Safely remove hardware icon is missing it is not hidden when you went to customize notification found by right clicking on the system tray you found a folder called safely remove hardware under past y?

Answer 1

If you've seen the "Safely remove hardware icon" before, but it no longer appears, this method may work.

Under Windows XP, right-click on the system tray (where the clock is).

Ensure that "Lock the Taskbar" is not ticked.

Select "Properties" and the "Taskbar and Start Menu Properties" window is displayed.

Under the "Taskbar" tab, check the "Hide inactive icons" box.

The "Customize..." button is now active.

Click "Customize..." and the "Customize Notifications" window is displayed.

Scroll down to the "Past Items" group and you should see the "Safely Remove Hardware" option.

Set this to the required value, then click "OK.

The method described above may not work if the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon is shown as a folder rather than the correct icon. Try this fix:

1) With a USB drive inserted right click on the drive in "My Computer" and select "Properties" then "Hardware"

2) Click on your hardware in the list and select "Properties" again.

(Alternatively you can double click on the drive in Control Panel>System Properties>Device Manager>Disk Drives)

3) Click on "Policies". Normally the "Optimize for quick removal" button will be active - but don't change this. Instead click on the "Safely Remove Hardware" link in "Optimize for performance"

4) Again select your hardware and click "Stop". Click "OK". This will stop your hardware and it can now be safely removed. This is a work around for the missing icon but you should not need to do it more than once - the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon should now appear normally in the Notification Area whenever ANY removable device is reinserted - hopefully for good.

5) Make sure that the icon is not hidden in "Customize Notifications" as described above. This has worked for a USB flash drive (thumb drive) in XP but might work for other removable hardware as well. (e.g. use this procedure with a USB drive to fix the missing icon for removable CD / DVD drive on a laptop)

6) Take a look at any download software that has installed connectivity applications as part of the package eg iTunes, Ovi Player. Uninstall (add/remove programs) and then reinstall (from the web site) and just re-enter your account details. Clearing any corruption with these can bring back the USB support.

7) Another possible reason to lose the icon is that the TCP/IP stack is corrupted and needs resetting. Search Microsoft for their utility for doing this. It's all done over the web (very painless).