Help! Disk defragmenter running, but GUI diappeared

[mot12345]

I started the disk defragmenter via
Start -> Programs -> Admin Tools -> Comp. Management -> Storage -> Disk
Defragmenter

This has been running for a bit (1 hour or so), while I did some very
light Web browsing and not sure what else.

Alas, then somehow the Graphic User Interface (GUI) of the defragmanter
"went away" --
it's no longer visible anywhere, no icon, nothing!

The process for the defragmenter, dfrgntfs.exe, is still running in the
Task Manager, and the disk light is on plus disk noise. When I try to
start the Disk Defragmenter via the menus as above, I get a message:
"This version of Disk Defragmenter does not support running more than
one instance."

All indications, therefore, are that defragmentation is still in
progress, and so I don't dare to forcefully interrupt.

The defrag process could take a long time, maybe even a whole day or
so, while I have no clue where I am in the process, and I can't even be
really sure what's happening.

This is unnerving!
What do you recommend I should do???

Thanks very much for any help and advice,

Wolfgang,
Santa Barbara, CA

 

[Maurice N ~ MVP]

Recommend you let it finish. Plus I'd never recommend using the pc to browse or do any task while defrag (especially the Windows built-in defrag) was running. Why......because the contents of the hard drive (data plus programs) are being re-shuffled & relocated.

Let the program finish. When you bring up Task Manager, can you highlight the program, and then click on the button "Switch to" ?
If so, that should put it back to disk defragmenter's screen.
Otherwise, you can press & hold ALT key, and the press TAB key. That would allow toggling into a running program.