A situation often happens when it is impossible to disconnect the USB flash drive from the computer in safe mode. When disconnected, a window appears with information that the device is still in use. You can disconnect the USB flash drive only after closing all programs that use your USB flash drive.

And how to find such programs due to which the flash drive cannot be safely removed? At my last job, I often had cases when I seemed to have finished working with a flash drive, closed all the files, and when it was turned off, it still wrote that the device was still in use. My nerves were not enough and I just disconnected the USB flash drive from the USB port. But having destroyed several flash drives in this way, I decided to think about how to figure out what exactly the flash drive is doing at the moment of shutdown.

This is actually the message that appears when you want to disable a USB flash drive that is used by some program, or a file is opened from it

The device is still in use. Quit all programs and close any windows that might be using this device, then try again.

Fortunately, good programmers have written a special program with which you can calculate what kind of process or file "holds" the USB flash drive and does not allow you to turn it off.

This program is called Dev eject... Its essence is to find the process that is currently occupying your USB flash drive, you can disable this process from the program and then safely remove the USB flash drive.

After installation, run the program and select your USB flash drive

Now click “ Eject”To safely disconnect the flash drive, if the flash drive is busy with some program, a similar window will appear:

As you can see, this window shows the process that is currently using the USB flash drive. In my case, this is an image viewer. I forgot to close the picture, which is on the flash drive. In order not to look for where you have this picture open, just right-click on the process and select “ Kill process”

After disabling the process, close the window and click “ Eject“, Now the flash drive can be unmounted without any problems.

Simply unplugging the USB device from the port while the computer is on can be a hassle. There is a risk of losing files, disrupting the operation of applications, or even the entire operating system. But safely removing devices doesn't always work.

Most often, this is not a problem: just click on the Safely Remove Hardware icon in the notification area (system tray) and select the desired drive. As soon as a message appears stating that the device can be safely removed (Safe To Remove Hardware), the disk can be disconnected.

But sometimes Windows instead announces that the device is still in use (This device is currently in use) - without specifying, however, by which process. And without this information, solving the problem is not easy.

For starters, you can try to act at random. Close all Windows Explorer windows and any programs that might be using files from the disk, and then try to safely eject it again.

If it does not help, you can simply turn off the computer - not to put it to sleep, but to turn it off completely. It always helps, but it is time consuming and disruptive.

There is also an easier way: log out, log back in, and try again to safely remove the device. This is faster than a complete shutdown and shutdown, and the problematic process is likely to end when you log out. However, such manipulations also take a lot of time.

This is why I prefer. The utility allows you not only to delete files that are not deleted by Windows tools, but also frees up the drives connected to the computer. The program is completely free, although users are encouraged to donate $ 5 for its development.

Download and install the utility, and the next time Windows announces that "the device is still in use," right-click on the disk and select "Unlocker". The program will tell you which processes are causing the problem and suggest options for solving it. Unlocker can interrupt all processes, but there is a risk of disrupting the normal operation of Windows. In addition, the utility can try to free files without interrupting the processes that are using them.

I, however, prefer to do it on my own. Once you figure out which process is causing the problem, it's easy to guess which application needs to be closed - the process and program names are usually the same. So you can simply terminate the problematic application manually, save all the files, and then use the Safely Remove Hardware feature.

In Microsoft operating systems: Windows XP, Win 7 and Win 8, there is an option to safely or securely remove the device. It is customary to use it when you have already completed work with any USB drive, flash drive or external hard drive, and you need to disconnect it, without harming your computer and media. But there are times when (bottom function line of Windows).
In such a situation, many simply pull out the drive, but this is a fundamentally wrong decision, it is important to achieve the return of the missing "safe removal" icon, and how to do this, you will now find out

Please note: If you take into account any media devices, such as smartphones or cameras, when they are connected to a computer, Windows may not show the safe removal icon at all. This is due to the fact that in order to properly disconnect such media, you need to either turn it off (cameras) or manipulate it on its display (in the case of a tablet or phone), that is, safe removal of the usb device is carried out on it itself.

So, in order to safely remove the device in Windows 7, Win8 or WinXP versions, you rush the cursor to the eminent icon in the lower right corner of the screen and right-click on it, selecting the desired media. You need to do such manipulations because in this way you make it clear to the operating system that the work with the media is over and you are going to safely remove the USB flash drive. In this case, all operations with this device are completed and the risk of losing information disappears, and often even the power supply of your flash drive or hard disk stops. As a result, they cannot be used.

If you do not use the option to safely remove the device, remove the USB flash drive from the laptop, the flash drive will simply burn out or the information that you recorded on it will be damaged. Remember to safely remove the USB stick! Of course, this really rarely happens, but there is always a certain risk. If the flash drive cannot be safely removed, then read on.

How to get the Safely Remove Hardware icon back

A problem when removing a USB storage device, associated with the loss of the corresponding secure removal icon, if the USB flash drive is inserted into the connector and functions correctly, happens. In such situations, do not despair, because there are a number of actions to solve this problem. Can't safely remove the USB flash drive?

fig. 1. The first thing you can fix is ​​to call the address bar with the simplest keyboard shortcut "Win + R"

And in the line of the window that appears, write the following combination of symbols: RunDll32.exe shell32.dll, Control_RunDLL hotplug.dll

Note: In order not to be mistaken, it is enough to copy the above line.

This directory is applicable to Windows XP, 7, and 8.

fig. 2. By clicking the "OK" button, a window will pop up, which is what is required

This dialog is the full version of the little plaque that will appear after you click on the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon in the taskbar, so all connected media will be displayed here. You can easily select a USB flash drive or hard drive that should be disconnected by highlighting it with one click and clicking the "Stop" button.

After doing all the manipulations described above and successfully (correctly) disconnecting the USB drive, if the “safe removal of device” icon on the panel has disappeared before, the desired icon will return to its rightful place, in the corner of the screen near the clock.

If the coveted icon still continues to disappear from the corner with the clock and the volume mixer, do the following:

1. Make a right click on the mouse (RMB) on the desktop and find the "New" function, and then "Shortcut" in the menu that appears.
2. Copy the command that was mentioned earlier into the opened window.
3. Now, by clicking the "Next" button at the bottom of the window, you can name the shortcut whatever you like. Thus, you will have a constant opportunity to quickly safely remove the flash drive and be sure that everything is in order with the drive.

Another way to safely remove a device in Windows

It is possible to safely remove the USB flash drive from the computer with the missing icon of the same name with another simple method, which we will divide into two points to simplify perception:

You are required to go to "My Computer" and right-click on the media that you are going to disconnect. Now, select the "Properties" function and open the "Hardware" tab in the window that appears.

fig. 1. Now you just need to select the media you need to remove, click on "Properties" and activate the "Change parameters" option in the window that just pop up

• In the dialog box shown in the screenshot below, open the Policy tab. It is here that the line we need flaunts in highlighted font.

fig. 2. By clicking on the highlighted text, you can correctly remove the USB flash drive or other USB drive from the computer

Thus, if safe removal of the device does not work for you in Windows 7 or another version of the operating system, you can always overcome this problem by following the very simple instructions outlined in this text.

WATCH THE VIDEO

For some reason, many believe that it is very important to use the "Safely Remove Hardware" feature before removing flash drives from the USB port. With older operating systems, this is required in order to avoid damage to the flash memory. However, operating systems have evolved, and the Safely Remove Hardware feature has remained a formality.

In fact, there is nothing wrong with disconnecting the USB stick without using the aforementioned dialog box, although you should not do this during data transfer. Modern operating systems even allow you to activate the option to quickly eject USB devices. In this article, I will show you how to do it.

Step 1: Open Device Manager by typing "Device Manager" into the search box on the Start menu.

Step 2: Once the Device Manager window opens, select and expand Disk Devices from the list. This will allow you to see all internal and external drives. The name of USB devices will always contain the word “USB”.

Step 3: Select the device for which you want to disable Safely Remove Required. Double click on it and go to the "Policy" tab, where you will be presented with two options - quick removal and optimize for execution. In the second case, you will have to use the "Safely Remove Hardware" option.

However, don't assume that disabling optimization will make your flash drive slower. Testing has shown that in both cases the performance is almost identical. Select "Quick Uninstall" and click OK.

You should now be able to unplug your USB flash drive without having to go through the safe eject process.

Have a great day!