Safely Remove Hardware icon with nothing plugged in, shows 3 dots(...)

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  1. Posts : 48
    Windows of various sorts
       #1

    Safely Remove Hardware icon with nothing plugged in, shows 3 dots(...)


    I installed Windows 10 on my desktop and the safely remove hardware icon is always there even when nothing is plugged in. When nothing's plugged in, clicking the icon just shows 3 dots (...) and a link to open the Hardware and Devices window (or whatever it's called).

    How can I fix this?

    I will also note that this does not happen on the laptop that I installed Windows 10 on.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 48
    Windows of various sorts
    Thread Starter
       #2

    Also why was this moved to hardware/devices? It's not a hardware issue.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 19,511
    W11+W11 Developer Insider + Linux
       #3

    It includes everything USB, mice, keyboard, any controller inside the case, like card readers, some CPU coolers etc.
      My Computers


  4. Posts : 48
    Windows of various sorts
    Thread Starter
       #4

    Then why doesn't this happen in other situations? And how would I get rid of it anyway?
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 19,511
    W11+W11 Developer Insider + Linux
       #5

    yogalD said:
    Then why doesn't this happen in other situations? And how would I get rid of it anyway?
    Laptop probably doesn't have anything inside connected by USB. I don't think you can remove it but only hide it.
      My Computers


  6. Posts : 48
    Windows of various sorts
    Thread Starter
       #6

    Hmm for some reason the generic Microsoft drivers cause this - for hard drives and apparently an internal card reader I had. Installing Intel's SATA driver stopped my internal HDDs from showing up, but that still left the 3 dots. Turns out that the Microosft driver for the card reader was responsible for those 3 dots, for whatever reason, and installing the proper drivers (for Windows 7 though) solved this.
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 13
    Windows 10
       #7

    yogalD said:
    Hmm for some reason the generic Microsoft drivers cause this - for hard drives and apparently an internal card reader I had. Installing Intel's SATA driver stopped my internal HDDs from showing up, but that still left the 3 dots. Turns out that the Microosft driver for the card reader was responsible for those 3 dots, for whatever reason, and installing the proper drivers (for Windows 7 though) solved this.
    Hi,

    I have been having the same kind of 'safely remove hardware icon not going away' issue you used to have before. I have been struggling to fix the issue for a while but couldn't find the cause of the problem.
    Tried in device manager with the drivers of my card reader for example.

    Is there a way you could help me out with this?

    I would appreciate any help or advice.

    Thank you!
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 48
    Windows of various sorts
    Thread Starter
       #8

    If you unplug your card reader does it still happen?
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 13
    Windows 10
       #9

    I can not unplug anything since I have a Lenovo laptop with this built-in 4-in-1 kinda card reader.
    I installed fresh Windows 10 Pro x64 from a USB stick a few days ago and the Safely Remove Hardware icon has been there with the 3 dots and the 'Open Devices and Printers' option ever since.
    I have no external USB devices plugged in at the moment except my mouse. But unplugging my mouse did not solve it (obviously:)).
    I installed/updated the JMicron card reader driver manually but the icon is still there.
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 48
    Windows of various sorts
    Thread Starter
       #10

    What about disabling the card reader in device manager? (finding out whether or not it's the card reader causing this)
      My Computer


 

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