Defragment Drives (dfrgui.exe) won't start after 1703 Update

Here is a bit of additional information. I've updated to KB4022716 (OS Build 15063.447) from the update catalog -- no help

Here are a couple of diagnostic on what I get from the command line, dfrgui -- nothing, defrag -- OK:


PS C:\Users\david> dfrgui
PS C:\Users\david> write-host $?
True

PS C:\Users\david> dfrgui /?
PS C:\Users\david> dfrgui c:

PS C:\Users\david> defrag /?
Microsoft Drive Optimizer
Copyright (c) 2013 Microsoft Corp.

Description:

Optimizes and defragments files on local volumes to
improve system performance.

<snip>

I have also created a new User Account to eliminate anything in my user account being involved. It makes no difference. dfrgui.exe does not work under the new user either.

This is more a curiosity now since update to (OS Build 15063.447) left me unable to restore the anniversary 1607 files. The crux of the question is what in the 1703 update broke dfrgui.exe? What does it take to fix it? Since defrag.exe still works, the scheduled task will run, but without dfrgui.exe I've lost the interface to command an unscheduled trim through the Windows Administrative Tools -> Defragment and Optimize menu item. Any further suggestions would be welcome.

Unfortunately, I cannot say what is happening in your system but in my two Windows 10 Pro x64 1703 15063.447, Optimize works as it should.

pbcopter said:

Unfortunately, I cannot say what is happening in your system but in my two Windows 10 Pro x64 1703 15063.447, Optimize works as it should.

Thank you for your feedback, that is a good reference point. I also created a new User Account to eliminate the possibility that there was something in my account to blame -- it makes no difference, dfrgui.exe does nothing. I'm also posted to the answers.microsoft site and there is no quick answer, but within a couple of hours the question was marked as "I have this question too"', so apparently I'm not alone. I have determined that dfrgui is exiting without an error, e.g.

PS C:\Users\david> dfrgui
PS C:\Users\david> write-host $?
True
So it appears to be a bug related to what it sees in my system. (HP 8760w Elitebook Pro w/128G SSD primary for windows and 1T WD Black as 2nd drive MBR w/ext4 partitions)

We will see if some others may have a deeper insight as we go along.

Running sfc / scannow from an admin command prompt to check /repair system files is worth a try. I don''t see a service on my PCs related to defrag?

I recall that when trying BitDefender free AV I was unable to run disk defrag anymore on one of my PCs. Are you using a different AV than Windows Defender?

I have never had any 3rd party anti-virus or malware tool. Windows Defender is the only tool installed. This is just a basic windows 10 pro install on an HP 8760w Elitebook that is used very little.

In further effort to run the problem down, I created a kernel trace of the attempt to start dfrgui.exe with a short batch file:

Code:

logman start "NT Kernel Logger" -p "Windows Kernel Trace" (process,thread,img,disk,net,registry) -o systemevents.etl -ets
dfrgui.exe
logman stop "NT Kernel Logger" -ets

I then processed the event file, systemevents.etl, (5.5M) with tracerpt systemevents.etl which created a huge 46M dumpfile.xml. I have reviewed the dumpfile and paired it down to the starting and ending events related to dfrgui.exe (which thankfully is only 428K). However, I'm no wizard in interpreting window kernel tracing. Both files are too large to use here, but I can make them available if they will help.

The one set of event data that stood out was:

Code:

 <EventData>
   <Data Name="UniqueProcessKey">0xFFFFA008A692A2C0</Data>
   <Data Name="ProcessId">0xFCC</Data>
   <Data Name="ParentId">0x25F8</Data>
   <Data Name="SessionId">       1</Data>
   <Data Name="ExitStatus">259</Data>
   <Data Name="DirectoryTableBase">0x1EAF8A000</Data>
   <Data Name="Flags">       0</Data>
   <Data Name="UserSID">\\ELITE\david</Data>
   <Data Name="ImageFileName">dfrgui.exe</Data>
   <Data Name="CommandLine">dfrgui.exe</Data>
   <Data Name="PackageFullName"></Data>
   <Data Name="ApplicationId"></Data>
  </EventData>

Looking, I guess the next event is as important as it relates to processing the error:

Code:

<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
  <System>
   <Provider Guid="{9e814aad-3204-11d2-9a82-006008a86939}" />
   <EventID>0</EventID>
   <Version>3</Version>
   <Level>0</Level>
   <Task>0</Task>
   <Opcode>1</Opcode>
   <Keywords>0x0</Keywords>
   <TimeCreated SystemTime="2017-07-02T00:16:57.024179100-0500" />
   <Correlation ActivityID="{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}" />
   <Execution ProcessID="9720" ThreadID="11156" ProcessorID="2" KernelTime="45" UserTime="15" />
   <Channel />
   <Computer />
  </System>
  <ProcessingErrorData>
   <ErrorCode>15005</ErrorCode>
   <DataItemName />   <EventPayload>CC0F0000082800000040659081D9FFFF00E0649081D9FFFF0000C8987A00000000E0C7987A0000000F000000000000008020DDE7F77F000000B0B8987A00000000000000080502000000</EventPayload>
  </ProcessingErrorData>
  <RenderingInfo Culture="en-US">
   <Opcode>Start</Opcode>
   <Provider>MSNT_SystemTrace</Provider>
   <EventName xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/200...ead</EventName>
  </RenderingInfo>
  <ExtendedTracingInfo xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/trace">
   <EventGuid>{3d6fa8d1-fe05-11d0-9dda-00c04fd7ba7c}</EventGuid>
  </ExtendedTracingInfo>
 </Event>

The 15005 error code being:

ERROR_EVT_INVALID_EVENT_DATA15005 (0x3A9D)
The event data raised by the publisher is not compatible with the event template definition in the publisher's manifest.
(according to: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/lib...(v=vs.85).aspx)

It's pretty much Greek to me, but some of you smart folks here may be able to decode the information. Let me know if there are further parts that may be helpful.

Ahah! I found the problem!

For some reason unexplained (perhaps a cosmic string was tweaked wrong on 1703 install, or just gremlins) the "Optimize drives" service startup was "Disabled". Don't ask me how or why...

Basically snooping though TaskMgr services led me to 'defragsvc' which I then rt-clicked to "open in Services". I then found 'defragsvc' was actually renamed "Optimize drives". Checking properties, I found it disabled (which I changed to 'Manual') and viola! Clicking on Defragment and Optimize Drives in the start menu works as it should.

4 days of headache over a darn app that won't tell you "Hey I'm a Disabled Service" when you invoke it from the command line....

Now the question to the MS devs is what the heck caused this to be set to disabled during 1703 update??

drankinatty said:

Ahah! I found the problem!

For some reason unexplained (perhaps a cosmic string was tweaked wrong on 1703 install, or just gremlins) the "Optimize drives" service startup was "Disabled". Don't ask me how or why...

Basically snooping though TaskMgr services led me to 'defragsvc' which I then rt-clicked to "open in Services". I then found 'defragsvc' was actually renamed "Optimize drives". Checking properties, I found it disabled (which I changed to 'Manual') and viola! Clicking on Defragment and Optimize Drives in the start menu works as it should.

4 days of headache over a darn app that won't tell you "Hey I'm a Disabled Service" when you invoke it from the command line....

Now the question to the MS devs is what the heck caused this to be set to disabled during 1703 update??

Yesssss. this finally worked!!!!