Member Avatar for tomhoersten

Is there a way we can have Power Users defrag their own hard drives in Windows XP?

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For : a couple of practical, lower-risk ways let Power Users run defrag without handing out full Administrator membership. These expand on the ideas already floated here by and but focus on giving only the specific capability defragmentation needs and on minimizing escalation risk.

The cleanest approach is to grant the specific user right called "Perform volume maintenance tasks" (SeManageVolumePrivilege) to the account or group that needs it. On each machine open Local Security Policy (secpol.msc) -> Local Policies -> User Rights Assignment -> "Perform volume maintenance tasks" and add the Power Users group or a named account. Logoff/logon (or reboot) is required for the change to apply. This gives the privilege the defrag APIs use without making the user a full administrator.

If changing the user right is not practical on every machine, a controlled elevation wrapper can be used: create a dedicated local account with the needed right, then let Power Users launch defrag under that account using saved credentials. Example command (run once to cache credentials):

runas /user:.\DefragUser /savecred "C:\Windows\System32\defrag.exe C:"

Security cautions: saved credentials can be abused to run other programs as the elevated account, so limit the dedicated account's scope, lock down the wrapper/shortcut with tight ACLs, and audit its use. If a change does not take effect, verify the right appears in User Rights Assignment and check Event Viewer for access-denied entries.

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Member Avatar for Laser

You must be administrator to run defragmentation. Some 3rd party defrag utilities, like can run in the background as a service which you should be able to run with admin credentials regardless of the user actually logged in.

Member Avatar for tomhoersten

Thanks...I realize you have to be Admin to defraf but I was hoping there is a way to give this ability to PowerUser so they can defrag with out my intervention.

Member Avatar for bobbyraw

if you use AD you should be able to set power user to run other programs and services. or set a schedule take and add the users through the security tab.

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