How to Run Disk Defragment as Administrator on Windows 11?

Disk defragmentation is a crucial tool which allows users to reorganizing data on a hard disk drive (HDD) to make it easier for the drive to read and this tool also helps you to optimize your pc drives and which will helps your device to perform faster. Over time, as files are added, deleted, and modified, your hard drive can become fragmented and slowing down data retrieval and overall system performance.

To Manually Defragment your Hard Drive: 

• Choose the Search bar on the taskbar and enter defrag.
• Choose Defragment and Optimize Drives from the list of results.
• Then you need to Choose the drive you want to work with.
• Finally you to choose the analyze to check the drive, or select Optimize to run optimization.

Note: I will not recommend using Disk Defragment for re-organising data in SSD.

Running Disk Defragmenter with administrative privileges ensures that all necessary system files and sensitive data are properly defragmented. In this tutorial, I’ve added the multiple ways to open and run Disk Defragment as Administrator in windows 11 pc.

Different ways to run Disk Defragment with Administrator Privileges on Windows 11

1. Simple way to use the Start menu and open Disk Defragment with Elevated Privileges.
2. Use the Run Command and open Disk Defragment with Elevated Permissions.
3. Create a New Task to run Disk Defragment as Administrator using the Task Manager.
4. Always open Disk Defragment as Administrator by creating a dedicated Desktop Shortcut.
5. Open CMD or Windows PowerShell with Elevated Privileges and then open Disk Defragment.

IMPORTANT: Running applications as an administrator grants elevated privileges that can significantly affect your system. Please use caution when doing so, as it can lead to Unintended System Modifications, Security Vulnerabilities, Accidental Data Loss, Unauthorized Access, Irreversible Changes, etc.

How to Run Disk Defragment as Administrator on Windows 11 using the Start menu?

This is the simplest way to open this app on Windows 11 with Elevated Privileges. The following are the steps.

• Go to the Start menu, and search for Disk Defragment or Optimize Drives. You can also use the shortcut WinKey + S to access the Start menu search bar.

• Right-click on the App and click Run as Administrator.
• The User Account Control will confirm and then open Disk Defragment and Optimize Drives with Administrative Privileges on Windows 11.

Use the Run Command and Open Disk Defragment & Optimize Drives as Administrator on Windows 11

• Go to The Run Command. You can either use the Start menu or you can just use the key combination WinKey + R.
• In the Run Command, type the following command dfrgui and press CTRL + SHIFT + ENTER.

• The system will prompt for confirmation and open Disk Defragment and Optimize Drives as Administrator.

Run New Task to open Disk Defragment with Adminitrator Privileges using the Task Manager

• Right-click on the Taskbar and click Task Manager. You can also use the shortcut CTRL + SHIFT + ESC. This combination will open Task Manager directly.

• In the Task Manager, under Processes, click on Run New Task. Create New Task dialog will pop up now.

• Type the command dfrgui and enable the checkbox “Create this Task with Administrative Privileges“. Finally, click OK.

Create a Desktop Shortcut and always Run Disk Defragment as Administrator on Windows 11

We will create a dedicated Desktop Shortcut for Disk Defragment and Optimize Drives and set it to run with Administrative Privileges.

• Right-click on the Empty space of the Desktop, and click New > Shortcut.

• The Create Shortcut dialog box will open now. In “Type the Location of the Item“, enter the command C:\WINDOWS\system32\dfrgui.exe and click Next.

• The system will assign the shortcut name dfrgui. Kindly change it to Disk Defragment. Finally, click Finish.

• Disk Defragment and Optimize Drives Desktop Shortcut will be created.

• Right-click on the Shortcut and click on Properties.

• Disk Defragment Properties will open now. Click Advanced.

• In Advanced Properties, make sure to enable the checkbox “Run as Administrator“. Finally, click OK, and then Apply.

• This option allows you to run this shortcut as an administrator, while protecting your computer from unathorized activity.

Open Command Prompt or Windows PowerShell with Administrative Privileges & Run Disk Defragment

This is quite an indirect way, however, you are using CMD or PowerShell frequently, this method can be time-saving. For this article, we will use the Command Prompt. You can also use Windows PowerShell and follow the same method.

• Go to the Run Command using the shortcut WinKey + R.
• Type cmd (For Windows PowerShell, use the command powershell), and press CTRL + SHIFT + ENTER.

• This will prompt the system to execute this command with Administrative Privileges. In the Command Prompt, execute the following command. dfrgui

• Now, Disk Defragment and Optimize Drives will open with Elevated Permissions.

Kindly be Cautious while Running an App as Administrator

Running Disk Defragment as Administrator on Windows 11 grants it elevated privileges, which can potentially bypass system security restrictions. Please proceed with care and only run trusted applications in this mode. At Winsides.com, we advise our users to use Administrator privileges only when absolutely necessary to perform tasks requiring elevated rights. Misuse of administrative privileges may lead to System Vulnerabilities, Data Loss, System Instability, Security Concerns, Irreversible Changes, etc.

Take away: