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I can't safely remove a USB drive on Windows 10 Pro

Anonymous
2020-09-22T09:36:44+00:00

Hi,

I have a Windows 10 Pro, but I can't safely remove all of my USB drives, because I receive the classic error message of something that doesn't let the USB drive removal.

At this moment, I have all of the features of Windows 10 Pro enabled, but I noticed that when I install Windows 10 Pro with the default Windows components installed I don't have the problem; if I activate all of the extra Windows features the problem happens.

I don't know if it's a bug of the Pro version, or some optional feature blocks the access to the USB drives; but the problem is to be able to identify the nature of the problem.

Do you have a suggestion?

Thank you

I have the 2004 version

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Devices and drivers

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  1. Sumit D - IA 168.4K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2020-09-22T10:01:46+00:00

    Thank you for the response. It can also be related to a Media server called Wild Media server if it applies. If you have a Multipoint connector optional feature you can try to disable the same as well.

    Keep us posted :)

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  2. Sumit D - IA 168.4K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2020-09-22T09:43:40+00:00

    Hi Nicola,

    I am Sumit, an Independent Advisor and a 3 year Windows Insider MVP here to help.

    The version does not have anything to do with the same - usually, it is some program that continues to access the drive that results in a block. A common cause is certain 3rd party anti-malware programs that continue to scan the disk.

    If you want to go technically, right-click Start>Windows Powershell(admin). Copy and paste the following command to know what process was accessing the drive - you may need to eject it once intentionally.

    Get-EventLog -LogName System -after (Get-Date).AddHours(-1) | Where-Object {$_.EventID -eq 225} | Sort-Object TimeGenerated | Format-Table -Wrap

    You would get something like:

    Index Time          EntryType   Source                 InstanceID Message
   ----- ----          ---------   ------                 ---------- -------
   14692 Sep 07 10:50  Warning     Microsoft-Windows-Ke          225 The application \Device\HarddiskVolume4\Windows\System32\Taskmgr.exe with process id 11972 stopped
                                   rnel-PnP                          the removal or ejection for the device USB\VID_0781&PID_5575\200445301013C111B1A0.
   14693 Sep 07 10:50  Warning     Microsoft-Windows-Ke          225 The application \Device\HarddiskVolume4\Windows\System32\Taskmgr.exe with process id 11972 stopped
                                   rnel-PnP                          the removal or ejection for the device USB\VID_0781&PID_5575\200445301013C111B1A0.

    Here TaskMgr=>Task Manager is the program blocking safely remove device.

    Hope that helps.

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  3. Anonymous
    2020-09-22T09:53:13+00:00

    Hi Sumit,

    Thanks to your powershell command, I was able to find the process that blocks the removal of USB drives: it is "WmsSvc.exe" - Windows Multipoint Server.

    Now, I have to find the correspondant optional feature: it may be the "Multipoint connector"?

    Thanks.

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