Repair the builtin disk defragmenter

24 August 2006 by Snakefoot | Comment » | Trackback Off
Symptoms:
The builtin Disk Defragmenter might stop working if having installed a 3rd party defragger and uninstalled it again.

When using the Defrag.exe (XP only) command line tool, then it does not start and one gets the following error message:

Windows cannot connect to the Disk Defragmenter engine.

When opening Properties for a local hard disk, the one either will see a gray Defragment Now-button, or when clicking the button one gets the following error message:

The Disk Defragmenter is not installed on your computer. To install it, double-click the Add or Remove Programs icon in Control Panel, click the Install/Uninstall tab, and then follow the instructions on your screen.

When trying to open the Disk Defragmenter snapin, then one gets the following error message:

Snap-in failed to initialize,
CLSID: {43668E21-2636-11D1-A1CE-0080C88593A5}

Solution:
To repair the Disk Defragmenter execute the following two commands:
  • regsvr32 dfrgsnap.dll
  • regsvr32 dfrgui.dll
If the above actions didn't help, then right click the following file and select Install:

C:\Windows\Inf\dfrg.inf

Note this issue can also be caused by having disabled the XP SP2 service DCOM Server Process Launcher. This service must be configured to Automatic and be running for the Disk Defragmenter to work.

Note if having disabled or set a low custom size for the pagefile, then defrag might not work. If using WinXP set the virtual memory to "System Managed Size".

More Info MS KB Q922379

Credits AndreasRoom.com

Updated: 3 April 2008

Comments:

Comment by Kedar Gore - 4 February 2008 @ 9:19 Reply

Thanks a lot for all the above steps and guidelines…
The “Defragmentor” has started working!!

Comment by Daron - 19 March 2008 @ 0:09 Reply

I have tried all of the above mentioned remedies, no luck. I think my problem started after installing and removing windows steady state. Can’t even run it from safe mode. Any other suggestions? Thanks! (nothing happens when hitting buttons. changed page file to system mangaged. dcom was and is set to automatic.)

Comment by darlene - 22 May 2008 @ 16:46 Reply

i have tried these steps and still no luck running the defrag

Comment by wild_bill - 2 June 2008 @ 3:15 Reply

If these don’t work, then maybe you should just try a 3rd party defragger which works as well, if not better than the windows version. I like UltimateDefrag…just google it.

Comment by Francisco Brito - 12 June 2008 @ 11:32 Reply

Thanks! this worked for me!

I started having this problem after performing windows update and also regitry cleaning with several cleaners.

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