I'm using Windows 7 Pro and a while back I removed a USB device while it was in use and it corrupted the USB device and it will no longer work so I bought a new one. Quite often now, when I click on the icon to remove the USB device safely, I get an error message that the device cannot be removed at this time as it is in use and to close the program that is using the device. This is the same notice I got before, however, there are no programs open. The only way I have found to remove the device is to shut down the computer and remove the USB. I would like to know what is causing this to happen.

What type of USB device?

If a flash drive or external make sure that My Computer and Windows Explorer are closed. It could also be any number of other programs such as if you have an image stored on the device opened in a graphics program.

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That's the thing jay, nothing is open. IE is closed and there are no programs running that are visible to me so it has to be something I can't see and how would I find that?

I'd still like to know what the device is but let's go after some possible software.

Do you have a digital camera? If so did you install its software? If so does the USB device happen to hold images? If the answers are yes it is possible that there is a background process running that sees the images on the device and holds that device open for potential import of those images. I'm not sure but think that Photo Shop also has such a background process to detect images on a USB device.

If any of the above fits disable the auto-detection and/or import of any such software.

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It's a 32gb flash drive with pics, vids, and text files on it

Look at your startup programs for anything dealing with pictures such as your camera software or the like.

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Where do I look for the startup programs?

This can happen because some process that remains open, even though no programs are opened by you, is hanging on to the file. It's almost impossible, within a reasonable time frame, to figure out which process that is with the Window's built in tools. The way to get at it is to use a third party tool. USB Safely Remove is a favorite of mine - http://safelyremove.com/index.htm There is a free version but the paid version is much more comprehensive and may well be worth your while since you are having these problems. In any case, it's free to try the paid version.

We just talked about it here: viewtopic.php?f=11&t=867 and you should try the links. It may be that the full version is still available for free.

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Best regards,
Manny Carvalho
MS-MVP since 2002

Click Start and type msconfig and press Enter. Look under the Startup tab and uncheck what you don't want.

Also look closely at Manny's post.

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I can vouch for Safely Remove, I've been using it for quite a while through a few OS machines, have it now on this Windows 8.1 Asus Notebook.
It shows what is in use and also at the bottom there's a line to show how many are hidden, it is well worth getting the paid version.

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Joan Archer
http://crossstitcher.webs.com

Thanks Manny. I have downloaded the program and will give it a try.

That utility may be able to shut down the drive even though Windows can't. I also use it but not due to any issues, I just like it.

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I am still having the same problem even with the usb removal utility installed. I get an error message that says the USB utility cannot be stopped right now and to close all applications that are using it and try again. below that it shows C:\Windows\Explorer.exe I also had another usb running and got a similar error message that showed C:\Program Files\.......and then went on to show my paint shop pro program\psp.exe

Windows explorer is closed as well as my paint shop program and for now, the only way I can remove the drives is to shut down the computer.

Can you post a screenshot of that message please.

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Best regards,
Manny Carvalho
MS-MVP since 2002

Here is a link to the file Manny
http://www.allyson89.x10.mx/usb%20error3.jpg


<edit by Jay>
Allyson, I hope that you do not mind but I edited this post of yours to directly hold the screen shot. I only did this because we like to see images that directly pertain to an issue included in the site files so they are preserved for future reference to help others with similar issues. If you feel my edit was out of line feel free to say so and I will return your post to the original.
</edit by Jay>

Wait to see if Manny has other suggestions but there is something that I'd like to see you do if he does not have a better offering.

Click on start then type msconfig and hit enter. Under the General tab select Diagnostic start up and click Apply then OK. Reboot and see if the issue persists.

If the issue persists I'm not sure where to go from here.

If the issue is resolved go back to msconfig then startup and enable Corel file shell monitor if it is there. Reboot and see if the issue comes back. If it does then it is actually a PSP background program, the file shell monitor, that is the issue. Go back to msconfig and select normal startup under the general tab then go to the startup tab and uncheck the Corel file shell monitor. Reboot and see what happens.

Since you run PSP it is VERY likely that the Corel file shell monitor is active. This monitor may well be seeing images on the usb devices and holding that device open. Disabling this background program in the msconfig startup options may well solve the issue but no promises.

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For G:, paint shop pro is holding it open. Closing that should do it.

F:, may be a bit more complicated because of the system lock. But explorer.exe is File Explorer so you probably had that open and although not pointing to files on F directly it still enumerated it and held it open. Closing that may take care of it all.

Sometimes these holds on devices are a little convoluted but closing the processes listed in the utility should remove the lock on files even though it may appear they shouldn't be locked because no file is open directly.

I'm not quite sure about Corel since it isn't listed but certainly a reboot should close any process having a lock on files on those drives. The point of USB Safely Remove is to list those processes so they can be stopped manually instead of rebooting. Right clicking on the processes in the list will allow you to stop/kill them and then remove the device.

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Best regards,
Manny Carvalho
MS-MVP since 2002

Lets deal with "G" first. Perhaps I don't know how to close Paint Shop Pro because as far as I am concerned it is already closed when I get this message. I will start from the beginning. I plug the USB device in, and there is an option to open all the folders on the device. I then click on the folder that contains images. When this opens, it displays all the .jpg files. I then double click on the .jpg file that I want to open and it displays the image in the Paint Shop Pro program. To close this image, I click on the X in the top right corner of Paint Shop Pro and this takes me back to the list of .jpg files. Then I click on the X on the top right corner of the listed .jpg files and there are no files left open on the USB device. At this point, to get back to the images, I now need to go to "My Computer" and select the "G" drive and when it opens, it once again displays all the folders on the drive and I can continue as explained above to open the image in PSP.

Am I doing something wrong Manny?

I don't know enough about PSP to tell you. What you describe sounds right but the utility is telling that it's not closed so something must be open but perhaps not visible. Right click it on the list and close it.

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Best regards,
Manny Carvalho
MS-MVP since 2002

Corel file shell monitor may well be the issue with, at least, the G: drive and possibly the F:drive if this PSP background process has a hook into Windows Explorer. This is a background program that is part of PSP and seems to monitor added devices looking for image files if I read everything right. The actual file name of this process is CorelIOMonitor.exe. Note that the file name includes 'IOMonitor'. This would logically indicate that it is an input/output monitor and as such would be a likely cause for a failure to allow a USB device to be safely removed. Also, as it is an input/output monitor it would be quite possible that it uses explorer.exe as its vehicle to do the monitoring.

This is a process that loads at the system startup. I run PSP X3 and have this process disabled. This is why I suggested disabling this startup program via MSCONFIG.

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Why do you think so Jay since USB safely remove doesn't mention Corel for G: but only PSP as having a lock on files?

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Best regards,
Manny Carvalho
MS-MVP since 2002

@Manny and Jay,

I notice the Microsoft Fixit "Diagnose and fix Windows USB problems automatically" hasn't been run yet:
http://support.microsoft.com/mats/windo ... iagnostics

I'm thinking and assuming that everything was working as intended before she corrupted the old USB drive mentioned in the OP, that as well as corrupting the drive it also changed/corrupted something in the OS, simply running the Fixit should correct any changes/corruption to the OS. It just might be as simple as that and couldn't hurt.

@ Manny; Corel IS PSP, they produce it. The monitor is part of PSP.

@ Doddie; Good call, worth a shot.

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Fwiw and if i'm not very much mistaken, Allyson's screenshot shows the Jasc Software Inc version of PSP 7 which dates back to circa 2001 and pre-dates the Corel takeover by a number of years. (cf. http://www.oldversion.com/windows/paint-shop-pro/)

Her version of PSP, not to be confused with the Corel 'X7' version, was and is incompatible with Windows 7, i know, i used to use it on XP and despite it being flagged by the Win7 compatibility tool when i migrated to Win7 i tried to install it, yes it would install but even with 'compatibility' settings set for XP it gave me issues so i uninstalled it and gave up on PSP.

This may be another source of her issues. Sadly i can't remember what the compatibility issues were and i can't find anything on the MS website as they've removed everything Win7 compatibility related in favour of Win8.

You are correct, Doddie. It IS Jasc's version 7 from before Corel took over. Sigh, recently I seem to be missing some fine points in posts. I saw PSP in the screen shot but totally skipped over the 'Jasc'. I must be getting senile in my older age, never used to miss such things.

That said I think your fixit link is the way to go at this point. Jasc's version 7 of PSP probably still has a background process that does monitoring, I know that version 10 does as I ran version 10 before going to Corel's X3 version. Let's hope that the fixit to which you linked works but if not I'd scrap version 7 and go to version 10 which is a free download. I know that version 10 works properly in Win 7 and 8 as I ran it on both before going to X3.

As a note Jasc's PSP 7 also enters a scheduled task into task scheduler. Not exactly sure what this really means but here is the note.

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