How to Fix Disk Defragmenter Schedule Not Working?

Windows ScheduleDefrag doesn’t run

“All my Windows versions (11, 10, 8, and 7) unable to run schedule task of disk defragmentation, I have turned on the schedule defrag in disk defragmenter and set it to run on weekly basis, but it doesn’t run. How can I fix it or enable the weekly auto defrag? Can anyone help?”

Why enable schedule defrag for Windows?

Over time, even the most high-end computer can become slower, less responsive, and sluggish. One of the reasons is that it’s over fragmented (>10%). Thus, to let your PC back to its healthy status, it’s advised to defrag it which means you’ll rearrange files on hard disks and make file segments contiguous to each other so that PC can spot each of them more easily.

Usually, you should defrag your PC at least once a week. People often use the Windows built-in defraggler and manually run defrag every time they need. If you think it’s time-consuming, you can also enable schedule defrag after which the defraggler will defrag your PC daily, weekly, or monthly.

How to fix schedule defrag not working?

To keep your PC healthy, it’s so important to run defragmentation on a regular basis. So, enabling schedule defrag or auto defrag becomes the best option. However, some people complain that schedule defrag doesn’t work normally. For example, people who use Task Scheduler says Windows 7 defraggler doesn’t work although they’re able to open up Task Scheduler normally; or people who use other Windows versions find that the defraggler just doesn’t automatically run at the time they set.

How to fix disk defragmenter schedule not working? Here’re some best solutions that are most likely to resolve it as follows. But before proceeding, please make sure that the disks you defrag are over fragmented and they’re not SSDs for SSDs can’t be detected by the Windows built-in defraggler.

Solution 1. Check whether Task Scheduler is enabled

If you previously used Windows Task Scheduler to schedule disk defrag but it doesn’t work, you’re supposed to check whether Task Schedule is enabled by following the step-by-step guide.

1. In the search box on the lower left of the desktop, type “control panel” and open it from the result.

2. In the search box on the upper right, type “administrative tools” and select it.

3. Click on “Services” and then, scroll down to “Task Scheduler”, if it’s disabled, double-click on it and a new window will pop up with a dropdown menu. Now, enable it.

Solution 2. Check antivirus programs

If you’re the Windows defraggler won’t schedule defrag our PC, the problem might be your antivirus apps.

Some antivirus apps may interfere with Windows components and prevent apps such as the defraggler from running.

To fix the issue, you’d better check your antivirus config and try disabling features that might interfere with the defraggler.

If it still doesn’t work, you might as well try disabling the antivirus app entirely or just remove it completely from your PC and check whether it resolves the issue.

Solution 3. Make sure other apps are running

If you encounter the issue of disk defragmenter schedule not working, you might as well shut down all third-party apps in Task Manager because some apps may interfere with the Windows defraggler.

1. Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to launch Task Manager.

2. When it starts, go to the Process tab, locate the third-party app you want to shut down, right-click on it and select “End task” from the dropdown menu.

3. Repeat the previous steps until all running apps are ended.

Solution 4. Remove all conditions that start/stop defrag

Some people also claim that they resolved the issue by removing all conditions for starting/stopping the process.

1. Follow the path Control Panel > Administrative Tools >Task Scheduler.

2. Task Scheduler (Local) > Task Scheduler Library > Microsoft > Windows > Defrag. Right-click on the first item and Properties.

3. Uncheck everything in the ScheduledDefrag Properties window.

Solution 5. Try a third-party alternative for defrag schedule

When none of the 4 solutions work and disk defragmenter schedule still doesn’t work, you might as well turn to some third-party utilities for help. Here, I recommend AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional – a powerful versatile app – that’s able to schedule defrag your hard drives daily, weekly, or monthly. Also, you can decide at which clock to defrag and whether to defrag at startup or logon. Besides disk defrag, this software allows for other useful features including SSD 4K alignment, SSD secure erase, and partition health check.

To resolve Windows disk defragmenter task scheduler not running, try the best disk manager program as an alternative.

Step 1. Install and run AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional. Right-click the disk, and choose “Disk Defrag”.

Step 2. In the popup window, click on “Schedule”.

Step 3. Now, you can preset daily, weekly, monthly defrag or decide on what conditions to run defrag.

Also, you can preset whether to defrag during startup or logon.

Conclusion

How to resolve disk defragmenter schedule not working and how do I set disk defragmentation to run on a schedule? In the contents above, first, 4 basic solutions are provided. And if none of them work, you might as well turn to the fifth one – applying a more powerful alternative defragmenter – AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional which provides more options for schedule defrag. If you want to defrag or schedule defrag a Server PC, you can try the Server edition.