Task Manager Locks USB Drives

Question

When a USB drive is used on a Windows 11 computer, one must stop task manager in order to unplug the device. If you try to safely eject the disk while task manager is running, you will receive the message that the device cannot be stopped as a program still uses it. By shutting down the running programs one by one and repeating the safe ejection process, I could finally narrow it down to task manager being the culprit. This behavior is reproducable.

Is this a bug or a feature? In the latter case, what is the benefit of such a function?

Answer 1

Hello DoraWilhelm, welcome to the Microsoft community, I'll be happy to help you today;

If you were copying files to the USB drive in Windows Explorer and Windows Explorer is open, this error message could be related to it;

Try ending all Windows Explorer related tasks and check if the error still appears;

See you soon!

Answer 2

Hi LuizScruz,

Thank your for the quick response.

I can rule out that the problem relates in an way to Windows Explorer. There is no foreground instance of WE running, and there are no other processes accessing files on the drive as well. Even shutting down WE via the task manager does not release the device. Only closing the task manager helps.

I may reproduce the problem by the following steps:

1. Insert the memory stick (i. e. USB drive) into the USB port.
2. Start the task manager.
3. Try to eject the drive safely. The error message pops up.
4. Close task manager.
5. Try to eject the drive safely again. The device is released instantly.

Interestingly, you must not reverse steps 1 and 2 to reproduce the error.

I suspect that the problem relates to task manager's monitoring of disk activities.

Best regards,

DW

Answer 3

Dear DoraWilhelm,in this case I believe it is a Windows "bug";

However, at the link below are some fixes that may help you:

https://www.guidingtech.com/top-ways-to-fix-una...

Disclaimer: There are links to non-Microsoft websites. The pages appear to provide accurate and secure information. Watch out for ads on websites that may advertise products that are often classified as PUPs (Potentially Unwanted Products). Thoroughly research any product advertised on websites before deciding to download and install it.

Hope this helps, see you soon!

Answer 4

Thank you, LuizScruz,

In my opinion, this is a real bug, not just a "bug"... 😉

I tried the options described in the article. All but the first two failed, so (besides closing Task Manager) the only method "stronger" than Task Manager is the usage of Disk Manager to unmount the drive. But let me summarize in detail:

Method	Result
Close apps or programs using the USB drive	If you eventually close Task Manager, this will work, as described above.
Eject drive from disk management utility	Disk Manager is able to eject the drive, even if Task Manager is active.
Eject drive from settings app	This does not work. The ejection process starts and hangs.
Use safely remove hardware utility	This option does not work at all, even when no Task Manager is running. It only shows the message that the drive would not be a removable device.
Configure device removal policy	This is not really an option, as it would mean that every removal of the device would become unsafe. I even did not try if the ejection of the USB drive works at all.
Run hardware and devices troubleshooter	As expected, the diagnostics do not detect anything for the USB drive.
Update USB drivers	All my drivers are up to date.

So all in all there are two acceptable work-arounds. The real issue, however, is to locate Task Manager as the root of the problem, which is why Microsoft should accept this as a bug and fix it.

Best regards,

DW

Answer 5

Dear DoraWilhelm,in this case it really looks like a "bug";

Ejecting the drive using Disk Manager and closing Task Manager seems to be the "solution";

If you'd like to voice your opinion on this to Microsoft, use the Feedback Hub app in the Start Menu, where developers are tasked with processing consumer feedback. They won't even see it here;

Thanks see you soon!