[TW.87]

Hello,

I have installed via a USB socket on my computer a Belkin-branded Wireless USB adapater. This device, although removable, will not be removed regularly from the computer and so I would like the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon to not be displayed because of it, as it currently is. The option to hide the icon via the Taskbar properties is not the fix I am looking for, either.

Does anyone know of some type of a fix to do this...perhaps a registry entry?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[happyrck]

if you ever plan on using a usb thumb drive or a external usb hard drive you do not want that gone..USB drives are supposed to be hot swapable BUT sometimes uplugging them without using the Safely Remove Hardware will make them unreadable..

[TW.87]

I don't want the icon to no longer appear, but I just don't want it to be there all the time like it is with that particular hardware item.

I'd like the icon to still appear when, say, a USB drive is inserted, but I don't want it to provide the option to remove the wireless device I described above. I thought that perhaps there would be some kind of a registry entry to stop that device from being included in the "Safely Remove Hardware" list?

[spudnik]

Originally Posted by TW.87

I don't want the icon to no longer appear, but I just don't want it to be there all the time like it is with that particular hardware item.

I'd like the icon to still appear when, say, a USB drive is inserted, but I don't want it to provide the option to remove the wireless device I described above. I thought that perhaps there would be some kind of a registry entry to stop that device from being included in the "Safely Remove Hardware" list?

keep dreaming.

when multiple USB devices are connected in your system, you may STOP one without stopping ALL of them using this "Safely remove hardware" tool.

[1101doc]

This may work for you: Create a shortcut to the "Safely Remove Hardware" UI, and then tell XP to "Always Hide" the notification tray icon. I gave my shortcut a cute little USB plug icon and put it in my Quick Launch. Right click desktop>New>Shortcut. In the "Type the location..." box paste:
C:\WINDOWS\system32\rundll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL hotplug.dll
This way you get rid of the Notification tray clutter, and have the applet available with one click. I've learned the hard way to just take the time to always use the "Safely Remove" feature when unplugging any USB device with Windows open. It's definitely worth the few moments to insure continued device (and drive) functionality.

[TW.87]

Originally Posted by 1101doc

This may work for you: Create a shortcut to the "Safely Remove Hardware" UI, and then tell XP to "Always Hide" the notification tray icon. I gave my shortcut a cute little USB plug icon and put it in my Quick Launch. Right click desktop>New>Shortcut. In the "Type the location..." box paste:
C:\WINDOWS\system32\rundll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL hotplug.dll
This way you get rid of the Notification tray clutter, and have the applet available with one click. I've learned the hard way to just take the time to always use the "Safely Remove" feature when unplugging any USB device with Windows open. It's definitely worth the few moments to insure continued device (and drive) functionality.

Okay, cool...that sounds like what I want!

Thank you for that!

[1101doc]

Always happy to be of service. :-)

[Beastlee]

If you do not want the icon in the system tray at all, you can get rid of it by optimizing your SATA HDDs for quick removal. To do this, go to you device manager and select properties of your SATA HDDs. Next select the policies tab and choose the option that reads optimize for quick removal. Now they will not be monitored and the icon will still appear when you insert a flash drive or something similar. However this will also disable write caching on the HDDs and in Windows.

[TW.87]

Originally Posted by Beastlee

If you do not want the icon in the system tray at all, you can get rid of it by optimizing your SATA HDDs for quick removal. To do this, go to you device manager and select properties of your SATA HDDs. Next select the policies tab and choose the option that reads optimize for quick removal. Now they will not be monitored and the icon will still appear when you insert a flash drive or something similar. However this will also disable write caching on the HDDs and in Windows.

Thank you for your reply.

It's just the USB drives (flash-drives, thumb-drives, et cetera), that I don't want to be displayed, not my actual hard-drives. But, now that I've upgraded to Microsoft Windows Vista, the icon doesn't seem to bother me as much now.

Thanks again for the help!

[lawstud2]

In my Device Mgr the Optimize for Quick Removal is greyed-out and i cannot check or uncheck it. Any other options?

[mauzer]

lawstud2:
1. You should run device manager under Administrator account. But I doubt the devices will disappeared from system tray menu...

2. If you have NVidia motherboard, you can go thru this way: http://www.pcdoctor-guide.com/wordpress/?p=3079
But it's suitable only for SATA drives and only for NVidia motherboard

3. And third option, to use this utility USB Safely Remove. It replaces Safely Remove Hardware and allows you to hide any devices from the menu (not only SATA), to hide icon when you want (but by default it shows an icon in the system tray always), and also it contains several features for USB devices management, such as displaying processes preventing your drive from being stopped, hotkeys, files auto run.
But it has a little lack... it costs some money