Dear forum members, my scheduled Disk defrag does not run in Win7 home 64 bit. I have made sure that all appropriate areas are ticked. Also in Services.msc the defragmenter is set to automatic and I have started the service. No Go. I have tried setting daily 5pm no go, 6pm and watched, no go. I have ticked only C: no go. Nothing so far has corrected the problem. The program that was always on was Zone Alarm Pro. That should not matter as web access is not necessary. Does anyone have any ideas? A web search turned up other people with the same unsolved problem. Regards Peter
![]() |
Patch reliability is unclear. Unless you have an immediate, pressing need to install a specific patch, don't do it. |
SIGN IN | Not a member? | REGISTER | PLUS MEMBERSHIP |
-
Scheduled Disk defrag does not run
Home » Forums » AskWoody support » Windows » Windows 7 » Questions: Windows 7 » Scheduled Disk defrag does not run
- This topic has 11 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 15 years, 1 month ago.
Viewing 9 reply threadsAuthorReplies-
joep517
AskWoody MVP -
WSpetrox
AskWoody Lounger -
WSTonistein
AskWoody Lounger -
WSDeadeye81
AskWoody Lounger -
Clive Pugh
Member -
WSpetrox
AskWoody LoungerApril 20, 2010 at 11:04 am #1219474Thank you all for your replies.
Gerald, I can not find where to start Event viewer. It is not in the Services.msc list.
Thanks for the links to the 3rd party defraggers. I have downloaded smart defrag.
I would have been nice to be able to fix the Microsoft scheduled defrag. Regards Peter -
joep517
AskWoody MVPApril 20, 2010 at 3:04 pm #1219492Thank you all for your replies.
Gerald, I can not find where to start Event viewer. It is not in the Services.msc list.
Thanks for the links to the 3rd party defraggers. I have downloaded smart defrag.
I would have been nice to be able to fix the Microsoft scheduled defrag. Regards PeterTo start the Event Viewer go to Start | Control Panel | System and Security | Administrative Tools | Event Viewer
Or
click Start and then in the search bar type “eventvwr” without the quotation marks, click on eventvwr.exe
Or
right click “Computer”, select Manage, then click on Event Viewer.There is not an event viewer service. The service to capture events is named “Windows Event Log”.
Joe
--Joe
-
-
WSpetrox
AskWoody LoungerApril 20, 2010 at 11:50 pm #1219528Hi JoeP the Windows Event Log could not be started it says error 4201 the instance name passed was not recognized as valid by a WMI data provider. Whatever that means. Who is going to understand this? I do not. Sorry for my outburst. Thank you for the reply. I got me started in the right direction. Now it is fuzzy again. Regards Peter
-
WSDeadeye81
AskWoody LoungerApril 21, 2010 at 7:24 am #1219542Hi Peter,
Check out this Microsoft Answers link for a possible fix on the event viewer issue. Several have had success with it. Event Viewer not functioning can negatively affect some services, so it might also impact the Defragmenter issue as well.
Another solution that has worked can be seen here in post #5, and the Sysinternals download to perform the procedure can be found here . This solution involves deleting two log files that can only be deleted upon reboot because once Windows has loaded, these two log files are flagged as in use and cannot be deleted. Somehow, permissions were corrupted or changed so the System could not access these log files. Once they are deleted, Windows recreates the log files with appropriate system permissions.
-
WSStephenElms
AskWoody Lounger -
WSpetrox
AskWoody LoungerApril 21, 2010 at 12:30 pm #1219596Thank you Gerald, I did do the DOS boot before Windows starts and tried to rename RTbackup, access denied. I then tried delete and I was able to delete the RTbackup file as per one of the other posts suggestion.
The WMI files are locked when Windows starts. So you can’t delete them after start up.
This is way too complicated and lets not waste anyone time on it anymore. Microsoft should have a fix for people that post problems with their new OS. Like reading websites such as this one. For an MVP on the other website to say rename a file when it is locked and therefore not deletable does not help. Thanks for all the help. The event viewer still give the same reply unable to ….. Regards Peter
Viewing 9 reply threads -

Plus Membership
Donations from Plus members keep this site going. You can identify the people who support AskWoody by the Plus badge on their avatars.
AskWoody Plus members not only get access to all of the contents of this site -- including Susan Bradley's frequently updated Patch Watch listing -- they also receive weekly AskWoody Plus Newsletters (formerly Windows Secrets Newsletter) and AskWoody Plus Alerts, emails when there are important breaking developments.
Get Plus!
Welcome to our unique respite from the madness.
It's easy to post questions about Windows 11, Windows 10, Win8.1, Win7, Surface, Office, or browse through our Forums. Post anonymously or register for greater privileges. Keep it civil, please: Decorous Lounge rules strictly enforced. Questions? Contact Customer Support.
Search Newsletters
Search Forums
View the Forum
Search for Topics
Recent Topics
-
Phishers extract Millions from HMRC accounts..
by
Microfix
2 hours, 12 minutes ago -
Windows 10 22H2 Update today (5 June) says up-to-date but last was 2025-04
by
Alan_uk
4 hours, 4 minutes ago -
Thoughts on Malwarebytes Scam Guard for Mobile?
by
opti1
7 hours, 12 minutes ago -
Mystical Desktop
by
CWBillow
7 hours, 26 minutes ago -
Meta and Yandex secretly tracked billions of Android users
by
Alex5723
2 hours, 12 minutes ago -
MS-DEFCON 2: Do you need that update?
by
Susan Bradley
25 minutes ago -
CD/DVD drive is no longer recognized
by
WSCape Sand
22 hours, 38 minutes ago -
Windows 11 24H2 Default Apps stuck on Edge and Adobe Photoshop
by
MikeBravo
1 day, 1 hour ago -
North Face and Cartier customer data stolen in cyber attacks
by
Alex5723
23 hours, 33 minutes ago -
What is wrong with simple approach?
by
WSSpoke36
16 hours, 5 minutes ago -
Microsoft-Backed Builder.ai Set for Bankruptcy After Cash Seized
by
Alex5723
1 day, 10 hours ago -
Location, location, location
by
Susan Bradley
1 hour, 24 minutes ago -
Cannot get a task to run a restore point
by
CWBillow
1 day, 12 hours ago -
Frustrating search behavior with Outlook
by
MrJimPhelps
1 day, 3 hours ago -
June 2025 Office non-Security Updates
by
PKCano
1 day, 23 hours ago -
Secure Boot Update Fails after KB5058405 Installed
by
SteveIT
1 hour, 44 minutes ago -
Firefox Red Panda Fun Stuff
by
Lars220
1 day, 23 hours ago -
How start headers and page numbers on page 3?
by
Davidhs
2 days, 9 hours ago -
Attack on LexisNexis Risk Solutions exposes data on 300k +
by
Nibbled To Death By Ducks
1 day, 12 hours ago -
Windows 11 Insider Preview build 26200.5622 released to DEV
by
joep517
2 days, 18 hours ago -
Windows 11 Insider Preview build 26120.4230 (24H2) released to BETA
by
joep517
2 days, 18 hours ago -
MS Excel 2019 Now Prompts to Back Up With OneDrive
by
lmacri
2 days, 7 hours ago -
Firefox 139
by
Charlie
2 days ago -
Who knows what?
by
Will Fastie
1 day, 2 hours ago -
My top ten underappreciated features in Office
by
Peter Deegan
2 days, 18 hours ago -
WAU Manager — It’s your computer, you are in charge!
by
Deanna McElveen
12 hours, 30 minutes ago -
Misbehaving devices
by
Susan Bradley
1 day, 14 hours ago -
.NET 8.0 Desktop Runtime (v8.0.16) – Windows x86 Installer
by
WSmeyerbos
4 days ago -
Neowin poll : What do you plan to do on Windows 10 EOS
by
Alex5723
23 hours, 43 minutes ago -
May 31, 2025—KB5062170 (OS Builds 22621.5415 and 22631.5415 Out-of-band
by
Alex5723
3 days, 23 hours ago
Recent blog posts
Key Links
Want to Advertise in the free newsletter? How about a gift subscription in honor of a birthday? Send an email to sb@askwoody.com to ask how.
Mastodon profile for DefConPatch
Mastodon profile for AskWoody
Home • About • FAQ • Posts & Privacy • Forums • My Account
Register • Free Newsletter • Plus Membership • Gift Certificates • MS-DEFCON Alerts
Copyright ©2004-2025 by AskWoody Tech LLC. All Rights Reserved.