USB hard drives can't be removed, BY DESIGN!
 

I installed Vista RC1 in a notebook, connected a USB hard drive, copied a
file from the USB hard drive to the internal hard drive, and then clicked on
the icon in the notification area (system tray) to ask for permission to
disconnect the USB hard drive. Permission denied.

Repeated it several times, asking for permission to safely remove the USB
hard drive, being denied.

I submitted a bug report to Microsoft. Silly me.

Microsoft's reply: This is not a bug. This is by design.

In Windows 2000, Windows XP SP2, Windows 2003 SP1, and Windows XP x64 SP1
(and probably Windows 2003 x64 SP1 but I haven't tried it), you connect a
USB hard drive, use Windows Explorer to backup some files onto it and/or
copy some backup files from it to your internal drive, click on the icon in
the notification area to ask for safe removal of the USB hard drive, and 75%
of the time Windows gives you permission. 22% of the time it refuses but
you repeat the request and the second time it gives permission. 3% of the
time you have to shut down Windows.

In Vista, 100% of the time you have to shut down Windows. BY DESIGN.

I haven't quite decided yet whether to quit beta testing, but I sure won't
be buying Vista.

USB hard drives can't be removed, BY DESIGN!
 

Can't confirm this. I've copied some files from USB flash drive to RC1,
and it let me to remove the drive just fine.
But I haven't tried to write to the USB - will try tomorrow.
Is your disk a simple "USB stick" or hard drive with several partitions?


--PA


"Norman Diamond" wrote in message ...
I installed Vista RC1 in a notebook, connected a USB hard drive, copied a file from the USB hard drive to the internal hard
drive, and then clicked on the icon in the notification area (system tray) to ask for permission to disconnect the USB hard
drive. Permission denied.

Repeated it several times, asking for permission to safely remove the USB hard drive, being denied.

I submitted a bug report to Microsoft. Silly me.

Microsoft's reply: This is not a bug. This is by design.

In Windows 2000, Windows XP SP2, Windows 2003 SP1, and Windows XP x64 SP1 (and probably Windows 2003 x64 SP1 but I haven't
tried it), you connect a USB hard drive, use Windows Explorer to backup some files onto it and/or copy some backup files from
it to your internal drive, click on the icon in the notification area to ask for safe removal of the USB hard drive, and 75%
of the time Windows gives you permission. 22% of the time it refuses but you repeat the request and the second time it gives
permission. 3% of the time you have to shut down Windows.

In Vista, 100% of the time you have to shut down Windows. BY DESIGN.

I haven't quite decided yet whether to quit beta testing, but I sure won't be buying Vista.

USB hard drives can't be removed, BY DESIGN!
 

Ok now I get same result as you. if an exporer window is open on the flash
drive,
Vista can't stop it, and in XP this just works.

Can you please post the bug report number so we can vote?

--PA


"Pavel A." wrote:
Can't confirm this. I've copied some files from USB flash drive to RC1,
and it let me to remove the drive just fine.
But I haven't tried to write to the USB - will try tomorrow.
Is your disk a simple "USB stick" or hard drive with several partitions?


--PA


"Norman Diamond" wrote in message ...
I installed Vista RC1 in a notebook, connected a USB hard drive, copied a file from the USB hard drive to the internal hard
drive, and then clicked on the icon in the notification area (system tray) to ask for permission to disconnect the USB hard
drive. Permission denied.

Repeated it several times, asking for permission to safely remove the USB hard drive, being denied.

I submitted a bug report to Microsoft. Silly me.

Microsoft's reply: This is not a bug. This is by design.

In Windows 2000, Windows XP SP2, Windows 2003 SP1, and Windows XP x64 SP1 (and probably Windows 2003 x64 SP1 but I haven't
tried it), you connect a USB hard drive, use Windows Explorer to backup some files onto it and/or copy some backup files from
it to your internal drive, click on the icon in the notification area to ask for safe removal of the USB hard drive, and 75%
of the time Windows gives you permission. 22% of the time it refuses but you repeat the request and the second time it gives
permission. 3% of the time you have to shut down Windows.

In Vista, 100% of the time you have to shut down Windows. BY DESIGN.

I haven't quite decided yet whether to quit beta testing, but I sure won't be buying Vista.

USB hard drives can't be removed, BY DESIGN!
 

1. It's a hard drive with one partition. In Windows 95 days Windows 95
smashed partitions on hard drives with several partitions because FAT16
required huge clusters unless the drive was divided into multiple
partitions. NTFS doesn't require such huge clusters so I make single
partitions on drives to store backups.

Come to think of it I ought to try connecting an old PCMCIA-SCSI adapter and
an old SCSI disk to Vista to see if Vista's going to be less powerful than
Windows 95 too. Of course NT4 was known for lacking PnP in this respect
(but it didn't create overlapping partitions). Maybe Vista's a return to
the NT4 era.

2. Feel free to vote, but it's not going to change anything. As stated,
Microsoft said that this is a design bug not a coding bug. Coding bugs mean
that Microsoft hides behind a curtain in order make itself unaware of how
many customers are affected. Design bugs mean Microsoft intentionally
doesn't care how many customers will be affected. It's not going to be
fixed. But feel free to vote if you wish.

Uh, "connect", right. I can see other pages OK so it looks like just the
disconnect site is hiding itself now. As a guess it might be this one:
http://connect.microsoft.com/windows...dbackID=196007


"Pavel A." wrote in message
...
Ok now I get same result as you. if an exporer window is open on the flash
drive,
Vista can't stop it, and in XP this just works.

Can you please post the bug report number so we can vote?

--PA


"Pavel A." wrote:
Can't confirm this. I've copied some files from USB flash drive to RC1,
and it let me to remove the drive just fine.
But I haven't tried to write to the USB - will try tomorrow.
Is your disk a simple "USB stick" or hard drive with several partitions?


--PA


"Norman Diamond" wrote in message
...
I installed Vista RC1 in a notebook, connected a USB hard drive, copied
a file from the USB hard drive to the internal hard
drive, and then clicked on the icon in the notification area (system
tray) to ask for permission to disconnect the USB hard
drive. Permission denied.

Repeated it several times, asking for permission to safely remove the
USB hard drive, being denied.

I submitted a bug report to Microsoft. Silly me.

Microsoft's reply: This is not a bug. This is by design.

In Windows 2000, Windows XP SP2, Windows 2003 SP1, and Windows XP x64
SP1 (and probably Windows 2003 x64 SP1 but I haven't
tried it), you connect a USB hard drive, use Windows Explorer to backup
some files onto it and/or copy some backup files from
it to your internal drive, click on the icon in the notification area
to ask for safe removal of the USB hard drive, and 75%
of the time Windows gives you permission. 22% of the time it refuses
but you repeat the request and the second time it gives
permission. 3% of the time you have to shut down Windows.

In Vista, 100% of the time you have to shut down Windows. BY DESIGN.

I haven't quite decided yet whether to quit beta testing, but I sure
won't be buying Vista.

USB hard drives can't be removed, BY DESIGN!
 

Sorry, here's the correct bug report:
https://connect.microsoft.com/window...dbackID=195100

The Connect site started working last night so I checked. Sorry for giving
an incorrect guess in my previous posting.

By the way the bug report mentioned in my previous posting might also
interest Mr. A., maybe. A Microsoft self-signed self-published video driver
is as rock solid as some Microsoft self-signed self-published Windows 2000
video drivers were. Microsoft couldn't diagose it from a minidump, so
Microsoft asked me to send a full memory dump, but Microsoft rejects full
memory dumps that are over 50MB in size. Wow, what impressive quality
assurance, Microsoft persuading volunteers to waste time submitting dumps
that Microsoft won't even accept. Maybe it was better when they just closed
bug reports without any explanation (and probably without any
investigation).


"Norman Diamond" wrote in message
...
1. It's a hard drive with one partition. In Windows 95 days Windows 95
smashed partitions on hard drives with several partitions because FAT16
required huge clusters unless the drive was divided into multiple
partitions. NTFS doesn't require such huge clusters so I make single
partitions on drives to store backups.

Come to think of it I ought to try connecting an old PCMCIA-SCSI adapter
and an old SCSI disk to Vista to see if Vista's going to be less powerful
than Windows 95 too. Of course NT4 was known for lacking PnP in this
respect (but it didn't create overlapping partitions). Maybe Vista's a
return to the NT4 era.

2. Feel free to vote, but it's not going to change anything. As stated,
Microsoft said that this is a design bug not a coding bug. Coding bugs
mean that Microsoft hides behind a curtain in order make itself unaware of
how many customers are affected. Design bugs mean Microsoft intentionally
doesn't care how many customers will be affected. It's not going to be
fixed. But feel free to vote if you wish.

Uh, "connect", right. I can see other pages OK so it looks like just the
disconnect site is hiding itself now. As a guess it might be this one:
http://connect.microsoft.com/windows...dbackID=196007


"Pavel A." wrote in message
...
Ok now I get same result as you. if an exporer window is open on the
flash
drive,
Vista can't stop it, and in XP this just works.

Can you please post the bug report number so we can vote?

--PA


"Pavel A." wrote:
Can't confirm this. I've copied some files from USB flash drive to RC1,
and it let me to remove the drive just fine.
But I haven't tried to write to the USB - will try tomorrow.
Is your disk a simple "USB stick" or hard drive with several partitions?


--PA


"Norman Diamond" wrote in message
...
I installed Vista RC1 in a notebook, connected a USB hard drive, copied
a file from the USB hard drive to the internal hard
drive, and then clicked on the icon in the notification area (system
tray) to ask for permission to disconnect the USB hard
drive. Permission denied.

Repeated it several times, asking for permission to safely remove the
USB hard drive, being denied.

I submitted a bug report to Microsoft. Silly me.

Microsoft's reply: This is not a bug. This is by design.

In Windows 2000, Windows XP SP2, Windows 2003 SP1, and Windows XP x64
SP1 (and probably Windows 2003 x64 SP1 but I haven't
tried it), you connect a USB hard drive, use Windows Explorer to
backup some files onto it and/or copy some backup files from
it to your internal drive, click on the icon in the notification area
to ask for safe removal of the USB hard drive, and 75%
of the time Windows gives you permission. 22% of the time it refuses
but you repeat the request and the second time it gives
permission. 3% of the time you have to shut down Windows.

In Vista, 100% of the time you have to shut down Windows. BY DESIGN.

I haven't quite decided yet whether to quit beta testing, but I sure
won't be buying Vista.

USB hard drives can't be removed, BY DESIGN!
 

I've used both USB memory sticks and a USB external HD with VISTA RC1
and as long as the computer is not using the device, that is an explorer
window or application, the safely remove device always works.
--
Paul


"Norman Diamond" wrote:

I installed Vista RC1 in a notebook, connected a USB hard drive, copied a
file from the USB hard drive to the internal hard drive, and then clicked on
the icon in the notification area (system tray) to ask for permission to
disconnect the USB hard drive. Permission denied.

Repeated it several times, asking for permission to safely remove the USB
hard drive, being denied.

I submitted a bug report to Microsoft. Silly me.

Microsoft's reply: This is not a bug. This is by design.

In Windows 2000, Windows XP SP2, Windows 2003 SP1, and Windows XP x64 SP1
(and probably Windows 2003 x64 SP1 but I haven't tried it), you connect a
USB hard drive, use Windows Explorer to backup some files onto it and/or
copy some backup files from it to your internal drive, click on the icon in
the notification area to ask for safe removal of the USB hard drive, and 75%
of the time Windows gives you permission. 22% of the time it refuses but
you repeat the request and the second time it gives permission. 3% of the
time you have to shut down Windows.

In Vista, 100% of the time you have to shut down Windows. BY DESIGN.

I haven't quite decided yet whether to quit beta testing, but I sure won't
be buying Vista.