Click on the upward arrow by the clock. This will show the hidden items and allow you to safely remove the devices.
Where's the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon?
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Anonymous
I just upgraded to Win 8 from Win XP. I'm used to seeing a popup or icon in my lower right taskbar to 'safely remove hardware' after plugging in my camera or phone but I don't see one in Windows 8. What happened to it? Will I have a problem if I just unplug my device or do I need to take other steps to make sure it's safe to unplug?
Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Devices and drivers
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Hello PuzzledJane,
Follow the instructions supplied by Alex T Jr. This will allow you to see the remove hardware icon.
If you want the icon to appear permanently on display then click on the up arrow in the notification area and then, when the list of icons appears, click the Customize option. A list of all of the icons will now appear. Locate the safely remove hardware icon and click on the arrow in the dialogue box to the right of this option. From the drop down list select 'show icon and notification' and then press the OK button.
The safely remove hardware icon will now permanently be displayed in the notification area.
This forum post is my own opinion and does not necessarily reflect the opinion or view of Microsoft, its employees, or other MVPs.
John Barnett MVP: Windows XP Associate Expert: Windows Expert - Consumer: www.winuser.co.uk | vistasupport.mvps.org | xphelpandsupport.mvps.org | www.silversurfer-guide.com
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Anonymous
2014-01-18T12:49:43+00:00 Hello JoeBlaugh,
It is there on my setup mainly because a USB TV card is permanently connected. Once other items are connected, i.e., portable drives etc these too become available. If you are simply trying to remove a removable USB drive have you tried right clicking on the option for that drive in File explorer and, from the available drop down menu, selecting Eject?
This forum post is my own opinion and does not necessarily reflect the opinion or view of Microsoft, its employees, or other MVPs.
John Barnett MVP: Windows XP Associate Expert: Windows Expert - Consumer: www.winuser.co.uk | vistasupport.mvps.org | xphelpandsupport.mvps.org | www.silversurfer-guide.com
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Anonymous
2014-01-22T19:57:08+00:00 Thanks for the suggestions, John. In Windows 8, the entire "safely remove devices option was completely missing. It seems that the OS had ground itself into a fugue state and would not update the taskbar notifications area. Many icons spaces appeared that were blank and would not respond to mouse actions (left or right click). I was hoping to remove the external drive before restarting (an abundance of caution due to prior Windows issues with corrupting drives), but unfortunately a restart proved the only way to recover full functionality (at least the only way I knew). It seems to function properly now. I am not sure if this was a fluke occurrence or something related to the specific external drive, but if it recurs I will report again just to see if anyone knows what might be causing it.
Thanks again,
Joe
PS - I don't recall this ever happening in XP or 7... hopefully I'll never see it again in 8 :-S
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Anonymous
2014-02-05T22:41:46+00:00 I have the exact same problem and there is no such option under the Windows Explorer screen for my USB connected device. The Safely Remove Hardware icon used to be in my system tray but it is gone and even when I update the option for it to always display it does not.