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:

Anonymous said...

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

Anonymous said...

thanx, worked first time.

Unknown said...

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!!!

Eric Choy said...

Glad to hear it was helpful :)

Anonymous said...

thank you so much, instant solution!

Mrmot said...

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

JiMMaR said...

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

Anonymous said...

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!!

Ari Handoko said...

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

Thank you very much.

Eric Choy said...

:)

Anonymous said...

Thank you very much!

Anonymous said...

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.

Unknown said...

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?

Eric Choy said...

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 :)

Anonymous said...

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

Anonymous said...

Thanks! Been wondering about this for months!

Unknown said...

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

Junoman said...

Thanks a thousand!

Dave said...

THANKS!!!!!

I spent ages trying to figure that out ...

Jonny said...

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.

jyoti said...

thanks it works

Anonymous said...

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

Das said...

Thank you All.....

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

Jen said...

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!!

Anonymous said...

Thanks heaps! Worked for me too.

Jim said...

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.

Anonymous said...

Thank you :) It worked lika a charm.

Ramprasad said...

thanks very much dude... it worked instantly

Anonymous said...

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

Namarion said...

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

Anonymous said...

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

From Jeffrey

Anonymous said...

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.

PPC said...

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!

cosmosveda said...

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

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much - your solution solved my problem immediately!

Niloy said...

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 :)

Eric said...

Thanks for the comments above :)

I have added the startup type info in my post.

Anonymous said...

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

Anonymous said...

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

Anonymous said...

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

Keano said...

It worked ! thank you.

Anonymous said...

its worked thanks a lot

Anonymous said...

worked great thank you!!!

Anonymous said...

worked perfect!!! wonderful...

Anonymous said...

Amazing! Worked instantly.

Deefex said...

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!!!!

Unknown said...

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

Eric said...

@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.

Anonymous said...

THANK YOU!!!

Anonymous said...

THANK YOU!!!

Anonymous said...

Thank you.

Anonymous said...

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

Anonymous said...

thank you so much!!!

Anonymous said...

thanks a lot for the tip.

Anonymous said...

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

Anonymous said...

Thanks Eric, This helped to resolve my problem..

Anonymous said...

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???

Anonymous said...

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

rambo said...

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

Anonymous said...

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

Anonymous said...

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.

Anonymous said...

Thanks a lot it worked.

arvipat said...

great successful solution

Anonymous said...

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

Anonymous said...

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

Eric said...

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?

Eartha.on.Earth said...

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

so brilliant ~!!!!

Anonymous said...

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

旋律 said...

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!

Eric said...

@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

Anonymous said...

Worked like a charm

旋律 said...

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

Eric said...

@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

旋律 said...

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

Eric said...

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

旋律 said...

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

Anonymous said...

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...

Anonymous said...

thank u it worked ...

Anonymous said...

Awesome

Thanks

Anonymous said...

thank you for this info!

Tony said...

working... thanks alot

Anonymous said...

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

Anonymous said...

YES! YOU ARE BRILLIANT - well done

Anonymous said...

Thank you...that's working

Anonymous said...

Great,

Thanks a lot!!!!!!!

Chris H said...

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

Anonymous said...

thanks :-)

Anonymous said...

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

Eric said...

@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 ;)

Anonymous said...

Awesome, it worked

||Aham Bramhasmi|| said...

Thanks a ton.. It solved my problem.

||Aham Bramhasmi|| said...

Thanks it solved my problem.

Unknown said...

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!

Eric said...

Thanks Qoissi! I have added your findings in the post

Unknown said...

Fantastic how on earth did you figure that one out

Unknown said...

All respect for you! Thank's man!!

Ahmad said...

THAAANK YOOOU :)

Naibedya Kar said...

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

jfvman said...

That was it!

Unknown said...

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.

Unknown said...

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.

trindflo said...

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.

Gabriel Pinzón said...

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.

mnesblue said...

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

Vroomfondel said...

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...

tkf said...

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.