Windows 10: usb thumb drive ejection problem.

Just two or three days ago I started having a problem when I try to eject a Sandisk 32GB usb thumb and get the nasty li'l "device is currently in use" window. I've been using this thumb for over a year now with no problems. I haven't made any changes to the computer or to the usb drive to coincide with the onset of this issue. I typically have ejected it by clicking on it in the notification tray, when this problem arose I tried ejecting it through Windows Explorer by right-clicking on the drive in the explorer window, but now the context menu that pops up doesn't even have the eject option - which it did previously. Right now I'm turning the computer off to remove the thumb drive. Any info or assistance is appreciated.

:)

 

ejecting a usb drive in 10

Hi Walden,



I realize the inconvenience you are experiencing with accessing Safely Remove and Eject Media USB icon on the taskbar.



To assist you better, please provide us the below information:

• When you say that "not I can not get it to show up in bottom right lower", are you referring that you are not able to see the Eject USB icon under the show hidden icons?
  

I suggest you to follow the steps below to understand the system

1. Click on Search bar.

2. Then type "Select which icons appear on the taskbar" without the quotes in the search bar and click on it.

3. Turn on Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media icon.

Reply to us with the information, so that we can assist you better.



Please get back to us with an update on issue, we will be happy to help.



Thank you.

 

Windows 10 won't eject USB thumb drive

Here is a curious behaviour. I have Kaspersky anti-virus installed on this machine. When I plug in a thumb drive, Kaspersky offers to scan it but then hangs up when I give it the go-ahead. Right clicking on the thumb drive in explorer (is that what they call it these days?) and requesting a Kaspersky virus scan runs fine. This is super suspicious. I did try uninstall the greyed out hidden devices as suggested by Ztrucker but I am still getting the weird "eject" thing happening. Right click context menu, and eject does not eject the drive, it still appears in the "safely remove hardwire" icon on the toolbar...

Reinstall windows or do we think this is fixable?

 

Have to safely eject thumb drive exactly twice every time


This amounts to an annoyance only, but I thought I'd ask in case someone has a solution.
I find I always have to eject my thumb drive exactly twice.

• This happens on at least two laptops:
  • A Toshiba Satellite with Windows 10 Home 10586.545
  • An Asus X555LA also on the same build of Windows
• Most often I'm using a Cruzer SanDisk drive.
• This is when I use “Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media” from the task bar.
• It always takes exactly two tries. First time get a pop up window “Problem Ejecting USB Mass Storage Device” “Windows is unable to stop the device…” Second time works fine. Even when I do it immediately after the first.
• This happens when all docs involving the thumb drive and the apps that used them are all closed.
• It happens if I plug in the drive, don't do anything, then try to eject.
• Waiting before ejecting doesn’t seem to matter.
• In Task Manager I verified no associated apps running then tried it. Don’t know if there are pertinent background apps.
• If I right click on the drive in the File Explorer tree and select eject it works the first time.
• Another thumb drive, Attache 1GB, behaves the same way.
• Another thumb drive, Kingston 2 GB, behaves the same way.
• I think this happened on at least one of my computers before the Windows 10 upgrade, but I don’t remember the details.
• For the SanDisk at least, select in File Explorer, right click, Properties, Hardware tab, Properties, Change Settings, Policies: Quick Removal is selected.

Does anyone have a fix? Thanks.