whenever i try to safely remove mt flash drives attached to pc from windows i get an error that a program is using the drive. so i ran Process Monitor from sysinternals suite and it appears Explorer.exe an dropbox.exe is using the drive.

how can i fix this? the dropbox have no option set to any folder in the drive and i thought explorer should quit accessing the drive on default after pressing safe remove.

make sure you close any open windows and end task on that process.

I have the same problem with two mobile phones - my own Sony Ericsson W880i and my girl's LG KE850 Prada.

I run Win 7 x64 Ultimate.

make sure you close any open windows and end task on that process.

thats the issue! which process? i cant restart he explorer.exe every time i wanna eject a flash drive.

Most certainly Dropbox is what's causing that.

USB drives/sticks/etc can be removed by just unplugging them. Everything will be fine. There is no need to "safely remove".

However, if you do have the need for that in case you use a backup program or other application that requires the safe un-mounting of an external device, uninstall Dropbox to see if it is what's causing the problem.

Many apps that rely on the file system or attach themselves to explorer, tend to prevent the safe removal.

A third party solution exists, that you may want to try:

HotSwap

http://mt-naka.com/hotswap/index_enu.htm

cannot say if it has more "forcibly" disabling optons.

jaclaz

A third party solution exists, that you may want to try:

HotSwap

http://mt-naka.com/hotswap/index_enu.htm

cannot say if it has more "forcibly" disabling optons.

jaclaz

Are you sure there's no virus in your computer?

A third party solution exists, that you may want to try:

HotSwap

http://mt-naka.com/hotswap/index_enu.htm

cannot say if it has more "forcibly" disabling optons.

jaclaz

i tried it but the same error. keeps saying a program is using the device.

i tried quiting the dropbox but no luck.