This tutorial will show you how to use Safely Remove Hardware for removeable storage devices in Windows 11.
To avoid losing data, it's important to remove external hardware like hard drives and USB drives safely.
Safely Remove Hardware allows you to safely shutdown and eject a "removable" storage device before unplugging or disconnecting it to help prevent accidental data loss if data were still currently being copied or saved to or from the device.
If you have the removal policy (write caching) for a removable device set to quick removal, you can disconnect the device safely without needing to use Safely Remove Hardware.
Contents
- Option One: Safely Remove Hardware from Taskbar Corner
- Option Two: Safely Remove Hardware in File Explorer
- Option Three: Safely Remove Hardware in Safely Remove Hardware dialog
- Option Four: Safely Remove Hardware in Settings
- Option Five: Safely Remove Hardware in Disk Management
1 Click/tap on the Safely Remove Hardware icon on the taskbar corner. (see screenshot below step 2)
2 Click/tap on the removable device you want to safely remove. (see screenshot below)
3 You will now see a Safe To Remove Hardware notification. (see screenshot below)
1 Open This PC in File Explorer (Win+E).
2 Right click on the removable drive you want to remove, and click/tap on Eject. (see screenshot below)
3 You will now see a Safe To Remove Hardware notification. (see screenshot below)
I never could get this option to work for me, so your milage may vary.
1 Open Run (Win+R).
2 Copy and paste the target below into Run, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)
rundll32 shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL hotplug.dll3 Select the removable device you want to safely remove, and click/tap on Stop. (see screenshot below)
4 Select the removable device you want to safely remove again to confirm, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)
5 I kept getting the error below, but normally the removable device would get removed. (see screenshot below)
1 Open Settings (Win+I).
2 Click/tap on Bluetooth & devices on the left side, and click/tap on Devices on the right side. (see screenshot below)
Open Devices settings
3 Click/tap on the More (3 dots) button for the removable device you want to remove, and click/tap on Remove device. (see screenshot below)
4 Click/tap on Yes to confirm. (see screenshot below)
5 You can now close Settings if you like.
1 Open Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc).
2 Right click on the Disk # of the removable drive you want to remove, and click/tap on Eject. (see screenshot below)
3 You can now close Disk Management if you like.
That's it,
Shawn Brink
Last edited:
