If you are stuck with a problem where you try to remove the pen drive from the system, an error message pops up stating – “The device ‘Generic volume’ cannot be stopped right now. Try stopping the device again later”. What if this simple process of using USB brings you a problem? Do not worry! With the help of the methods explained in the article here, you can easily fix the issue and recover any lost data from the USB drive.
The problem “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.” might occur when there are multiple programs running in the background. There may be uncertain factors that prevent pendrive from normal ejecting.
The problem appears on the Windows with the error message “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.”
The reason behind the error unable to eject the USB is multiple programs running in the background. Also, there may be uncertain factors that prevent pen drive from normal ejecting.
Irrespective of the reasons, you can fix the error and eject your pen drive/ USB without any hassle. Follow the, methods described in the next section and fix the generic volume cannot be stopped error.
Here are a few solutions for the problem, try one after the other and fix the error.
Explorer.exe is an executable code that has start menu, taskbar, file manager and other Microsoft programs. At times, the code runs in background and could create a trouble with other executable programs. To end explorer.exe, follow the steps given below:
Step 1: Right-click the taskbar >> Select Task Manager from the menu.
Step 2: Click on Task Manager Window under Processes tab >> Find the explorer.exe process.
Step 3: Once you find it, right-click on it >> Choose the End task option.
Now, verify if the error message “Windows can't stop your ‘Generic volume’ device because a program is still using it, the device is currently in use” pops up when you eject your hard drive.
When your USB drive has not been configured for quick removal, you may be unable to eject the drive and receive the error message. So, now configure your USB drive for quick removal
Step 1: Open File Explorer >> Right-click the USB drive >> Choose the Properties option
Step 2: Switch to the Hardware tab of the Properties window >> Choose the USB drive from the All disk drives list >> Click the Properties button
Step 3: Now, click the Change settings button under the General tab
Step 4: When another mini window will show up, switch to the Policies tab >> Select Quick removal(default) from the Remove policy section. Now click OK and save the change
Try ejecting the pen drive and see if you receive an error or not.
There are many ways to change the drive letter. This post introduces one of the ways – using Disk Management.
Step 1: Right-click the Windows icon on your taskbar and then choose Disk Management from the menu.
Step 2: On the Disk Management window, right-click the USB drive and then choose the Change Drive Letter and Paths option.
Step 3: You will see a mini window. Click the Change button on this window.
Step 4: Select Assign the following drive letter and then choose a new drive letter. Next, click the OK button to apply the change.
Step 5: You will receive a warning message. But don’t worry and click the Yes button.
To fix the error generic volume cannot be stopped in Windows, try to force a USB drive to be in the offline mode, you can either use Disk Management or Diskpart. However, most users reported that Offline option was unavailable in Disk Management. Therefore, to ensure the fixing process, DiskPart is used to force the USB drive to be in offline mode.
Step 1: To run Command Prompt as an administrator, type cmd in the Windows search bar and right-click the search result and then choose Run as administrator
Step 2: Once the Command Prompt window opens, type diskpart and then hit the Enter key to initiate the DiskPart utility.
Step 3: Then, run the following commands to force your USB drive to be in the offline mode. Note that you should hit the Enter key after typing each command.
After the completion of process, you can remove your USB drive from your computer physically. Make sure when you plug in the USB drive again, you should get the USB drive back online. To get it back online, all you have to do is, follow the above steps but change the last command to online disk at this time.
Whenever you find any trouble with USBs, the best method to fix them is to format of the drive the filesystem to the compatible filesystem. However, formatting the drive erases data. If you face generic volume cannot be stopped problem, check the file system of your pendrive and format the drive to FAT32.
Note: Formatting the drive will erase all the data existing on the drive. It is always rewarding to have back up of the data to avoid any data loss situations. if you have formatted the drive, and unable to access data from the drive, all you need is a USB Data Recovery Tool.
If you were unable to access data saved on the pendrive due to problem ejecting the mass storage device, make use of the most popular and professional recovery software. SFWare USB Data Recovery Software is the most recommended software to recover data from the Pen drive. irrespective of any brands and file system it possess, SFWare can scan each sector of the drive and recover files and folders from the drive.
Download and install the USB Recovery Tool on your system. Connect the USB drive to the system, and launch the application
1. Once you keep your data safe, you can ahead and format the drive by opening File Explorer >> Right click on the drive that is encountering the error >> Select Format.
2. Next, from the drop-down menu select the option of FAT32. Make sure you Check the box to Quick Format >> Click on Start.
3. If you haven’t taken any backup and you have lost all your data after formatting the drive, do not worry, you can still recover the formatted files from the pendrive using SFWare.
If you haven’t taken any backup and you have lost all your data after formatting the drive, do not worry, you can still recover the formatted files from the USB drive using SFWare USB recovery tool.
Conclusion:
With the help of above-mentioned methods, you will be able to fix the generic volume cannot be stopped error effectively. It is always recommended to run anti-virus before using the pen drive to keep your drive safe. Also, keep back up of your important files to avoid any data loss scenarios.
