Why cannot I stop the flash drive? Why do I have to reboot
in order to remove the flash drive? It was working fine
before when I could stop it. There are no programs accessing
it.
Win XP SP 3.

"Sanford Aranoff" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Why cannot I stop the flash drive? Why do I have to reboot
> in order to remove the flash drive? It was working fine
> before when I could stop it. There are no programs accessing
> it.
> Win XP SP 3.

In Windows Explorer, right click on the drive and select "Eject"
Works for me (WinXP SP3)

Sunny wrote:
>
> "Sanford Aranoff" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> > Why cannot I stop the flash drive? Why do I have to reboot
> > in order to remove the flash drive? It was working fine
> > before when I could stop it. There are no programs accessing
> > it.
> > Win XP SP 3.
>
> In Windows Explorer, right click on the drive and select "Eject"
> Works for me (WinXP SP3)

Removal disk is currently in use... IT is not in use!

Sanford Aranoff wrote:
> Sunny wrote:
>> "Sanford Aranoff" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>>> Why cannot I stop the flash drive? Why do I have to reboot
>>> in order to remove the flash drive? It was working fine
>>> before when I could stop it. There are no programs accessing
>>> it.
>>> Win XP SP 3.
>> In Windows Explorer, right click on the drive and select "Eject"
>> Works for me (WinXP SP3)
>
> Removal disk is currently in use... IT is not in use!

I checked Wikipedia, and they suggested Process Explorer from Sysinternals.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-ca/s.../bb896653.aspx

Unzip the download, then double click "procexp.exe".

At the top of the window, you'll see Find : Find Handle or DLL.
Select it. For your first test, enter "C:" in the search box.
That will search for all handles that are accessing your C:
partition. There should be a long list. The "System"
will be attached to pagefile and hiberfil, as two examples.

Now, do a second search. Check first, to see what drive letter your
flash drive is using. Then, enter it as the volume to search for.
If you're lucky, that may give you a process which is accessing
the flash drive.

For example, I just opened an Explorer window to look at the contents
of G:, my flash drive. Then, I used the Find : Find Handle or DLL function
on Procexp, and this is what it shows --

Process PID Type Handle or DLL

Explorer.EXE 340 Handle G:\

So that tells me that the "Explorer.EXE" process is looking at my
G: flash drive.

Anything which keeps the flash drive "busy" and cannot be stopped,
would be a reason why the drive cannot be released.

Paul

Is the computer fully-patched at Windows Update?

What anti-virus application or security suite is installed and is your
subscription current? What anti-spyware applications (other than Defender)?
What third-party firewall (if any)?

Has a(another) Norton or McAfee application ever been installed on the
computer (e.g., a free-trial version that came preinstalled when you bought
it)?


Sanford Aranoff wrote:
> Why cannot I stop the flash drive? Why do I have to reboot
> in order to remove the flash drive? It was working fine
> before when I could stop it. There are no programs accessing
> it.
> Win XP SP 3.

On Sun, 18 Jul 2010 18:03:18 -0400, Sanford Aranoff
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Why cannot I stop the flash drive? Why do I have to reboot
>in order to remove the flash drive? It was working fine
>before when I could stop it. There are no programs accessing
>it.
>Win XP SP 3.


It is often things like Explorer or InCD etc are accessing the drive
and preventing it from ejecting etc.

I installed "Unlocker", which will unlock these processes stopping the
drive from ejecting.

http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/

Ross

RMD wrote:
>
> On Sun, 18 Jul 2010 18:03:18 -0400, Sanford Aranoff
> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
> >Why cannot I stop the flash drive? Why do I have to reboot
> >in order to remove the flash drive? It was working fine
> >before when I could stop it. There are no programs accessing
> >it.
> >Win XP SP 3.
>
> It is often things like Explorer or InCD etc are accessing the drive
> and preventing it from ejecting etc.
>
> I installed "Unlocker", which will unlock these processes stopping the
> drive from ejecting.
>
> http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/
>
> Ross

I rebooted, removed the flash drive, rebooted again, and now
it is fine.
Using ProcessExplorer, I do not know what was accessing the
drive. Now that it is fine, I will not be able to find out
what happened. Strange.

"Sanford Aranoff" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> RMD wrote:
>>
>> On Sun, 18 Jul 2010 18:03:18 -0400, Sanford Aranoff
>> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>>
>> >Why cannot I stop the flash drive? Why do I have to reboot
>> >in order to remove the flash drive? It was working fine
>> >before when I could stop it. There are no programs accessing
>> >it.
>> >Win XP SP 3.
>>
>> It is often things like Explorer or InCD etc are accessing the drive
>> and preventing it from ejecting etc.
>>
>> I installed "Unlocker", which will unlock these processes stopping the
>> drive from ejecting.
>>
>> http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/
>>
>> Ross
>
> I rebooted, removed the flash drive, rebooted again, and now
> it is fine.
> Using ProcessExplorer, I do not know what was accessing the
> drive. Now that it is fine, I will not be able to find out
> what happened. Strange.

In most cases all that is happening when you can't stop a drive is that you
have left a file that is on it highlighted in Explorer. Just open a file
that is on a different drive and you will then be able to stop the other
one.

USBDeview is a handy tool for seeing all the usb stuff you have on one
screen and seeing whether it is ok to stop and unplug/uninstall.

S