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Remount Ejected or Safely Removed USB Device Without Unplug and Reinsert

Posted By Raymond In Category: Computer

Sep
7
2009

If you’ve requested for the free license of USB Safely Remove, then probably you have tried the new feature which is the “Return Device Back!”. After you had stopped the device, but still did not unplug it, sometimes it is quite useful to return it back into the system. For example if you remembered that you forgot to write a file to the external drive. In order to do it, you have to physically reconnect the device, however sometimes it’s quite inconvenient to do if the device is connected to the rear panel of the computer.

Enable USB drive without reinserting

USB Safely Remove claims to be the first Windows program that allows you to return stopped device back and I thought that there isn’t a way to do it without using a software. Thanks to Ed for his valuable tip, we can now remount the ejected USB device with a few simple mouse clicks without reinserting (unplug and insert) the USB device.


Here’s what you need to do to have the “return device back” feature without using USB Safely Remove software.

1. Right click My Computer and select Properties (or you can simultaneously press Win+Pause/Break key). In System Properties window, go to the Hardware tab and then click the Device Manager button. In Windows Vista or Windows 7, you can just click the Device Manager link located at the left hand sidebar when you are at the System Properties window.

2. Click View from the menu bar and select “Devices by Connection“.

3. Find the parent USB Root Hub of the USB device that has a yellow color exclamation mark. Right click on the USB Root Hub and select Disable. Again right click on the same USB Root Hub that you’ve just disabled and this time select Enable.
Re-enable USB drive device

Voila! The drive letter has been returned back to My Computer and the autorun or autoplay window will appear if it is enabled. Since this can be done in Windows itself, Microsoft Windows development team should consider adding a feature to easily re-enable the drive after ejecting without unplugging and reinserting. This tip has been verified to work on Windows XP, Windows Vista and even the latest Windows 7. No doubt that unplug and reinsert it way faster than this method IF the USB port is easily accessible. If not, this method would save you from bending your back and trying to reach the back of the case.

Thanks Ed for sharing something that took him 2 years to discover!


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    • http://mijka.weblog.ro mijka

      You can easily eject the usb drive and then from the hardware menu presented by our friend raymond you can put the pc to look for new devices, and it will find the drive, this is good for multiple ejected devices as it takes less moves.

    • http://komputertoday.blogspot.com/ GunawanBali

      thx for your tips, raymond

    • Jose Martinez

      Mr. Raymond:

      I am one of those who has a computer with USB ports not easy accesible so this trick it’s very hepful to me.

      Many thanks and keep on this way.

    • http://www.raymond.cc/ Raymond

      @mijka: I tried “scanning for hardware changes” in device manager after ejecting but it wasn’t able to remount the drive?

    • Prakash Gurung

      hey ray
      does this work in XP SP3, coz in my pc the idea didn’t work.

    • http://www.raymond.cc/ Raymond

      I written the steps based on my laptop running Windows XP SP3 and it worked perfectly. Did you disable and enable the wrong USB root hub?

    • http://Agro Ken Galbraith

      Hi Ray

      Under XP SP3 following your instructions, XP wants me to restart for ‘changes to take effect’!
      Restarting obviously takes more time than getting of your ‘bottom’ & removing/inserting the device.

      So I’m having the same problem as a previous respondant.
      Regards
      Love your site!

      PS: I cant see the device if I say No to Restart!

    • shinod

      Hello Ray
      The idea doesnt work for me, after disabling the usb root and trying to enable the same it will ask to reboot the system to take effect..why….can you help me.. i am using windows xp ser pack 3

    • Shail

      Knew It But Thanks~

    • sick

      Faint..
      when i did as u told, it just turned off my OS..win7..
      what’s the point..

    • lawiz

      excellent :D

    • http://mijka.weblog.ro mijka

      sorry about that, did not test it in a while, seems that neither of the 2 options aren’t working on windows 7 x64 at least

    • http://ste95.wordpress.com/ Ste_95

      Me too, it asks me to reboot in order changes to make effective.

    • ficciones

      I like this trick, but i like it more a new shortcut I learn.
      Win + Pause = PC Properties
      I don’t know that…
      Thanks

    • George Paul

      This work in XP follow the steps
      Win+pause
      click Dev manager
      click view click device by connection
      Righ click on USB root hub instead of uSB mass storage device ;Disable first then enable

    • George Paul

      Sorry again to post this U can enable or disable using Devcon.exe and the commands

      devcon disable USB\ROOT_HUB
      devcon enable USB\ROOT_HUB
      form the command prompt of the folder in which devcon.exe is there;Be acreful this will disable all usb port devices

    • martinsmithson

      Works with XP SP2 with one IMPORTANT factor… after enable is selected, you MUST reboot the PC for the change to take effect.

      In short, if XP SP2 users must reboot, this method is superfluous since rebooting (without all of the clicks) accomplishes exactly the same goal.

      My two cents,

      Martin

    • Ed

      @ Raymond
      Thanks.

      I sent email to Nir Sofer, maybe he likes it too and can put this in USBDeview, I hope.
      I like it for remote administration, no need to call someone or drive 20 miles.

      I am on Windows XP/SP3 and have no problem, no need to reboot. I think that sometimes we put USB drive and Windows say “Finished installing drivers but you must reboot to use the device”. Maybe this is the same type of errors some posters are having?

    • Ed

      Couple more things:

      1) You should not do this when you have also a good connection to another USB on the same hub. For example, on the front of my PC I have 2 USB ports. If I have 2 drives and eject one, then disabling the hub will forcefully eject the second, maybe not what you want if you have open files on it, etc.
      But before you disable you can see if you have a second drive when you change to “Devices by Connection” and decide what to do.
      Can someone check what program USB Safely Remove does in this situation?

      2) Maybe people that have reboot problems try to disable the host controller and not just the first “USB Root hub” above the device with the yellow exclamation mark?

      3) If you have USB ports only in the back of the PC, get a USB extension cable or external hub, so you can use USB port more easily.

    • David

      on a computer that you don’t have admin rights this won’t work being that you can’t disable or enable anything in device manger

    • Deejam

      hi Ray… we except more of this kinda tips.. :)

    • maximus

      when “Enable” it again it request to restart to take effect

    • sudeep

      u r r right ray
      Microsoft Windows development team should consider adding a feature to easily re-enable the drive after ejecting without unplugging and reinserting..
      i already knew this tip ..but i dont know that shortcut
      Win+Pause/Break key of system prop.
      thanx for it.

    • JASKIRAT

      VERY NICE ED KEEP IT UP!!!

    • Debabrata

      Hi Raymond. So many clicks is annoying. Couldn’t you recommend just Run devmgmt.msc to directly access Device manager

    • auscompgeek

      Debabrata, Yes, you can run devmgmt.msc to open Device Manager. Handy for those who don’t like using the mouse.

    • max
    • http://www.buildyourown-computer.com Murtaza

      Awesome, this is a really useful tip. I can’t remember how many times I have accidentally removed the card reader from my computer and need to reconnect it again.

    • kalum

      This is a valuable tip. Other than the data card, in many laptops, the CD rom is attached with the USB internally. There are many times I removed my dvd rom accedently thinking that as an other flash drive and had to reboot again to get DVD rom back.

      Now I have just to run devmgmt.msc and take my DVD rom back.
      Thanks

    • Bruce Tech Guy

      THanks!
      I tried first your published way, View Devices by Type (the default), Disable then Enable “USB Mass Storage Device” and as reported, it just says for change to take effect I must reboot. Windows XP SP3.

      BUT, SUCCESS as suggested by George Paul (Thanks!)
      (and this works even after I did the first way, above, without rebooting)

      Change Device Manager to View Devices by Connection
      Select USB Root Hub for your externally attached USB hard drive (one level above the yellow exclamation mark). Right click it to Disable. Then right click to Enable. Drive spins UP – Hurray.

      ALso works for my Ieee1394 Firewire attached hard drive – I right click the ‘SBP2 Compliant IEEE 1394 device’ and select disable, then enable, and that also spins up.

      Good Tip. Thx.

    • Bruce Tech Guy

      P.S. of course a possible side effect is that I may feel less compelled to clean out under the desk, since I may not have to crawl around down there as often ! ;)

    • Regina

      Hi! I need help. I accidentally safely removed the cd-rom drive and I can’t put it back. I tried the instructions on the top but I can’t find the cd-rom drive in device manager. I will be dead because I just borrowed this laptop. PLEASE HELP!!!! Thanks….

    • James

      Ihad tried SafelyRemoveprogram and thought it freeware but when saw the$20 price tag I went looking. Your tip works beautifully. I noticed a few had problems.. but maybe thay did as i first did. i stopped the usb wiith the exclamation then enabled it. Wrong! you’ll get the must restart notice….. It has to be the “parent” hub then works fine

    • Al W

      I found that the restart windows message will appear if the device is in use. So, disable the usb device with some other software(or make sure its not being used) first then you can do the disable/re-enabling from device manager.

    • Patty

      I am running Windows 7 Ultimate. As in post #34, you must eject the disk first (for me, in the tray where the clock is). Then you should be able to disable the device and then enable. After that, you will have to restart. A few annoying clicks beats taking my desk apart any day! Thanks for the tip!

    • jackman

      Doesnt work , it asks me to restart PC after doing the instruction above , -1 dude

    • FidoFuz

      I had to reattach a drive using remote desktop on a PC 300 miles away when unplugging and re-attaching is not an option. This solved my problem

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