Windows won't release drive letter on disconnecting USB drive 1

[euston]

Windows won't release the drive letter on disconnecting removable USB drive. I have used the correct 'Unplug or Eject Hardware' procedure. The drive stubbornly remains displayed in Windows Explorer. It cannot be deleted.




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[wolluf]

what not even from disk management?

 

[euston]

Thanks for the reply Wolluf. The device does disappear from view in Disk Management after being stopped in the correct way but it remains on view in Windows Explorer. If I repeatedly plug a USB Mass Storage Device in, a new drive letter is allocated each time until Z: is reached and then after that it becomes known as 'Generic volume' but is invisible in Windows Explorer. It is however on view in Disk Management.

To clear the locked up drive letters, I have to shutdown and restart.

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[euston]

I reinstalled Windows 2000. The problem was very likely software to drive a multi memory card reader. What a silly sausage I am!!!!

I expect that most problems reported in these pages are down to such mistakes.



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[euston]

Well blow me! I reinstalled Windows. All seemed well but now the problem is back. Does anyone have any clues to offer? I am stumped.

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[euston]

Right then. I know why this problem occurs and what the fix is. MS have issued several different versions of a file called 'mountmgr.sys' which lives and works in C:\winnt\system32\drivers\.

The one that definitely causes the problem is dated 16Aug2005 and is 30160 bytes in size. The version that I substituted is dated 2Dec2004 and is 30384 bytes in size. I know of no version number to identify versions.

This problem also occurs with Windows XP. It beats me how MS can fail to notice such a defect, let alone supersede software which does not have this defect.

I should award myself a star but modesty and intellectual honesty (and probably Tek-tips) forbid.





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[maxthedork]

Excellent troubleshooting and solution, you get a star (-:

 

[Freestone]

I'd give you a star too except your problem appears isolated. In my XP environment I can plug my thumb drive in, unplug it using the Safely Remove Hardware tray icon, plug it back in, repeat till the cows come home and it always gets the same drive letter upon insertion and disappears from Explorer when removed.

Does it matter what kind of removable drive are you using?

 

[shenrei]

Recently about 2 weeks ago, I began experiencing this problem myself, except under Windows XP. Scouring through numerous forums via google did not yield a solution.

However, today, I believe I have discovered the fix to this problem, hence, me posting on here

If you are running Windows XP, and have SPYWARE DOCTOR installed, then uninstall it. Windows should now release the drive letter assigned to your USB drive whenever it is ejected or unplugged.