Device busy - how can I see what's using it


jimbo45

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Hi folks
I'm sure there's a way to find out what's using this device - I'm no Windows expert so it might be easy - in linux it's a doddle with pid etc etc but in Windows - I've no idea. The device was originally used to run Macrium to image my W11 system which completed properly and closed, but the device still remains "busy". W11 running on a Real system - not a VM just to add info.

Any Ideas please

dev.png

Surely in 2021 though any sensible OS should be able to diagnose what the problem is and display a sensible message such as process xxxx or application yyyy is holding a lock, enqueue, or using this device . The OS has obviously detected that the device can't be released so c'mon OS writers -- these days it can't be that difficult to add sensible stuff into the kernel, dispatcher or task manager. It's not 1970's where every byte counted. !!!


Cheers
jimbo
 
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Try Sysinternals from Microsoft, it's tools are much more powerful that those in the OS Process Explorer is probably the best place to start - and you will be pleased to know there are CLI versions of a lot of the tools :wink:
 

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Try Sysinternals from Microsoft, it's tools are much more powerful that those in the OS Process Explorer is probably the best place to start - and you will be pleased to know there are CLI versions of a lot of the tools :wink:
Thanks

Good idea !!

Cheers
jimbo
 

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Also check event viewer, custom views, Administrator Events and check for event ID 225 in the list.
 

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@jimbo45 It is much wiser to start with what you already have, ie start with Task Manager and Services.
Also try find up what runs in background. For this You can use additionally to before named managers the Resource Monitor.
 

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Hi folks
I'm sure there's a way to find out what's using this device - I'm no Windows expert so it might be easy - in linux it's a doddle with pid etc etc but in Windows - I've no idea. The device was originally used to run Macrium to image my W11 system which completed properly and closed, but the device still remains "busy". W11 running on a Real system - not a VM just to add info.

Any Ideas please

View attachment 4168

Surely in 2021 though any sensible OS should be able to diagnose what the problem is and display a sensible message such as process xxxx or application yyyy is holding a lock, enqueue, or using this device . The OS has obviously detected that the device can't be released so c'mon OS writers -- these days it can't be that difficult to add sensible stuff into the kernel, dispatcher or task manager. It's not 1970's where every byte counted. !!!


Cheers
jimbo
I wonder if admin cmd script (diskpart) will work on this.
 

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    Moderna :)
Any Ideas please
Process Explorer, Find menu, Find Handle or DLL, but the culprit will likely be explorer.exe. The Recycle Bin can cause this problem. Right-click on Recycle Bin, select the disk in question and then click on Don't move files to the Recycle Bin and OK. It can help to exclude the drive in Windows Defender too.
 

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