Safely remove hardware

[Stuart Brown]

How do I remove an external HD without shutting my system down when the
'safely remove hardware' icon in the notification area, that I have been
using. has been moved to the past items area. I cannot find out how to
recover icons from this past items area.

Stuart Brown

 

[Nepatsfan]

How do I remove an external HD without shutting my system
down when the 'safely remove hardware' icon in the
notification area, that I have been using. has been moved to
the past items area. I cannot find out how to recover icons
from this past items area.
Stuart Brown

You might want to try the following:

Go to this web site and download the script from line 53, left
hand column, Remove Past Items From Notification Area:

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

When you run the script you will be removing all current and
past entries. This should allow the Notification area to be
repopulated with only current items.

If you find the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon disappearing from
the Notification Area on a regular basis you can use the
following workaround:

Right click on your Desktop and select New -> Shortcut from the
menu.
Copy and paste the following into the location box.

%windir%\system32\rundll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL
hotplug.dll

Hit the Next button.
Name the shortcut "Safely Remove Hardware".
Click Finish.
Right click this new shortcut and select Properties from the
menu.
On the Shortcut page, click on the "Change Icon" button.
In "Change Icon", click on the Browse button and navigate to
C:\Windows\System32\hotplug.dll.
Click on hotplug.dll and hit the Open button.
Select the top left icon.
Hit OK twice.

If you want, you can drag and drop this new shortcut to the
Quick Launch area next to your Start button.

Good luck

Nepatsfan

 

[Stuart Brown]

Thank you. That has done the trick. Why cannot XP incorporate such facility.

Thanks again

Stuart Brown

 

[Nepatsfan]

You're welcome.

Nepatsfan

Thank you. That has done the trick. Why cannot XP
incorporate such facility.
Thanks again

Stuart Brown

 

[Guest]

I have followed your instructions and now have a shortcut on my desktop named
safely remove hardware. However, when I open the shortcut it takes me to the
control panel. What have I done wrong? Help!
Stompy

 

[Nepatsfan]

It's possible that because the line wrapped, you didn't copy the entire command. My guess
is that your shortcut is missing the last component, hotplug.dll.

Right click the shortcut you created and select Properties from the menu.
Click on the Shortcut tab.
Make sure that the target box contains all three parts of this command.

%windir%\system32\rundll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL hotplug.dll

Keep in mind that there's a space between rundll32.exe and shell32.dll as well as between
RunDLL and hotplug.dll.

Good luck

Nepatsfan


In (e-mail address removed) Stompy
wrote:

 

[Guest]

You are correct. Shortcut works great now. Thanks a lot.
Stompy

 

[Nepatsfan]

You're welcome.

Nepatsfan

In (e-mail address removed) Stompy
wrote: