How To Eject USB Devices Safely

When ejecting a USB device, you may get the following error message:

The device ‘generic volume’cannot be stopped right now. Try stopping the device again later.

This error usually comes because some files from the USB device are being used or open by some running process. You can’t eject the device until you close all the files that are open from the USB device. Sometimes, even though we have closed all the programs but the USB eject still displays the same error. This is because some process is accessing the file. There are several ways to see which files are open from USB device. Two of them are as under.

Method 1: Using EjectUSB

EjectUSB is a small utility which will automatically close all the files that are being used from the USB device and then eject the USB for safe removal.

How to use EjectUSB

Just download EjectUSB from the below link:
Download EjectUSB




Extract the zip file and then copy EjectUSB.exe and EjectUSB.ini in your Windows folder (C:\Windows). This is recommended for easy access from your Run menu.

Now whenever you want to eject your USB device, just go to Start –> Run –> ejectusb O:
(Replace O is your USB drive you want to eject)

This will automatically close all the open files from your USB device and then eject it automatically.

Method 2: Using Filemon

If you want to see which files are open from your USB device and manually close all of them, then you should use this method. Download Filemon from below. Unzip it.

Run Filemon.exe. It will show up all the files that are open in your computer.

Now go to Volumes menu and select No Volumes. This will deselect all the selected volumes. Now go to Volumes menu again and select your USB drive. This will give you all the files that are open from your USB drive.

Now you can see which files are open from your USB drive and which process is using it. Identifying that, you can easily close the process to release the file.