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When I plug in my external hard drive (again, NOT USB stick), and right click on the icon in This PC, there is no option to eject the drive.

enter image description here

There is a system tray option to "safely eject" it, but that doesn't work at all.

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The only way for me to remove it at the moment is to shut down the PC.

I am not looking for a third party solution (cuz they don't work anyway - I've tried a range: Unlocker, the Quickandeasysoftware one, etc..). I've also disabled drive indexing.

And before you mark this as a duplicate almost ALL of the internet / SU articles are either on USB sticks, or on this shutdown method (e.g. Can't eject external USB hard drive in Windows 10)

I just want to know if this is possible (it should be right?), and if so how.

Community
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meowgoesthedog
  • 386

5 Answers5

19
  1. Click Windows icon in task bar.  Click on Run…
  2. Type:

    RunDll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL hotplug.dll

  3. Press the Enter key or click on “OK”.
  4. In the “Safely Remove Hardware” dialog click on the device you want to remove, and press Stop.

(from answers.microsoft.com)

Scott - Слава Україні
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nak
  • 298
3

I found that if you go to Windows/Settings/PC Settings/Devices/Other Devices and click on the name of the device, there is a button to remove device.

Simon W
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1

In the resource manager check to see what's using that hard drive. Control Panel/Administrative Tools/Resource Monitor. Or on command line "perfmon.exe /res". perfmon window Go to the Disk tab and see what Processes have Disk Activity on that drive. This won't solve your problem as windows will probably never put in a nice right click, but it may help figure out what's happening and let you do it without shutting down or sleeping.

Eric
  • 11
1

Open up Computer Management, mark the drive offline, it will be then safe to eject.

Ryan Hope
  • 111
-2

At this time, Windows 10 does not treat a memory stick on the USB port the same way it treats a Hard Drive. One option is to turn off the computer. That is, go to the Power > Shut Off. An alternative mentioned by someone else is to go to Sleep mode and then wake up. That does not do any good if I just want to remove the USB connected hard drive and continue my other computer stuff. Microsoft has not fixed this problem. Note, it is an interface problem where the operating system (Windows) should manage this. Sorry, people, Microsoft sees no urgent need to correct their operating system bugs. UNIX and Linux do not make these errors because programmers who care about the user have removed many problems Microsoft programs into their operating systems. In review, Shut Down the computer. Then unplug the USB to your External Hard Drive. There are no other solutions.

Consultant
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