Safely Remove Hardware problem in Windows XP

[mad3963]

I am having a problem with the Safely Remove Hardware applet in Windows XP. It cannot stop any USB device I connect to my PC. Whether it be a Flash Drive, my Firefly portable hard drive or my WD My Book external hard drive. It always says the device cannot be stopped. I can restart the PC and try stopping the device again and it still says the device cannot be stopped.

I have also tried using a similar application called USB Safely Remove and it does the same thing. This app is supposed to display any processes that may have the device locked, but it always says none were found. It is clearly an issue with Windows XP and not the applications. Also, I have tried these devices on other Windows XP machines and have no problems on them.

Any advice/suggestions?

[Luis S]

Hello mad3963.

You should try Restarting the Explorer shell and then try to remove the USB Device

[Cimperiali]

some tricks:

Right-click the notification area, and select Properties.
Under the Notification area heading on Taskbar tab, check Hide inactive icons, then click Customize button.
Find and select Safely Remove Hardware icon and select Always show
in the dropdown below the Behavior column next to it.
Click OK and Apply.
Uncheck Hide inactive icons.

start->run->cmd, then use this command inside it:
%SystemRoot%\System32\RUNDLL32.EXE shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL
this will bring up the (safely) remove hardware dialog (the one taht appears when you right click on the icon in tray and choose the only voice <<remove hardware>>there in the popup. You coukd also create a shortcut with this command to keep on the desktop...

Do you have an USB Printer (or similar device)? Seems as if it can be part of the matter:

I have now determined that this problem on my system is related to my HP Printer which uses the USP port. After unplugging it and 2 reboots the “Safely Remove Hardware” icon appears and stays, as long as a USB device is plugged in. Once I plug my printer back up the problem starts again. Yes, I have downloaded the latest device driver from HP and it has not helped.