How to detect which process is preventing you from ejecting a USB “in use” even if nothing is open

Ejecting a USB device may seem very simple, but sometimes Windows prevents you from doing so, claiming it's "in use" when in fact no files are open. This blockage is often caused by hidden processes and background services. Today we'll show you how. How to detect which process prevents you from ejecting a USB “in use” even if nothing is open and how to release the drive safely and efficiently.

How to detect which process is preventing you from ejecting a USB “in use” without anything open

Detecting which process is preventing you from ejecting an "in-use" USB drive is the first step to safely freeing the drive. If you're trying to remove a USB drive and you get an error message telling you the device is in use when it's not, don't worry, you're not alone. To determine what is preventing extraction you can use:

• The Task Manager.
• The Windows Event Viewer.
• The Resource Monitor.

Use Task Manager to detect which process is preventing you from ejecting a USB.

The first way to detect which process is preventing you from ejecting a USB is by using the Task Manager. From there you can see all the processes that are running at that precise moment time. To do this, follow the steps below:

1. Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open the Task Manager (or simply right-click on the Windows Start button and select it).
2. Go to "Processes".
3. Look for suspicious processes that may be accessing or using files on the USB drive. For example, Office may have a document open; VLC, a video, or Photoshop, an image.
4. If you find any process, right click on it and select “Finish homework".

From the Windows Event Viewer

The Windows Event Viewer can also help you detect which process is preventing you from safely ejecting a USB. To do this, search for ID 225 in the system log to obtain information about it. Here are the steps Detailed steps for using Event Viewer:

1. Open the Events viewer by typing “Event Viewer” in the Windows Start menu (you can also press Windows + R and type event.vwr and press Enter).
2. Navigate to Windows logs and then to System.
3. Click on Filter current record.
4. In “Event IDs” type: 225 and click OK.
5. Done. This will display the kernel warnings indicating the name of the responsible process.

If you click on the event that appears, You will see the process ID (PID)So, to find out which process the ID corresponds to, open Task Manager, go to the Details tab, and look for the PID number to see which process is blocking it. Then, if it's safe to do so, right-click it and select End Task. Finally, try ejecting the USB again.

Using the Resource Monitor

Another way to detect which process is preventing you from ejecting a USB drive “in use” is to use Resource Monitor. Press Windows + R, type resmon and press EnterOnce there, go to the Disk tab and see which processes are accessing the USB drive. You'll see them as E:\, F:\, etc. This will give you a clue as to which process may be interfering with the USB drive removal.

What to do after detecting which process is preventing you from ejecting a USB?

After detecting which process prevents you from ejecting a USB “in use” without anything open, you must take steps to solve the problemIf ending the task or restarting it from Task Manager doesn't offer a solution, you can try the alternatives mentioned below.

Shut down or restart your PC after detecting which process is preventing you from ejecting a USB.

A temporary solution when you can't eject a USB safely is to shut down or restart your PC. To do this, do not remove the device directlyInstead, shut down or restart your computer normally. Only after the computer has stopped all operations should you remove the USB device. Doing so can prevent further damage to the USB.

Eject the USB from Disk Management

Another way to Ejecting a USB drive is done using Disk Management.. To achieve this, follow these steps:

1. Enter Windows File Explorer.
2. Right-click on This PC.
3. Now click on Show More Options – Manage.
4. Under Storage, click Disk Management.
5. Find and right-click the USB drive you want to remove and click Eject. (If it's a hard drive, you'll need to choose "Unmount." The next time you reconnect it, you'll need to return to Disk Management and set it to "On Screen.")

Eject the USB from Device Manager

You can also try Eject the USB from Device ManagerTo that end, follow these steps:

1. Go to Control Panel – Hardware and Sound – Devices and Printers.
2. Now click on Device Manager – Disk Drives.
3. Right-click on the USB device and select Uninstall.
4. Click OK, wait for the process to complete, and then remove the device.

Repair the system by commands

To detect which processes are preventing you from ejecting a USB “in use” and fix it at the same time, you can use the sfc /scannow commandThis command detects and repairs corrupted system files that could be interfering with functions such as safely removing a USB drive. To use this command correctly, follow the steps below:

1. Open the Command Prompt as administrator: Press Windows + S and type cmd.
2. Right-click Command Prompt and select Run as administrator.
3. Run sfc / scannow.
4. Wait for the analysis, which may take between 5 and 15 minutes. Don't close the window until it's finished.
5. Finally, you need to interpret the results. If it says “Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations,” everything is fine. But if it says “Windows Resource Protection found corrupted files and successfully repaired them” Reboot and try ejecting the USB.