Windows 10: Safely remove hardware tray icon refuses to eject USB media

I can no longer eject a USB key drive from my computer using the "Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media" tray icon. I don't know what version or patch level this started with, as I haven't used the tray icon since the last time I made recovery sticks.


Yesterday, I made a new recovery stick, and could not eject it with the tray icon. It reports "Windows can't stop your 'Volume' device because a program is still using it. Close any programs that might be using the device, and then try again later." I tried it with other USB sticks, thinking the stick was faulty, none of them will eject. The eject cycle just pauses for a few seconds, and then the error message pops up.

There is no program using the device. I checked with SysInternals Procexp. I have closed Explorer. Explorer windows run in their own thread. I have gone in and killed the explorer thread running in the background. No love.


What's totally bizarre about this is I can open up Windows Explorer, right click on the device in "This PC," and choose "Eject." This immediately ejects the hardware, just like the tray icon used to.


I am running x64 Windows 10 Pro v1803, 17134.285.

:)

 

'Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media' tray icon does not inform on successful ejection

The green 'Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media' icon in the tray ejects my drives OK, but never informs about it. It's kind of annoying - one of those things that's worked for years not working now.

If you look in My Computer you can see that a device has been shut down (it disappears from the drives list) but without the feedback having to open it and check is annoying.

For ordinary flash drives, you can eject from My Computer, but for devices that emulate disks you can't - you have to use the tray icon, then you have to open or refresh My Computer to see if it was properly ejected.

Happens on Windows 10 Pro on both my Surface 3 and two laptops. Definitely a Windows 10 bug.

 

Missing Eject in "Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media" List

Hi Tze Lin Wong,

The configuration to this can be found under settings. To enable this feature follow these steps:

• Right-click the taskbar and select Taskbar settings.
  
• Under Notification Area, choose
  Select which icons appear on the taskbar.
• Scroll to Windows Explorer: Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media
  and turn it on.

If this doesn't work, I suggest that you check with your USB drive manufacturer for new drivers or other updates.

All the best.

 

Missing Eject in "Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media" List

I use to be able to eject my USB drive via "Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media" with list as below:

- Open Devices and Printers
- Eject Data Traveler 111
- USB Drive (D
- Eject My Passport Ultra
- My Passport (E

However recently the "Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media" list seems corrupted and shows:

- Open Devices and Printers
- USB Drive (D

- My Passport (E

with { - USB Drive (D } and { - My Passport (E } are grayed out.

Currently the only way for me is go to file explorer and right click the removable drive and click Eject.

Please help!