shortcut to safely remove hardware

[shanemarkley]

Is there any other way to access the "Safely Remove Hardware" feature other than in the system tray? I wanted to somehow create sometype of shortcut to it on the desktop so it is easy for users to access.

[pip22]

Don't know how you could do that, but what's wrong with it where it is? Couldn't be much simpler than that! Who are these other users - monkeys?

[shanemarkley]

There are 60 laptops we check out to patrons that swap back and forth between a floppy and DVD ROM drive, but the laptops haven't been consistant about displaying the icon in the system tray and I haven't found another way to access it

[pip22]

Not sure if this is relevant, but regarding the 'inconsistent' icon, are you sure all the laptops are configured NOT to hide inactive icons?

[shanemarkley]

Yes. The funny part is, I have all the laptops configured witht he exact same image. So there isn't another way to access that feature?

[xlntxpert]

To find out which process is blocking a removable device, and kill it, is EASY.

First download the FREE Sysinternals Process Explorer(PE)

http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilitie...sExplorer.html

Start PE and add the "Window Title" column under View - "Select Columns...",

and then do a Find - "Find Handle...", followed by a "Find DLL...".

Just type the root to the drive. If your device is R: you type R:\

and press Enter. If there are hits just click on one, and the handle/DLL

is highlighted inside the process holding it. Then close the Lower Pane(Ctrl+L).

Enter or double-click THE PROCESS and see if there is a "Services" tab.

If so, the responsible service(s) therein must be stopped. It is NOT recommended

(in fact, usually impossible) to try to just kill the process.

To stop and start services issue Start - Run... services.msc

or issue NET START at a command line to get a list using the long "Display Name", and

NET STOP servicename
or
NET START servicename

Tip: You can use the short "Service" name from PE or the long "Display Name".

There is no general answer to which service(s) must be stopped. Use your brain, guess and test.

If there is no "Services" tab, or no services are registered, try stopping the process

the way you would normally do. If it has a hidden window, you can activate it by

right clicking and select Window - "Bring to Front".

If neither of these work, try stopping the process by right clicking and select

"Kill Process".

Note: "Kill Process Tree" also kills all processes started by the parent(the selected process).

[xlntxpert]

Forget the above, wrong reply to wrong thread.

The shortcut to "Safely Remove Hardware applet", AKA hotplug.dll, is

%windir%\system32\rundll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL hotplug.dll

If you also want the icon specify: hotplug.dll

This is EASILY unveiled using the FREE Sysinternals Process Explorer(PE)

http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilitie...sExplorer.html

Just start "Safely Remove Hardware", and in PE first add the "Window Title" column

under View - "Select Columns...", and then locate RUNDLL32.EXE - - "Run a DLL as an App"

-- "Safely Remove Hardware", hit Enter or double-click and inspect the "Command line".

Using this method you can find out any and all shortcuts you want.

Here is a detailed instruction on how to create the link and a tool

to fix a corrupt SystemTray

http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/f...hreadId=859653