Many times we face USB device related problems in Windows. These problems might be related to your USB thumb drive, USB hard disk or USB printer. A common example of USB related problems is when Windows doesn't allow you to eject the USB device using Safely Remove Hardware dialog box.
Sometimes nothing happens when you click on Safely Remove Hardware icon present in system tray (notification area) of Taskbar or sometimes Windows shows error message that the USB device can't be ejected currently.
To solve all these annoying problems related to USB devices in Windows, Microsoft has released a new Fix It tool. This free tool automatically diagnoses and repairs all common issues related to USB devices in Windows.
This Fix It checks following issues in Windows:
- USB device is not recognized
- USB printer device is not printing
- USB storage device cannot be ejected
If your USB device is not recognized when you plug it into a USB port on your computer, it may occur if upper and lower filters are being used in the registry and are corrupt.
If your USB printer device is not printing, it may be caused by a failed print attempt or other issues. You may be unable to unplug the USB printer in this situation.
Many times your USB storage device cannot be ejected using the Safely Remove Hardware dialog. You may see the error "Windows can't stop your 'Generic volume' device because a program is still using it. Close any programs that might be using the device, and then try again later."
Most of the times these all USB device problems occur when Windows Update is configured to never update drivers. Driver updates are not automatically installed when detected by Windows Update. Therefore, your USB device drivers may be out of date.
USB Fix It tool automatically checks all these issues and fixes them if required.
You can download it using following link:
Thanks to our friend "Rob Margel" for sharing it...
Posted by: Vishal Gupta | Categories: Troubleshooting, Windows 7, Windows Vista
dedndave
Hi Vishal,
I was wondering when this article was published.
I don't find any date.
Dave
VG
^^ It was posted earlier this year. Dates are not shown on posts and comments because of a bug in the plugin which we are using to control spam comments and other things in this blog. I have mentioned it in past as well. ;)
andrei
this fails, I get the same error message while Fix It is trying to do its thing. Thanks for nothing, I still must close the computer in order to eject the USB harddrive.
FA
Typical Microsoft crap. You get another application which tells you the same error. Thanks for nothing.