Problem Ejecting USB Mass Storage Device Fix. So, you’ve plugged in your USB device, finished your work, closed all the folders and files associated with and in the USB device, and clicked the “Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media” icon. You expected to get “Safe To Remove Hardware” notification, but instead you got…
Problem Ejecting USB Mass Storage
*!?**??!* Now what? You check again to see if you’ve closed every folder and file. Everything seems to be closed. You even open Task Manager, but you can’t find anything. You’re tempted to snatch the plug out, but you know if you do you could damage the drive. You very possibly could. Once I did, and this is why I wanted to figure it out. It’s frustrating. Of course, you could always close all your programs and files so you could shut down and unplug the thing, but who wants to do that?
One program I use causes this error every time I use the program. I searched to find something it was leaving open after closing. I never found it. It was because of this, and not wanting to shut down everything to remove the USB drive safely, I searched and found how to safely remove the USB device.
Let's Fix It
I have a quick and safe solution for Problem Ejecting USB Mass Storage. There are several videos online showing this procedure, but they never show the USB drive working properly afterward. I will show not only how to safely remove the USB drive, but will give you peace of mind knowing it will not damage your drive, nor remove the drivers from your computer.
- Right click Start (lower left Windows button) > Left click on Device Manager
- Device Manager window opens
- Scroll to bottom of Device Manager window
- Left click pointer arrow at Universal Serial Bus controllers. A list of Serial Bus controllers show
- Locate USB Mass Storage Device
- Right click Mass Storage Device
- Left click Uninstall device – a warning will appear “Warning: You are about to uninstall this device from your system.” It’s frightening I know, but I promise nothing will actually be uninstalled. Temporarily disabled would be better.
- Left click Uninstall
- The entire list in Device Manager will reload
- Notice USB Mass Storage Device is no longer in the list. (If you click the USB device icon you normally click to safely remove a USB device you will see the stubborn device is not listed.)
- You can now safely remove the USB device from your computer
- The list in Device Manager will reload again