Lately, there have been several reports where users noticed that the safely remove hardware icon has been missing from their taskbars. This usually happens because either the icon is disabled from the taskbar settings or there are some problems with the system files.
How to fix safely remove hardware icon missing
Users have reported that the safely remove hardware icon is missing from the notification area in Windows 10. This not only occurs in Windows 10 but is also present in Windows 7 and XP. There are also issues where the safely remove hardware icon doesn’t show the devices currently connected to the computer. This guide targets to fix all these issues.
Solution 1: Enabling ‘Safely remove hardware’ from the taskbar
The icon and the module will not be shown in your taskbar if it has been disabled from the taskbar settings. It is possible that in the past you might have disabled the option and hence it refuses to be shown. We will open the settings and enable the module once again.
Note: You can also enable the taskbar option “Windows host process (Rundll32)” if the above doesn’t solve the issue on its own.
Solution 2: Disabling Quick Removal
USB devices have a technology called ‘Quick removal’ which disables write caching on the device and in Windows so you can plug it out without using the Safely remove hardware icon. This may increase accessibility but may reduce the performance. We can try changing this and see if this does the trick.
Solution 3: Checking ‘Plug and Play’ service
The service “Plug and Play” is responsible for synchronizing the entire procedure of the USB plugging in and out in your computer. This service detects the USB or hard drive connected to your computer and gets it ready for the data transfer to begin. We can check if this service is running properly.
Solution 4: Using the Run command
If all the above methods don’t work, you can try launching the safely remove hardware manually using the Run command on your computer. This may seem like a headache because you have to manually prompt the safely remove hardware. However, we will create a shortcut for it if this method works for you.
If this method work for you, you can create a shortcut for it anywhere on your Desktop. This will take care of the hassle of running the Run command every time.
Note: If all the method doesn’t work, you can go ahead and run an SFC scan on your computer. This scan will fix all the corrupt registries and if this module is broken, it will fix it.
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