Windows 10: Safe removal of usb drive

How do you safely remove usb drive from computer on Window 10?

:)

 

help. USB drive isn't assigned a drive letter.

Any usb flash drive I plug into my computer isn't assigned a drive letter. The physical drive shows in the "safely remove hardware" but it doesnt show up in disk management. I have tried to populate the volume thru the safely remove hardware properties window and it does pop up in the list but it doesn't stay there. This isn't a format or assign a letter problem. It's more complicated then that. Maybe one of the services needed for usb drive management was disabled? Suggestions needed. btw external usb harddrives work fine.

 

USB Drives plugged in but No Safely Remove Icon in Tray, and


....no drives listed in Hardware List.

When I plug USB drives in, the Safely Remove Hardware icon does not appear in in system tray (its not hidden either)

First, I went to Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Select which Icons Appear on the Taskbar...





.. and found it was already on

Next I tried using the solution in this post...

Solved No safely remove icon in tray any more after Windows 10 Anniversary up - Windows 10 Forums

...making a shortcut from "rundll32 shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL hotplug.dll", but when I run the shortcut, there are no devices listed...





(in this screenshot, you can see two USB drives in the Explorer window in the BG but nothing listed in the panel. )

NOTE: They are listed in Disk Management and in the Device Manager under Disk Drives, and they function just fine..
I think the Safely Remove Hardware icon is not appearing because despite being detected and showing in Explorer, Device Manager and Disk Management, its not being listed in this panel for some reason.


NOTE2: I recently installed a new motherboard.

ASUS B150M-A
CPU Intel Core i5 - 6500 (3.2 GHz)
Mem 4096 MB (DDR4 - 2133)

I am 100% sure it was working before that, but I cannot say for sure if it was still working after that.
A friend suggested that it might be a setting in BIOS, but I have looked through it and nothing stands out.

Any suggestions would be welcome.


ETA: this is not the system listed in my System Specs page. That is another computer which I still have.

 

USB Safe Remove Icon missing

Thankyou for your prompt reply. Carried the step by step instructions as far as Item 5. Interestingly the Safe remove icon was turned on. Toggled the on/off button and left it in the off position then rebooted with the intention to clear anything that
may have prevented the icon showing up. With bootup complete the Safe remove icon is now visible in the Hidden icon box and is active when tested.

After bootup proceeded as per instruction No 5 to see if Safe remove icon button is in the ON position. NEGATIVE. It is in the OFF position and seemingly works fine.

Hi you won't normally see the safely remove icon unless there is a usb device attached. Then it should show up so you can safely remove the device. If you dont see it click the up symbol on right hand side of taskbar to see if it is hiding in the tray. The
minute you insert a usb device it should be visible to you. If you have already done step 3 and step 4 that is all you should need to do to have it pop up automatically when usb device is present. It will disappear when the device is removed. Normal behavior
for you. Hope that clarifies.