You can remove usb's safely without the Remove safely tool.

I am on Vista but this should work on xp:

Right-click the notification area, and select Properties.

Under the Notification area heading on Taskbar tab, check Hide inactive icons, then click Customize button.

Find and select Safely Remove Hardware icon and select Always show.

In the dropdown below the Behavior column next to it.
Click OK and Apply.

Uncheck Hide inactive icons.

Ginny see if this helps...
Right-click the taskbar, and select Properties.
Under the Notification area heading on Taskbar tab, check Hide inactive icons, then click Customize button.
Find and select Safely Remove Hardware icon and select Always show in the dropdown below the Behavior column next to it. Click OK and Apply. Uncheck Hide inactive icons.

I keep mine hidden when not active and keep the check in the Hide inactive icons.

Bob

A trick that you can use so that you wont have to worry about the icon again is to create a 'shortcut' on your desktop.

Right click on the desktop and choose new Shortcut.

In the location field type (or copy and paste this) %windir%\System32\RUNDLL32.EXE shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL hotplug.dll.

Click Next then Finish.

This will give you a desktop icon to click which will bring up the 'Safely Remove' screen.

The icon will say Rundll32 but you can rename it to whatever you wish by right clicking on the icon and then clicking on Rename.

I tried jestme4now's first suggestion but when I got to the "find and select Safely Remove Hardware icon and select Always show................that option wasn't there.

I then tried justme4now's shortcut trick and I get this message after clicking on the shortcut I made on the desktop.

The popup screen main title is:
Problem ejecting usb mass storage device

The message is "the device "generic volume" cannot be stopped because a program is still accessing it.

Thanks for the ideas; just wish they worked. Maybe I should just settle for unplugging it after a period of time.

Ginny

turn off the pc and remove while it is turned off then see if you have it back after rebooting

The shortcut that you created looks like it is working.
The problem now is .. what is running when you try to stop the device?
Go to task manager, click on 'applications' to see what is running on the device and you can stop it from there. (Task Manager)

As I said in my other post: You can remove a usb device safely, without worry, even without the 'safely remove' option.

removing any device with out using the safely remove icon can cause corruption of the info on the device as well as on the pc which is why they provide the safely remove option. Doing it with out may work but it could also end up with something corrupted. It has to do with write caching, Using the Safely Remove the device ensures all caches are flushed and the device is in a known state.

How to safely remove your USB drive when Safely Remove Hardware icon disappears from the system tray

Safely Remove Hardware
good instructions and explanation

Ravencajun I just followed your suggestions. The first one I tried and it didn't work. The second one may have provided the answer.

I can't copy and paste the screens so I'll describe them:

LESAR DIGITAL FILM USB Device Pr

Under the "policies" tab
"Optimize for quick removal" is bulleted (what's that called?)....... "This setting disables write caching on the disk and in Windows. so you can disconnect this device without using the Safe Removal icon."

The other tab is
"Optimize for performance." This setting enables write caching in Windows to improve disk performance. To disconnect this device from the computer, click the Safely Remove Hardware icon in the taskbar notification area.

It sounds to me like I can leave it like it is and just disconnect after finished and waiting a few minutes.

It also sounds like using the second method will "optimize the performance" of the USB drive......whatever that means.

Unless otherwise recommended, I'll leave it as it is.

Thanks so much!!

Ginny

Totally agree with RC using the feature is a must. It only takes once and boom you're in it. Historically the failures are one of two; the work product becomes read only, or the data is lost and the drive area cannot be reclaimed for future use. Since being on the thumb drive shows the data is "special" why take the chance?

DA

Thanks for the tip about how to have any one of the icons always show. I never knew one could do that.

I went back and changed it to "Optimize for Performance" but I don't see the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon showing up still. If I have to re-boot to get it to show up what about the flash drive that is still plugged in.
Ginny

the flash drive that is plugged in can always be removed safely when the pc is turned off that means everything is stopped so it always safe to remove in that case. If all else fails you can always safely remove any usb device by shutting down the pc.

for vista and 7 there is an MS fixit that may take care of this problem
System icons do not appear in the notification area in Windows Vista or in Windows 7 until you restart the computer

When I rebotted I saw the "recognize new hardware" icon pop up and I believe I also saw the icon to click to that I would use to "safely remove hardware."

After I put a file on the flash drive and wanted to remove the flash drive, the icon was gone. I did the steps outlined above and saw that "Optimize for Quick Removal" was once again bulleted.

I'd say this computer has a mind of it's own!!

Does right clicking on the F drive/flash drive and selecting "eject" do anything good?

For now it's shut down and then remove I guess.

Ginny

yes if F drive is your flash drive and that is the one you are trying to stop and remove right clicking it and eject will work. Many times though when the missing icon is happening sometimes the eject option is not working too. But if you can then yes eject will make it stop and clear.

Thanks Ravencajun and all who helped with this problem!
Ginny

Ravencajun, I have a question for you. I have my removable disk in and it won't let me safely remove it. The device generic volume cannot be stopped right now keeps coming up.
I have my pictures on there and don't want to lose them. I use Ulead Photo Explorer to view them, I have been deleting extra copys on there. I did go to Task Manager and clicked applications and two things were running in there. 1.)Safely remove hardware icon gone in XP C 2.)Ulead Photo Explorer 8.0 F:\ Running. If I stop them will I lose my pictures? Please, could you give me advice on this problem. Thank you.

I've been doing what ravencajun sugested as told to me on this forum yes if F drive is your flash drive and that is the one you are trying to stop and remove right clicking it and eject will work.. I never knew what that icone was for
I haven't had a problem yet.

Adchristi, close Ulead Photo, then you wont get that error message..with that open the usb drive is still working..close it before trying to remove the usb drive and all should be good