PageDefrag: Does not work with Windows 7

PageDefrag is a useful utility from SysInternals, now owned by Microsoft, that can defragment the page file (C:\pagefile.sys), registry hives, log files and the hibernation file (C:\hiberfil.sys). Typically these files cannot be defragmented  while Windows is running since they are open for use. PageDefrag would schedule a defragmentation of these files during Windows boot time. This utility has been working well for me with Windows XP for many years now.

PageDefrag now seems to be useless with Windows 7. The PageDefrag dialog shows an empty list, where as it should have listed the above files. And if scheduled for boot time defragmentation, it gives a “page file not found” message. Thankfully, there are no error messages on Windows 7. Vista users have seen errors. I do not see any updates to PageDefrag since its last release in 2006 and it has been many years now since Vista was released. I guess it is RIP for PageDefrag on Vista/Windows 7 then! ☹

Update: Mark Russinovich confirms that PageDefrag works only on the x86 editions of Windows XP and Server 2003. This note can be found on page 345 of the Windows Sysinternals Administrators Reference.