Comments on: How to eject a USB drive when Windows doesn’t want to

By: J-Man

J-Man — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 07:42:36 +0000

the only safe way that I know that I can disconnect my drive when windows won’t let me and not lose or damage files is to
shutdown the computer.

By: kerri

kerri — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 02:16:12 +0000

My computer did not give me the un lock option. Now what?

By: thrawn

thrawn — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 00:25:12 +0000

This morning, the computer wouldn’t release my USB drive, even after I let it sit for over an hour and closed all applications. It’s not always a case of “the user didn’t realise that a file was still open”!

Eventually I killed and restarted explorer.exe, which fixed the problem. I didn’t try Unlocker, even though I have it, but I suspect that it would have told me that Explorer was the culprit.

I did, however, see some indications that the IMAPI service was involved…

By: Ari

Ari — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 22:12:49 +0000

Hi Samer

I have been reading your content for quite sometime now. Just tried to test unlocker to eject a persistently non-ejectible flash drive! It worked Thanks man!

By: wain

wain — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 07:32:35 +0000

Some people here say that we can not blame Windows that the device can’t be stopped, or that there’s a good reason it can’t be stopped.
OK, fair enough, but if it can detect that the device is locked, please at least show me like Unlocker (sometimes) can do, what process is locking the device.

Thanks for the tip. I’ve used Unlocker before, but never tried it on USB devices. Although I’ve tried it now, and it says nothing is locking my device. So no solution now .
And my file-copy-window has disappeared 15 min. ago, and no write activity on my USB hard drive.
So, maybe a good reason, but please Microsoft tell me the reason.

By: Doc2626

Doc2626 — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 17:59:10 +0000

I just saved a file to my thumb drive, and tried to eject it. It gave me the “unable” message, so I tried the unlocker, and it still gave me the same “unable” message when I tried to eject.
So I then closed the Word document that was still open, that I had saved to that drive, and tried it again, and it ejected just fine. That leads me to believe that all the times I had gotten this annoying message, it was because I still had a file open, that was now slated to that drive. Try closing the files that were most recently saved to your thumb drive, and I’ll wager the “unable” message will no longer plague you.

By: ram

ram — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 09:44:56 +0000

I just pull out the USB device after closing all the files. I dont use the “safely remove hardware” option. I am using this method for the past 3 years without any problem.

But ENSURE that all files are closed.

By: aslan

aslan — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 15:08:40 +0000

good article thank you

By: AllIPTech » Blog Archive » Reinstall Windows and outfit your system with all freeware programs

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 10:39:42 +0000

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By: How to eject a USB drive when Windows doesn’t want to Review & Download Link | freewaregenius.com

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 23:17:59 +0000

[...] How to eject a USB drive when Windows doesn’t want to Review & Download Link | freewaregenius… No Comments, Comment or Ping [...]

By: Armin Wrape

Armin Wrape — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 16:57:01 +0000

Unlocker is great utility BUT it should not be used as the initial means of freeing up any file or USB device. As previoulsy stated you can ruin files or even loose the functionality of your USB device on your computer if it is improperly disconnected from your computer before some functions are finished with it. These functions maybe Antivirus, Indexing, or other scanners that you may have installed. Many people don’t realize that their photo/graphics/music programs also scan for files as soon as any media (CD,DVD, Flash drive, etc.) is inserted in the computer.
Having Windows Explorer open while a USB/flash drive is inserted may also hang up the removal.
I have found that 3 practices work for me:1) Close all open programs that could be accessing the USB drive. 2)Don’t just pull out the Flash/USB Drive…use the “Safely Remove Hardware” wizard and 3) Be patient. Wait and try again later.

By: Pandu E Poluan

Pandu E Poluan — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 16:21:58 +0000

I personally use USB Safely Remove. But this is not freeware. So your tip on using Unlocker to remove the drive really helps

Of course since I’ve paid, I am entitled to a free upgrade of USB Safely Remove… so… uh… :-/

By: Quickly eject USB drives and devices with USB Disk Ejector Review & Download Link | freewaregenius.com

Fri, 04 Jan 2008 02:24:51 +0000

[...] Try ejecting with USB Disk Ejector if/when you encounter the dreaded "volume cannot be stopped right now … try later" message (see below), and let us know below in the comments if it works (for a related posting, go here). [...]

By: Reinstall Windows and outfit your system with all freeware programs Review & Download Link | freewaregenius.com

Mon, 29 Oct 2007 07:03:28 +0000

[...] 34. Unlocker: this small memory resident program will pop-up whenever you encounter a file that is locked by a process or another program which prevents you from deleting or moving it. Once you install and use this you will start to consider it a must have program. (Also see this related post). [...]

By: prateek

prateek — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 17:11:23 +0000

its fabulous

By: » Problemas al Expulsar tu dispositivo USB de almacenamiento &raquo Tecnología USB y Mucho Más…

Wed, 01 Aug 2007 04:15:09 +0000

[...] Material de referencia: FreeWareGenius [...]

By: Platfuse

Platfuse — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 21:44:36 +0000

Really helpfull, thnaks

By: Problem Ejecting USB Mass Storage Device | Gadget & Tech News

Problem Ejecting USB Mass Storage Device | Gadget & Tech News — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 19:04:35 +0000

[...] Reference Material from: FreeWareGenius [...]

By: Problem Ejecting USB Mass Storage Device | Tech & Gadget News

Problem Ejecting USB Mass Storage Device | Tech & Gadget News — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 18:35:32 +0000

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Thu, 26 Jul 2007 22:29:04 +0000

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