Cannot stop flash drive

[Sanford Aranoff]

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.

 

[Sunny]

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)

 

[Sanford Aranoff]

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!

 

[Paul]

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/sysinternals/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

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

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)?

 

[RMD]

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

 

[Sanford Aranoff]

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.

 

[Guest]

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