Table of contents:
How the error problem ejecting USB mass storage appears on screen?
Is it safe to unplug the device when it says USB device in use?
Causes for the problem ejecting USB mass storage device error
How to fix problem ejecting USB mass storage device?
How does the USB error appear on the screen?
You might run into a few different flavors of this USB error message. Here are some of the most common ones you’ll see pop up:
- This device is currently in use. Close any programs or windows that might be using the device and then try again.
- Windows is unable to stop the device. Don’t remove the device while it is in use. Close any program using the device and then remove it.
- The device ‘Generic volume’ cannot be stopped right now. Try stopping the device again later.
Is it safe to unplug the device when it says USB device in use?
When you hit a problem ejecting USB mass storage device error, pulling the drive out anyway isn’t safe. You risk corrupting the drive and everything stored on it.
Yanking your drive out abruptly is a gamble, so it’s best to avoid doing that, especially while any read or write process is underway.
What causes the problem ejecting USB mass storage device?
A handful of things can trigger ejection issues with your USB drive. Here are some of the usual suspects:
- A virus running quietly in the background on the external drive.
- A computer bug that interferes with your PC and blocks the Eject media option in the taskbar.
- Some other process using the external media in the background.
- A USB drive that wasn’t formatted properly.
Why can’t Windows eject my volume device?
Nine times out of ten, it is because Windows considers the volume part of a multi-partition device and will not let go of one partition while another is in use. This shows up most on drives with a recovery partition or a bootable utility partition alongside the main storage area, something a single-partition flash drive never runs into.
The other common case: the volume is mounted but has no drive letter assigned, usually after a dirty unplug the last time around. Windows still tracks it internally even though it is invisible in File Explorer. Open Disk Management (right-click the Start button, select it from the list), find the volume, and check whether it shows a letter. If it does not, right-click it and assign one before trying to eject again.
A volume shadow copy task can also hold a lock on it silently. This is rare on personal drives, more common on drives that have been used for backups.
Why is SSD not ejecting?
An external SSD usually will not eject for the same reason a flash drive will not: something on the drive is still open. Windows Search indexing is a frequent culprit with SSDs specifically, because the drive is fast enough that indexing finishes a background scan right as you click Eject, and that brief read lock is enough to throw the error.
There is a second cause that is more common with SSDs than with flash drives: the enclosure’s USB-to-SATA or USB-to-NVMe bridge chip. Some cheap bridge chips keep a cache write pending even after Windows reports the transfer complete, so the drive looks idle but is not. If you see this happen consistently on the same SSD, check the manufacturer’s site for a firmware update for the enclosure, not the drive itself.
Power settings can cause it too. Open Device Manager, expand Disk drives, right-click the SSD, go to Properties > Policies, and confirm Better performance is not selected if you eject often, since that mode holds write caching open longer than the default removal policy.
Fix USB device currently in use error with a quick settings check first
Before you touch Device Manager or Disk Management, there is a one-click option worth trying: open Settings > Devices > USB (Windows 11) or Settings > Devices > Bluetooth & other devices (Windows 10) and turn off USB selective suspend. This setting lets Windows power down idle USB ports to save battery, and on laptops it sometimes suspends a port mid-transfer, which leaves the drive in a state where Windows thinks a process is still using it even though nothing is.
You will find the same setting buried in Control Panel > Power Options > Change plan settings > Change advanced power settings > USB settings > USB selective suspend setting. Set it to Disabled for both
How to fix problem ejecting USB mass storage device?
To fix the problem ejecting your USB drive, work through the tried-and-tested methods below.
Here are a few basic troubleshooting steps to start with:
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- Close out every file and program open on your PC, then try safely ejecting the device again.
- Run a trusted antivirus scan on your PC to catch any virus or bug-related issues.
- Try ejecting the USB mass storage device from This PC (right-click the drive and select Eject).
- Turn off security software like Windows Defender or any third-party security software installed on your PC.
- To fix the problem ejecting your USB drive, you can also try signing out and back into your account. There are 4 different ways to sign out:
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- Click the Start icon >> Administrator icon >> Sign out.
- Press Windows + X >> Shut down or sign out >> Sign out.
- Press Ctrl + Alt + Del >> Sign out.
- Press Alt + F4, click the down-arrow icon and choose Sign out.
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Still running into the same error after trying the basics? Don’t worry, work through the next methods one at a time and check whether the error’s still showing up after each one.
Quick navigation
Method 1: Fix the Problem Ejecting Mass Storage Device via Device Manager
Method 2: Use Task Manager to Fix Problem Ejecting USB Mass Storage Device
Method 3: Fix the Problem Unable to eject USB Drive via Disk Management
Method 4: Format the USB Drive to Fix the Error Cannot Eject Mass Storage Device
As mentioned above, if you forced the ejection of your USB drive and now can’t find the files that were stored on it, you can easily recover your USB data with the help of a highly recommended tool.
The SFWare USB recovery tool helps you recovering data from corrupted drive easily. The tool is compatible with any USB flash drives such as Samsung, Kingston, SanDisk and etc. The tool helps recovery of data from corrupt USB across all Windows and Mac versions. Download the software now and try it for free…
Step 2: From the device list, find Disk Drives and expand it. You’ll see all the related USB storage devices listed there.
Step 3: Find the USB storage device that’s throwing the can’t-be-ejected error.
Step 4: Right-click the problem-causing device and select Uninstall device. Click OK to confirm and remove the device from your PC.
Once you’ve uninstalled the USB device, try removing it from your Windows computer and check whether the error’s still there. If you run into error 43 during this process, it means that Device manager stopped the hardware and reports Windows that it has some unspecified problem.
Method 2: Use Task Manager to Fix Problem Ejecting USB Mass Storage Device
You can check for and shut down all the background processes and programs running in Windows 11/10 using Task Manager.
Step 1: Type Task Manager into the search bar, or right-click a blank spot on the taskbar and select Task Manager from the list.
Step 2. Once you’re in the Task Manager window, you’ll see all the running processes and programs under the Process tab. If you don’t see that tab, click More details to bring it up.
Step 3. Next, look through the list of running processes and programs in Task Manager. Right-click anything that might be using your USB storage device and select End Task to shut it down.
Now you can safely remove the USB drive and see whether the problem ejecting USB Mass Storage Device, this device is currently in use error has cleared up.
Method 3: Fix the Problem Unable to eject USB Drive via Disk Management
Disk Management lets you manage your computer’s local hard disk, any external drive, and removable disks like USB drives and SD cards. Give this method a try to eject the problem-causing drive:
Step 1: Hold down Windows + R to open the Windows Run dialog. Type in diskmgmt.msc and hit Enter to open Disk Management.
Step 2: Select the problem-causing drive, then right-click the USB drive and click the Eject button.
Once Disk Management ejects the drive, you’ll get a pop-up saying it’s safe to remove the USB device. Now try unplugging your USB from your PC and check whether the “device is currently in use” error is gone.
If none of the above methods fix it for you, the problem might lie with your drive’s file system. Try reformatting the USB drive from NTFS to FAT.
Method 4: Format the USB Drive To Fix The Error Cannot Eject Mass Storage Device
The file system on your USB drive matters a lot here too. Flash drives default to FAT. If yours is formatted with a different file system, reformat it back to FAT for your device.
Important note: Formatting or reformatting of the USB drive will erase all the data stored in the drive. Make sure you have a backup of the data. Or use a USB recovery tool to recover data from formatted drive.
Steps to Recover Data from USB Displaying Error:
Download and install SFWare USB data recovery software. Plug your USB drive into your computer and follow these steps:
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- From the main screen, click Recover Drive, then select Formatted Recovery.
- Select the Drive you want to recover data from, the one displaying the cannot-eject-mass-storage-device error.
- SFWare scans the drive and gives you a list of all the recoverable USB drive files. Pick the file types you want to recover and click Next.
Preview the files before saving anything. Pick out the ones you need from the recovered files and save them wherever you’d like.
Once you’ve recovered your files from the USB drive, go ahead and format it.
Format the Drive to Fix the Problem Ejecting your USB
Step 1: Go to This PC, right-click the USB drive and select Format.
Step 2: Click the File system dropdown, which shows the other available file systems, and select FAT32 or exFAT. Click Start, then click OK to confirm the pop-up warning that your data will be permanently erased.
Once you’ve changed the file system on the drive, any related error should clear up, and you’ll be able to use your device without any trouble.
If you don’t have a backup of your important data, or you lost files during formatting, follow the steps below to recover data from a formatted USB drive.
The Bottom Line
With the methods above, you can fix the problem ejecting USB mass storage device error without much hassle. To head off this kind of issue down the road, keeping a backup folder really pays off in the long run. Feel free to reach out if you have any related questions.
