Windows 11 bug breaks safe removal of USB devices

It may be something that we are all guilty of failing to do each and every time, but using Windows' Safely Remove Hardware option before disconnecting a USB drive is highly recommended. Sadly, this handy safety feature seems to be broken in Windows 11 2022 Update.

The point of ejecting media using this method is to ensure that Windows has stopped reading from and writing to the drive before it is unplugged. In certain circumstances, users are reporting that instead of being informed that it is safe to remove their device, they see a message that reads Problem Ejecting USB Mass Storage Device.

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• Microsoft fixes bug that blocked upgrades to Windows 11 2022 Update
• Microsoft PC Manager is a new Windows optimization app currently available in beta
• Microsoft is annoyed with security firm that discovered misconfigured server exposing sensitive customer data

While far from idea, the problem should not affect too many people. As reported by Ghacks, the issues only appears to rear its ugly head when Task Manager is running.

Upon trying to eject a device when Task Manager is open, users are informed that Windows is not able to stop the device in question because a program is still using it. Although error message makes no suggestion as to which application is at fault, tests show that it is Task Manager that is to blame.

Although Microsoft is yet to acknowledge the issue it is very easy to replicate and, thankfully, very easy to fix -- or at least easy to avoid. If you need to safely eject a USB drive from your Windows 11 computer, simply ensure that Task Manager is not running and you should be fine.

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