Member Avatar for rhb512000

I have a Dell Dimension 8100 running Windows XP, SP3. I have 512 MB RAM. When I click the button to analyze or defrag my C drive, nothing happens. When I check Task Manager it indicates that it is running. What can I do. I have run Chkdsk and found no major problems.

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Dani AI

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If the XP defragmenter appears to start (Task Manager shows activity) but never makes progress, the problem is usually environmental rather than the GUI itself. The suggestions below expand on points from , and and give practical, low-risk steps to isolate and fix the issue.

Try these in order:

  • Check Event Viewer right after attempting to run the defragmenter (Start -> Run -> eventvwr.msc). Look in System and Application logs for errors or warnings that coincide with the attempt — they often point to a driver, service, or file lock.
  • Repair Windows system components instead of manually copying files. Run System File Checker from an elevated command prompt (sfc /scannow) — it will restore missing or corrupted system files (it may request the XP CD).
  • Reduce interference from other software. Do a clean boot (msconfig: disable non-Microsoft services and startup items) or try Safe Mode and then run the defrag. Temporarily disable on-access antivirus/backup/monitoring utilities before retrying.
  • Free and consolidate space before defragmenting: run Disk Cleanup and move large files off the volume so the defrag engine can move files around.
  • If the built-in tool still fails, use a small third-party utility that logs progress and can run offline or at boot (for locked files). Back up critical data first and only use trusted downloads.

If none of that helps, collect the Event Viewer entries and a process snapshot (Process Explorer can show which handles/drivers are blocking access) and consider posting those details. Avoid copying system DLLs between machines; SFC or a repair/install is safer.

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Member Avatar for sittas87

HI
Try to defrag another disk attached to you're pc. If you dont have one than borrow one so long. By doing this you can determine if its a windows or disk prob.

Member Avatar for gerbil

Umm... defrag runs under [1] mmc.exe, and employs...
[2] dfrg.msc
[3] dfrgres.dll
and [4] either dfrgfat.exe or dfrgntfs.exe, whichever is relevant to your file system.
You might copy in the four files to system32, or at least check that they exist, and try again.
Then to do a more complete job, navigate to Windows\inf\dfrg.inf ... rclick that file and choose Install.
This last step will tizzy-up your registry entries.

Member Avatar for Ancient Dragon

It takes a loooooooooooooong time for it to defrag a hard drive -- expect it to work for a couple hours depending on the size of the hard drive and how full it is. If the hard drive is nearly full then defrag won't be able to do much with it because it needs lots of space to move the data around.

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