error message when attempting to defrag.

[luckygohappy]

Hey all, I was hoping someone out there might know the solution to this little problem Im having. Its been a while (1 year+) since Ive defragged my hard drive. I attempted to run a defrag this morning and this error message pops up. "MMC cannot open the file C:/windows/system32/dfrg.msc.

This may be because the file does not exist, is not an MMC console, or was created by a later version of MMC. This may also be because you do not have sufficient access rights to the file."

Now I am the administrator on this computer and Im not really sure what changed in the last year, but Ive never experienced this problem before. Any suggestions?

Thanks for your help.

[midsail]

Hello Happygolucky

U might want to check if the system tools r loaded. Also make sure u have at a min 15% HDD free. u can also foloow this link for some free SW for degrag.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_defragmentation_software

[patio]

A year is quite some time to go without defrag...
However the MMC error may be an indicator of other issues.
How much free space is on this drive ? ?
To find out right click the C: drive in My Computer and select Properties...
Report back with Total drive space and Free drive space...
Meanwhile i would try running it in safemode.

[luckygohappy]

thanks for the replies,  I have 140gigs of free space in my hard drive. Which is alot of free space. never thought of trying to do it in safe mode, maybe Ill give that a shot although all virus scans and spyware scans come back negative. total drive space is 224 gigs.

[Broni]

Go Start>Run, type in:
regsvr32 /u msxml3.dll
Click OK.

Type in:
regsvr32 msxml3.dll
Click OK.

Restart computer.

[luckygohappy]

Ok, I gave the previous posters suggestion a try. I clicked start>run and typed in exactly what you told me to and both things succeeded. I restarted my computer and tried to defrag, still same error message. But thank you for your suggestion, I may end up having to bring her in to the computer shop =(

[Broni]

I'd like to see, if the problem is contained  to dfrg.msc snap-in only.
Go Start>Run, and type in:
devmgmt.msc
Click OK.
Does Device Manager open?

[luckygohappy]

yes, device manager does indeed open

[Broni]

Go Start>Run ("Start Search" in Vista), type in:
sfc /scannow
Click OK (hit Enter in Vista).
Have Windows CD/DVD handy.
If System File Checker (sfc) will find any errors, it may ask you for the CD/DVD.
If sfc won't find any errors in Windows XP, it'll simply quit, without any message.
In Vista you will receive the following message: "Windows resource protection did not find any integrity violations".

For Vista users ONLY: Navigate to C:\Windows\Logs\CBS folder. You'll see CBS.log file.
Usually, it's pretty big file, so upload it here: http://www.filedropper.com/, and post download link.


If you don't have Windows CD....
(this applies mostly to Windows XP, since Vista rarely requires use of its DVD while running "sfc")
Note This method will not necessarily work as well, as when using Windows CD, because not always ALL system files are backed up on your hard drive. Also, backed up files may be corrupted as well.

Go Start>Run, type in:
regedit
Click OK.

Navigate to the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup

You will see various entries (Values) on the right hand side.

The one we want is called: SourcePath

It probably has an entry pointing to your CD-ROM drive,(usually D:) and that is why it is asking for the XP CD. All we need to do is change it to: C:
Now, double click the SourcePatch setting and a new box will pop up.
Change the drive letter from your CD drive to your root drive, usually C:
Close Registry Editor.

Now restart your computer and try sfc /scannow again!

[luckygohappy]

I followed all the steps for not having a cd available, and it still wants me to insert a cd, which I cant for the life of me, find. Any other suggestions? thanks for your time=)

[Broni]

That means, sfc found some errors.
You may try to borrow Windows CD to run sfc again.

[luckygohappy]

ok, thanks for your help!