Saturday, October 10, 2009

Win7: Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media does not work

Problems:
The 2nd day after upgrading to Windows 7, I noticed the Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media has stopped working. I click on its tray icon but nothing happened (a device list suppose to pop-up). If you have Task Manager open, you should see DeviceDisplayObjectProvider.exe is launched after clicking on the tray icon. And if you kill that process, an empty device list will pop-up.

Besides that, Control Panel -> Hardware and Sound -> Devices and Printers would not load as well.


Solution: (updated 2013-11-24)
Ensure Bluetooth Support Service is running (even you do not use Bluetooth!)

By default, the Bluetooth Support Service should be running. But I manually disabled it for optimization which caused the problems...

1. Open Start menu

2. Type services.msc -> Right click -> Run as administrator

3. Look for Bluetooth Support Service, double-click to open its Properties window

4. Make sure Startup type is NOT set to Disabled. I recommend setting it to Automatic (Delayed Start) so it does not slow down your computer at start up. Click Apply if you made any changes

5. Click Start to start the service

6. At this point, the safely remove hardware feature should be working again

7. Restart your computer and Devices and Printers should load correctly as well


Alternatively, reader Qoissi Fus found that disabling the Bluetooth driver also solved the problem for him.
Just go to Device Manager -> Bluetooth Radios -> Generic Bluetooth Adapter, right-click, disable. After this I could stop again the Bluetooth Support Service without impacting the Safely Remove Hardware function. Not sure it would work on all configurations but at least it worked on mine... Hope this helps!

106 comments:

  1. AnonymousNovember 1, 2009 at 2:11 AM

    Thank you! :-)
    I solved my problem immediately!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousNovember 14, 2009 at 11:25 AM

    thanx, worked first time.

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownDecember 10, 2009 at 9:37 AM

    THANK YOU!!!

    I hate to come across as being overly dramatic, but I was practically bashing my head against a wall trying to figure out WHAT was wrong with my computer. Nonetheless, I wish that I found your post before spending WAY TOO MUCH time between google, Microsoft Support (waste of time!) and various Windows 7 boards.

    Thank you once again!!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Eric ChoyDecember 10, 2009 at 9:18 PM

    Glad to hear it was helpful :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousDecember 26, 2009 at 11:50 AM

    thank you so much, instant solution!

    ReplyDelete
  6. MrmotJanuary 5, 2010 at 6:28 AM

    OMG this actually worked O_O
    Thank you very, VERY much!

    ReplyDelete
  7. JiMMaRJanuary 9, 2010 at 7:34 AM

    I never actually expected this to work but wow .. it did lol
    I was also wondering why bluetooth wasn't workin properly , I'll go check if that's fixed too or not

    thanx XD

    ReplyDelete
  8. AnonymousJanuary 10, 2010 at 10:07 PM

    THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, ....
    You are the Master!!!

    I was ready to ditch the whole Win7 thing after many many hours trying to find a solution, and today I found your, and IT WORKS...... WOOOHOOOOO!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Ari HandokoJanuary 24, 2010 at 10:43 PM

    I'm lucky I found your article before decided to reinstall my laptop.

    Thank you very much.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Eric ChoyJanuary 25, 2010 at 8:35 PM

    :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. AnonymousFebruary 23, 2010 at 2:53 PM

    Thank you very much!

    ReplyDelete
  12. AnonymousAugust 15, 2010 at 12:48 PM

    Thank you too! It also did solve my problem.
    How did you ever think about this to solve the issue as "Microsoft" does not seem to know this about there own product.

    ReplyDelete
  13. UnknownAugust 24, 2010 at 6:57 AM

    Hi, great work! this seem to have solved the problem for lotsa peoples. unfortunately, the Bluetooth Support Service was showing started in my "Services.msc". so i restarted it. but still doesn't help. The "Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media" remains dumb. any other suggestions?

    ReplyDelete
  14. Eric ChoyAugust 24, 2010 at 9:13 AM

    A few things you can try:

    1. Check your firewall.

    When you click on "Safely Remove Hardware", DeviceDisplayObjectProvider.exe would request Internet access if its available. And if your firewall is blocking it, then it may cause a delay due to the connection timeout.

    a) Unplug the Ethernet cable, and/or disable Wi-Fi
    b) Disable firewall
    c) Check if "Safely Remove Hardware" is working.


    2. How many removable devices were connected to your pc?

    Try unplug them all. Then connect only 1 device and see if "Safely Remove Hardware" works or not. Maybe Windows is having trouble to recognize one of them.

    Also check device manager and ensure all the drivers are installed properly. If you do not see any yellow exclamation mark, then you are good.


    3. Run SFC (System File Checker)

    Follow this excellent guide for running SFC:
    http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1538-sfc-scannow-command-system-file-checker.html


    Good luck :)

    ReplyDelete
  15. AnonymousSeptember 7, 2010 at 8:25 PM

    AWESOME mate!!
    How the hell you came across the solution?
    Bluetooth services and ejecting hardware has a connection..
    I would have never guessed it.

    ReplyDelete
  16. AnonymousOctober 5, 2010 at 3:05 AM

    Thanks! Been wondering about this for months!

    ReplyDelete
  17. UnknownOctober 24, 2010 at 7:59 PM

    I stumbled on your post when trying to fix this problem and it worked!
    You're awesome :)
    Thank you very much...

    ReplyDelete
  18. JunomanDecember 16, 2010 at 10:19 AM

    Thanks a thousand!

    ReplyDelete
  19. DaveApril 4, 2011 at 12:22 AM

    THANKS!!!!!

    I spent ages trying to figure that out ...

    ReplyDelete
  20. JonnyApril 11, 2011 at 5:38 AM

    Shockingly, this works. Hope Microsoft fix this in a hotfix. If you ask me, there is no link between ejecting my external HD and bluetooth support.

    ReplyDelete
  21. jyotiMay 14, 2011 at 11:13 AM

    thanks it works

    ReplyDelete
  22. AnonymousMay 15, 2011 at 10:39 AM

    This solution worked for me! Glad I found this post before putting too much time in solving this problem.

    ReplyDelete
  23. DasMay 17, 2011 at 10:44 AM

    Thank you All.....

    If still problem..
    I uninstalled the 'bluesoleil' software and its working fine. :)

    ReplyDelete
  24. JenMay 26, 2011 at 3:44 PM

    I didn't think this would work because I don't have bluetooth on my computer, but it did! Thanks for much for providing this useful information. It was driving me nuts!!

    ReplyDelete
  25. AnonymousJune 18, 2011 at 4:27 AM

    Thanks heaps! Worked for me too.

    ReplyDelete
  26. JimAugust 8, 2011 at 9:32 PM

    Solved the problem! Why the Bluetooth service makes a difference is just dumb. Didn't even have to reboot for Devices and Printers to working again. A huge thanks! It's been busted for over a year now.

    ReplyDelete
  27. AnonymousAugust 10, 2011 at 9:04 PM

    Thank you :) It worked lika a charm.

    ReplyDelete
  28. RamprasadAugust 28, 2011 at 1:15 PM

    thanks very much dude... it worked instantly

    ReplyDelete
  29. AnonymousSeptember 3, 2011 at 12:14 PM

    Also a great thank you of a Belgian guy you helped with this solution.

    ReplyDelete
  30. NamarionNovember 3, 2011 at 4:16 PM

    Thanks a lot!I would never think that the bluetooth process could have caused this!

    ReplyDelete
  31. AnonymousNovember 15, 2011 at 8:56 PM

    Thank you! It is really work! You're allsome!

    From Jeffrey

    ReplyDelete
  32. AnonymousDecember 12, 2011 at 8:47 PM

    Thank you so much for the solution.It was eating my head for a long time, tried everything but your solution works like a charm. God bless you.

    ReplyDelete
  33. PPCDecember 15, 2011 at 2:43 AM

    Thanks so much, Eric.I am having this problem for 18 months! For those who need to re-do the complete steps each time you re-start your pc, here is one point to note: make sure that the Startup Type is set to automatic, if not, right click on the Bluetooth Support Service and select "Properties" and change the Startup Type to automatic. Cheers to all!

    ReplyDelete
  34. cosmosvedaJanuary 1, 2012 at 12:41 PM

    Thanks bro. It worked instantly for me.This windows crap is too much to handle.

    ReplyDelete
  35. AnonymousJanuary 5, 2012 at 4:31 AM

    Thanks so much - your solution solved my problem immediately!

    ReplyDelete
  36. NiloyJanuary 5, 2012 at 2:46 PM

    For me the right click > start was not highlighted.

    Did right click > properties. Then change "start automatically" then apply and exit. And now right click > start :)

    ReplyDelete
  37. EricJanuary 5, 2012 at 5:31 PM

    Thanks for the comments above :)

    I have added the startup type info in my post.

    ReplyDelete
  38. AnonymousJanuary 9, 2012 at 3:28 AM

    Nice.That worked.Before fix I had to click more than 10 times to see it.Now only 1 click suffice.

    ReplyDelete
  39. AnonymousJanuary 23, 2012 at 8:34 AM

    Eric you are a Genius, I thought I had a bad install, ou fixed the problem in less than 30 seconds. THANK YOU

    ReplyDelete
  40. AnonymousFebruary 4, 2012 at 8:30 AM

    excellent tip. problem solved.
    many thanks. keep up the good work.

    ReplyDelete
  41. KeanoFebruary 26, 2012 at 6:06 AM

    It worked ! thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  42. AnonymousApril 2, 2012 at 5:34 AM

    its worked thanks a lot

    ReplyDelete
  43. AnonymousApril 13, 2012 at 1:20 PM

    worked great thank you!!!

    ReplyDelete
  44. AnonymousMay 1, 2012 at 12:02 PM

    worked perfect!!! wonderful...

    ReplyDelete
  45. AnonymousMay 17, 2012 at 8:11 PM

    Amazing! Worked instantly.

    ReplyDelete
  46. DeefexJune 6, 2012 at 12:33 AM

    Thank you sooo much!! I thought it was hopeless cause i read in some other site that i might need to go into local group settings to fix this, and i have home premium, so i thought i installed something that forever messed up my new computer. But i forgot that i disabled the bluetooth service cause i didn't want the icon on the taskbar and i don't have any bluetooth services. I'm so glad this WORKED!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  47. UnknownJune 15, 2012 at 7:17 AM

    thanks genius it work on my pc but after removing the hardware it does not give me the message to notify that the hardware has been removed,what can i do?and what will be the solution for a computer which does not have Bluetooth adapter

    ReplyDelete
  48. EricJune 15, 2012 at 7:52 PM

    @Godwin Tunze

    Assuming you are using Windows 7, go to the Notification Area Icons setting and make sure Windows Explorer is not set to Hide icon and notifications. Or just make sure your drive disappear from My Computer before disconnecting.

    The Bluetooth Support Service is always available, even if the computer has no bluetooth adapter.

    ReplyDelete
  49. AnonymousJuly 2, 2012 at 12:53 PM

    THANK YOU!!!

    ReplyDelete
  50. AnonymousJuly 2, 2012 at 12:54 PM

    THANK YOU!!!

    ReplyDelete
  51. AnonymousJuly 14, 2012 at 6:08 AM

    Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  52. AnonymousJuly 18, 2012 at 7:54 AM

    thank you very much. . after searching the web this is the best solution to my problem. . hopefully you can help many people having problems like this. . thumbs up

    ReplyDelete
  53. AnonymousSeptember 2, 2012 at 2:37 PM

    thank you so much!!!

    ReplyDelete
  54. AnonymousSeptember 7, 2012 at 8:19 PM

    thanks a lot for the tip.

    ReplyDelete
  55. AnonymousSeptember 8, 2012 at 10:57 PM

    Still I can't understand why this works. But this definitely helped me solve my problem. Thanks for the tip.

    ReplyDelete
  56. AnonymousOctober 7, 2012 at 2:00 PM

    Thanks Eric, This helped to resolve my problem..

    ReplyDelete
  57. AnonymousNovember 25, 2012 at 1:51 PM

    Thanks! Worked immediately, didn't even need to reboot! Silly question, why does the Bluetooth Support Service also handle Devices and Printers and removable media???

    ReplyDelete
  58. AnonymousNovember 26, 2012 at 2:18 PM

    THANK YOU!!!! Had no idea Bluetooth would ahev anythignto do with that. but its fixed now your a genius

    ReplyDelete
  59. ramboDecember 18, 2012 at 10:03 PM

    thx..its working...thx u very much..

    ReplyDelete
  60. AnonymousJanuary 7, 2013 at 5:46 PM

    Brilliant - Love your work- Did the job first time around -

    ReplyDelete
  61. AnonymousJanuary 30, 2013 at 12:48 PM

    Thanks for this solution. I know Windows OSes are weird but not to this extent in this problem: enable bluetooth to be able to reject your hard drive.

    ReplyDelete
  62. AnonymousFebruary 2, 2013 at 2:33 AM

    Thanks a lot it worked.

    ReplyDelete
  63. arvipatFebruary 13, 2013 at 7:52 AM

    great successful solution

    ReplyDelete
  64. AnonymousMarch 15, 2013 at 11:16 AM

    great work dude .. this is real knowledge .. thanx a lot :)

    ReplyDelete
  65. AnonymousMarch 29, 2013 at 11:01 AM

    HELP!!!
    when i plug my thumb drive to my USB port, the icon of "Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media" does not appear!!!
    Rest 3 no of USB port don have this issue

    ReplyDelete
  66. EricMarch 29, 2013 at 9:06 PM

    Can you clarify the problem? What do you mean by "Rest 3 no of USB port don have this issue"? Does the icon show up if you connect your thumb drive to another USB port? Are you having issue only with that particular thumb drive? What version of Windows are you running?

    ReplyDelete
  67. Eartha.on.EarthApril 5, 2013 at 6:38 AM

    unbelievable... i been troubled by this for weeks.. now everything get normal..!!

    so brilliant ~!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  68. AnonymousApril 10, 2013 at 6:05 AM

    Thank you.
    It look like I have stopped more services than I should have...

    ReplyDelete
  69. 旋律April 18, 2013 at 8:33 AM

    Hi Eric, i followed all your instructions, but when come to right click "Bluetooth Support Service", all the options: 'Start' 'Stop' 'Pause' 'Resume' 'Restart' are disabled. :( Could you guide me on this? Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  70. EricApril 18, 2013 at 7:37 PM

    @旋律, sounds like your Bluetooth Support Service is set to Disabled.

    To enable a service:
    1. double-click to open its properties dialog
    2. change Startup type to Automatic (Delayed Start)
    3. click Apply
    4. the Start option should be enabled

    ReplyDelete
  71. AnonymousApril 19, 2013 at 1:59 PM

    Worked like a charm

    ReplyDelete
  72. 旋律April 20, 2013 at 12:39 AM

    Hi Eric, the Bluetooth startup type is disabled (in grey) and i m not allowed to change to Automatic:(

    ReplyDelete
  73. EricApril 20, 2013 at 11:04 AM

    @旋律, do you have administrator privileges?

    Try the following:
    1. open Start menu
    2. type Services
    3. in the list of results, look for Services, right click -> Run as administrator
    4. you should be able to control the Bluetooth Support Service

    If not, scroll down and check if the Remote Procedure Call (RPC) service is Started

    ReplyDelete
  74. 旋律April 20, 2013 at 11:03 PM

    Hi Eric, I run Services, but no 'Services' was found in the result list. Remote Procedure Call (RPC) service is shown started.

    ReplyDelete
  75. EricApril 21, 2013 at 10:52 AM

    @旋律, let me clarify. In step 2, type Services (but don't run it yet), you should see something like
    this screenshot

    ReplyDelete
  76. 旋律April 22, 2013 at 4:38 AM

    Excellent! Thanks Eric. I have got my problem solved!!!! Thanks again for all your patience and guidance!

    ReplyDelete
  77. AnonymousMay 5, 2013 at 2:16 AM

    Hi Eric,
    Thanks for posting your solution.
    It worked. As some others already wrote, who indeed (but you ?) could have guessed the connection between hardware ejection and the Bluetooth service...

    ReplyDelete
  78. AnonymousMay 7, 2013 at 8:41 AM

    thank u it worked ...

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  79. AnonymousJuly 2, 2013 at 2:57 AM

    Awesome

    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  80. AnonymousJuly 12, 2013 at 6:24 PM

    thank you for this info!

    ReplyDelete
  81. TonyJuly 26, 2013 at 9:47 AM

    working... thanks alot

    ReplyDelete
  82. AnonymousAugust 9, 2013 at 8:17 AM

    It worked immediately. Thanks for this. and thanks to google for ranking you so high :)

    ReplyDelete
  83. AnonymousAugust 12, 2013 at 2:53 PM

    YES! YOU ARE BRILLIANT - well done

    ReplyDelete
  84. AnonymousSeptember 5, 2013 at 8:48 AM

    Thank you...that's working

    ReplyDelete
  85. AnonymousSeptember 22, 2013 at 3:34 PM

    Great,

    Thanks a lot!!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  86. Chris HOctober 31, 2013 at 3:59 AM

    Fantastic. Many thanks. Who would have thought a post you made four years ago would still be earning kudos. Nice!

    ReplyDelete
  87. AnonymousNovember 15, 2013 at 7:06 PM

    thanks :-)

    ReplyDelete
  88. AnonymousNovember 23, 2013 at 10:19 PM

    My options to start it are grayed out. please help :)

    ReplyDelete
  89. EricNovember 24, 2013 at 7:07 PM

    @Anonymous, sounds like either you don't have administrator privileges, or the Bluetooth Support Service is set to Disabled.

    I have updated the instruction. Try again and see if that resolve your problem ;)

    ReplyDelete
  90. AnonymousDecember 2, 2013 at 8:06 PM

    Awesome, it worked

    ReplyDelete
  91. ||Aham Bramhasmi||December 19, 2013 at 5:17 AM

    Thanks a ton.. It solved my problem.

    ReplyDelete
  92. ||Aham Bramhasmi||December 19, 2013 at 5:18 AM

    Thanks it solved my problem.

    ReplyDelete
  93. UnknownJanuary 6, 2014 at 11:53 AM

    Got the same problem, and restarting the service solved the issue for me as well.
    However I found another solution that worked even better for me as I really don't need Bluetooth support on my system: I simply disabled the Bluetooth driver.
    Just go to Device Manager -> Bluetooth Radios -> Generic Bluetooth Adapter, right-click, disable.
    After this I could stop again the Bluetooth Support Service without impacting the Safely Remove Hardware function.
    Not sure it would work on all configurations but at least it worked on mine...
    Hope this helps!

    ReplyDelete
  94. EricJanuary 6, 2014 at 7:15 PM

    Thanks Qoissi! I have added your findings in the post

    ReplyDelete
  95. UnknownJanuary 13, 2014 at 12:22 PM

    Fantastic how on earth did you figure that one out

    ReplyDelete
  96. UnknownJune 28, 2014 at 1:18 AM

    All respect for you! Thank's man!!

    ReplyDelete
  97. AhmadAugust 15, 2014 at 5:45 AM

    THAAANK YOOOU :)

    ReplyDelete
  98. Naibedya KarMarch 13, 2015 at 2:27 AM

    Thanks a lot man. This is really helpful. I was going to format my machine for this problem.

    ReplyDelete
  99. jfvmanJune 25, 2015 at 7:23 AM

    That was it!

    ReplyDelete
  100. UnknownJuly 16, 2015 at 12:57 AM

    Oh my, Thank you so much, I was supposed to call a friend to see whats wrong. Fortunately he was still busy that's why told myself what the heck, I could find probably someone at the internet for information. luckily I found your site... thanks a lot again.

    ReplyDelete
  101. UnknownSeptember 1, 2015 at 2:15 PM

    I Had same problem , after lots of attemps it still did not show my device to safe remove.
    But after the computer updated the service pack all was fine.

    ReplyDelete
  102. trindfloOctober 7, 2015 at 8:54 AM

    I had Safely Remove show up when a USB drive was inserted, but no drive letter appeared; only '...'. The problem was a missing \Program Files\Internet Explorer\ieproxy.dll.

    Note: this directory was not in the path; it must be a static reference with a hard-coded directory name.

    ReplyDelete
  103. Gabriel PinzónMarch 17, 2016 at 5:49 PM

    Thanks a lot for the solution, it worked for me even if Bluetooth support service apparently has nothing to do with USB ports and the device and printers option from Control panel.

    ReplyDelete
  104. mnesblueMarch 29, 2016 at 11:52 PM

    Thanks a lot, very very much..
    It works very good and the problem is solved.

    ReplyDelete
  105. VroomfondelJuly 23, 2017 at 2:46 AM

    This solution hasn't worked for me.

    I have used Windows 7 Professional for four years on a ThinkPad Edge (this appears to be ThinkPad connected) and never encountered this problem until I used Windows Update. It was turned off until a week ago when my HDD failed and I had to restore a WindowsImage from 2 years ago (to a replacement HDD) following which I decided to update Windows. So now Safely Remove Device works OK at Startup then gets VERY slow, as does Shutdown IF I have tried to Safely Remove Device during the session.

    Playing with BT settings or uninstalling USB Controllers has caused the Safely Remove function to work momentarily.

    I'm still searching for a definitive solution...

    ReplyDelete
  106. tkfJuly 9, 2018 at 9:28 AM

    so far none of suggested solutions have worked. No eject option for usb drive(s) in Windows Explorer. No drives/devices listed in Safely Remove Hardware tool. Created shortcut for ejecting using run cmd - it at least will list the USB drive but Stop doesn't work - says its not removable. Checked bluetooth services. Running. Tried unplugging from ethernet/wifi and disabling securitiy (eset). No difference. Any other suggestions? Have not yet tried the last option found (sfc)...
    Running windows 7 64bit professional. Don't recall when it quit working.

    ReplyDelete

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