Windows 10: Windows 11 Task Manager is preventing the Safely Remove Hardware feature

The latest version of Windows 11 has a bug that may prevent the safe removal of hardware from the device. Discovered by our colleagues over at Deskmodder, it appears that Windows 11's own Task Manager application is preventing devices from being ejected safely from the operating system.



Users of Windows 11 who activate the operating system's Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media feature from the system tray, to remove USB devices and other devices connected to the system safely, may notice that this is no longer possible if the Task Manager application is open.

Windows 11 displays the message "Problem Ejecting USB Mass Storage Device", stating that the device can't be stopped by the operating system because of another program that is still using it. That program, at least in this case, is the operating system's Task Manager.



The issue is resolved easily. All it takes is to close the Task Manager application before activating the safely remove hardware option of the operating system. Other workarounds mentioned in Deskmodder's article did not work on our test system. Neither minimizing nor switching to another tab that does not list the system's processes worked on the device to avoid the "in use" notification.

The Windows Task Manager should not prevent programs from closing or devices from being ejected safely from the system. It is clearly a bug, but it is unclear how widespread the issue actually is. Microsoft has not confirmed the issue yet, it is not listed as one of Windows 11 2022 Update's known issues on the official support page on the Microsoft website.

Safely Remove Hardware's main purpose is to avoid data loss when removing external storage devices, such as USB drives, from Windows machines. While Windows is not preventing the removal of external devices without using the feature, not using the safety feature may result in data loss on the device.

Now You: do you use Safely Remove Hardware on Windows?

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Safely remove hardware on Windows 11

I have recently upgraded my PC (ie changed Mobo, CPU, Memory) and installed Windows 11 on the new hardware.

I have 2 disk caddies so I can switch disks as necessary (the C drive is permanently installed, never changes).

On my old system under Windows 10 I could uninstall the disks in the caddies via the "Safely Remove Hardware" feature, but on Windows 11 they never appear in the "Safely Remove Hardware" list. If I plug in a usb stick it does appear in the list.

Any idea how I can get the caddy-mounted disks to appear in the list please?

 

Safely Remove Hardware tool

Thank you for the update, Murray. Since you mentioned that you've already tried running the rundll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL hotplug.dll command to no avail, we suggest that you create a shortcut or even a batch file using the same command. Just run
the shortcut or batch file and see if the Safely Remove Hardware dialog window will appear. To create a shortcut, follow these steps:

• Right-click on the desktop and click on New > Shortcut.
• In the Type the location of the item box, type in, or copy and paste the following command:
  • rundll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL hotplug.dll
• Click Next and then give it a name like Safely Remove Hardware, and then click on
  Finish.

Keep us in the loop.

 

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:

1. Right-click the taskbar and select Taskbar settings.
   
2. Under Notification Area, choose
   Select which icons appear on the taskbar.
3. 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.