We need to follow “Safely remove hardware” device drive routine while trying to unplug a USB device from the computer. It can really annoying, when you are looking for safely remove hardware icon on the taskbar but it is nowhere to be seen. First you need to find that missing icon or use alternative procedure to open safely remove hardware settings window.
Direct command to open Safely Remove Hardware window
1. Click on Start > Run to see run box on the screen.
2. Type or paste the command:
RunDll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL hotplug.dll
3. Click OK to see “Safely remove hardware” settings window.
Now you can proceed with standard procedure to safely remove connected USB drive. No more missing icon, isn’t it?
This did not work. I get a message that a program is still using the USB drive, when there are no programs running (at least none on the task bar).
310 821-3081
How does this procedure solve the problem of the missing icon??
It didn’t work for me either. It said the USB devices were not removable…! Obviously this is why the “safely remove” icon is missing – Windows doesn’t think there is anything to remove
My computer: Win7pro64
Possibly implicated?: Acronis True Image Home 2011
It let me see the “Safely Remove Hardware” but it did not show any devices on there and my iPod was plugged in. It also did not appear on my taskbar.
I did what you recommanded equipped with windows 7 64 Bit. It did not work. Igot “the segat free agent usb device is not removable and can not be rejected or unplugged”Is it because I did not change the 32 by 64? in the following batch RunDll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL hotplug.dll