Thank you, but I have tried all the obvious things. I was wondering if there is something obvious running, which can be detected maybe in the process list on task manager, but I do not know what to look for. It is always the same Western Digital SSD that does it, but as there is 1TB of data on it, it is hard to store it somewhere else, and then maybe reformat it, and try again. I only connect this drive to store something additional on it, once that is finished. I try to disconnect it again, occasionally that even works normal.
What make and model number is the USB drive enclosure? Is it a name brand, or did you cobble it together yourself? There may be a problem with the enclosure recognizing that it's safe to eject it. I would google and see if other people are having the same problem. Have you tried closing the Explorer and ejecting it from the icon in the system tray? (Silly question, but I've had problems with using "eject" on the context menu from the Explorer.) As a last resort, can you let us know what processes are running on your machine? Maybe someone can spot a process that might be jamming it up.
You can also try to remove OS locks to the drive with the Unlocker tool. It should show what process locks it.
This ejecting bug has been exist for a very long time, simply because it's doesn't have a proper permission to kill any process that use it - or at least warning the user that some process should killed first and give them a choice. It happen on any device, not only USB powered device, but a hot plug device too. Unlocker or any safely usb remover software often doesn't work either because they don't have a permission on system level. Signing out is the fastest way if you have that problem, or just shut down the computer and curse Microsoft. It's Microsoft after all.. a company that is more likely introduce a new bug rather than fixing the old bug..
Thanks, but this is a totally normal, even almost new, Western Digital 1TB, no extras, no frills, no encryption. I use it about once a months to transfer some files to it for storage. And usually I restart the computer after it happens, and then just disconnect it, That usually works. But... I remember some years ago, I had a similar problem and after unplugging that one after the re-start several times, (it was an HDD) it broke and most of the data was gone. So I am trying to understand what causes the problem in the first place. Next time it happens, I will post the process list...
It works but sometimes it can hang the logout. Depends on what's locking the drive it seems. There was a tool I used to use to view the hooks on the explorer.exe during XP days, you could kill the hook but I forgot what the name was on it.
I found out that task manger, blocks the safe removal of USB devices ( at least for me), close task manger and try again, it works for me 95% of the time
Prime suspects are any kinds of shell extension (the bad type) with DLLs installing hooks into other processes and opening large numbers of handles. In some cases (e. g. icons in context menu) these DLLs are already loaded when opening the right-click menu.
Well, I have a Linux installation on another/same desktop. I wanna see what happens when I do it there....