reply

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