Windows Defender stopping me from ejecting harddrive

Do this:

• Win+X
• Windows Power Shell (Admin)
• type without quote: "Set-MpPreference -DisableRemovableDriveScanning 1"
• Restart.

IT NEVER BOTHERS ME, EVER AGAIN!

this problem occurs both on my laptop and PC (Windows 10 20H2),

I frustated with Windows Defender / Security for this problem, on my laptop even I tried to install Anti Virus (Kaspersky 30 day trial), to get rid Windows Defender so it will be inactive, but of course I don't want to pay for additional Anti Virus to all my devices just to stop this problem. That simple line to disable removable drive scans works like a charm.

Source: another thread here.

@MarhensaAditya Hadi, 

That doesn't really help, because it is already set to 1 (True) and it was not enough to avoid the problem.

See the output of the Get-MpPreference from the PowerShell command below.

I still had to add the root folder of the external drives in the exclusion path list in the defender settings to eliminate the problem, see second snap shot below and also see how it shows in the MpPreference list exclusion path:

Do this:

• Win+X
• Windows Power Shell (Admin)
• type without quote: "Set-MpPreference -DisableRemovableDriveScanning 1"
• Restart.

IT NEVER BOTHERS ME, EVER AGAIN!

this problem occurs both on my laptop and PC (Windows 10 20H2),

I frustated with Windows Defender / Security for this problem, on my laptop even I tried to install Anti Virus (Kaspersky 30 day trial), to get rid Windows Defender so it will be inactive, but of course I don't want to pay for additional Anti Virus to all my devices just to stop this problem. That simple line to disable removable drive scans works like a charm.

Source: another thread here.

I will try again but it would not add anything last time no matter what I tried.

@BWX, 

It will add the Folder if you follow the the instructions, it is quite simple.  

I did it on every machine I have. 

My machines have Windows 10 Pro (Builds 19042.630 and 20262.1010).

The procedure has not changed with different windows versions.

I assume you are the Administrator user for the machine...

Does not work. Cannot even add the drive since it is not a folder or file or process or file type. Those are the only options. When you try to add the entire drive, it does nothing. Nothing gets selected even if I type it in manually and press enter or select.

@BWX, 

Looks like you did not understand how to add it:

It is the root folder of the drive.

E:\ 

F:\   

or other drives...

In order to add to the exclusion list, the drive must be inserted, you add a Folder then you select the drive you want to exclude and click on Select Folder and it will add it to the list.

Then you just reboot and you are done.

See screen shots below for adding Folder E:\   

(  F:\ was already added in this sample)

I also tried including the disk folder (E:) as you suggested, but still, Windows did not allow me to eject the hard disk. The only solution I have for this is to restart the laptop, but that is not a solution. Moreover, I am concern about what could happen with the data in the hard disk, as although I restart the computer I still have doubts if some data might be corrupted.

@Nekovolta, 

The exclusion list is not effective immediately, it requires a reboot to be activated.

It only works assuming that device letter(s) are the same when you insert the external drive(s).

Also it will only be effective if MsMpEng.exe is the cause of the problem.

You will need to check the Event Viewer, Windows Logs, System and see what the message for error 225 shows.

There could be other programs or processes that prevent the ejection, in that case the exclusion from defender will not help.

It works fine for me on 6 machines at Build 19042.662 and also Development Builds 20262.1010.

I've been using the exclusion for several months even before the defender platform was updated from 4.18.2009.7-0 to 4.18.2010.7-0.

The application \Device\HarddiskVolume3\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows Defender\Platform\4.18.2010.7-0**MsMpEng.exe with process id 4380 stopped the removal or ejection**for the device  .....