Automatic Disk Defrag on Windows XP

       428 words, 3 minutes

Quoting the Microsoft Article ID: How to Automate Disk Defragmenter Using Task Scheduler Tool in Windows XP

  1. Open Control Panel
  2. Double-click Scheduled Tasks
  3. Double-click Add Scheduled Task
  4. On the Scheduled Task Wizard dialog, click Next
  5. Click Browse
  6. In the Select Program to Schedule dialog, navigate to the windowssystem32 folder
  7. Select defrag.exe
  8. Click Open
  9. In the Scheduled Task Wizard dialog, type a name for the scheduled task (Disk Defragmenter, for instance)
  10. Under Perform this task, select how often you wish Disk Defragmenter to run
  11. Click Next
  12. Set the time at which you wish the Disk Defragmenter scheduled task to run. This should be a time when your computer is on, but not in heavy use.
  13. Select the frequency at which you want the Disk Defragmenter scheduled task to run (Every Day, Weekdays, or Every days, where is the number of days between scheduled runs)
  14. Click Next
  15. Enter a user name under which the Disk Defragmenter scheduled task will run. Note: This user must be an administrator on the local machine.
  16. Enter the password for the user you entered in the previous step
  17. Confirm the password for the user
  18. Click Next
  19. Check Open advanced properties for this task when I click Finish
  20. Click Finish
  21. In the Run text box, you should see the full path and command for defrag.exe. By default, this path is C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\defrag.exe
  22. Append the drive letter for the drive you wish to defragment to the command in the Run text box. In a default installation, your Run command will look like this: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\defrag.exe C:
  23. Click OK
  24. In the Set Account Information dialog, enter and confirm the password for the user listed in Run as
  25. Click OK

Disk Defragmenter will now run as the specified user on the schedule you specified when you created the scheduled task.

For additional information about using Scheduled Tasks in Windows XP, see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
308569 HOW TO: Schedule Tasks in Windows XP

For additional information about the limitations of the Disk Defragmenter tool in Windows, see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
314848 How to Defragment Your Disk Drive Volumes in Windows XP

For additional information about using the command line Defrag.exe tool, see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
283080 Description of the New Command Line Defrag.exe Included with Windows XP

APPLIES TO Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2002
unknown KMS 9471
Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition

Source How to Automate Disk Defragmenter Using Task Scheduler Tool in Windows XP

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