Unmount drives

I am unable to unmount any drives when the PC is running, USB stick,
external drive, VHD or TrueCrypt container. Cant format them either as
it cant be unmounted before the format. When using Unlocker the only
process that shows is explorer.exe

As a result the PC wont shut down or reboot, just hangs. Have to hold
the power button down till it switches off, this can result in chkdsk
errors and data loss.

Any idea what can stop the OS from unmounting drives?


Using updated Win7 64bit.

On 11/18/2016 1:40 AM, Dex wrote:
I am unable to unmount any drives when the PC is running, USB stick,
external drive, VHD or TrueCrypt container. Cant format them either as
it cant be unmounted before the format. When using Unlocker the only
process that shows is explorer.exe

As a result the PC wont shut down or reboot, just hangs. Have to hold
the power button down till it switches off, this can result in chkdsk
errors and data loss.

Any idea what can stop the OS from unmounting drives?

Using updated Win7 64bit.

Not a solution, but to allow you to shut down normally, are you able to
log off?

Dex wrote:
I am unable to unmount any drives when the PC is running, USB stick,
external drive, VHD or TrueCrypt container. Cant format them either as
it cant be unmounted before the format. When using Unlocker the only
process that shows is explorer.exe

As a result the PC wont shut down or reboot, just hangs. Have to hold
the power button down till it switches off, this can result in chkdsk
errors and data loss.

Any idea what can stop the OS from unmounting drives?


Using updated Win7 64bit.

There's a couple ideas at the end of this thread.
Using Sysinternals.com Process Explorer and looking
for handles. Or looking for Ashampoo Defragmenter, which
apparently holds onto something. The idea the Search
Indexer locks something, is pretty far-fetched.

http://www.tomsguide.com/forum/24277...force-dismount

If you don't keep a sea of small utilities running
on this machine, and don't think that's the root cause,
it might be a good idea to do an AV scan, as well
as a rootkit scan. Maybe run TDSSKiller. Or
use GMER.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GMER
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alureon

I don't have any idea, how TrueCrypt
reacts to the "Windows ecosystem", and
when exactly it dismounts things. Or
which thing "stops first". There has to
be a shutdown order, a request from the
OS to dismount, and a response from any
running software.

Paul

Dex wrote:

I am unable to unmount any drives when the PC is running, USB stick,
external drive, VHD or TrueCrypt container. Cant format them either as
it cant be unmounted before the format. When using Unlocker the only
process that shows is explorer.exe

As a result the PC wont shut down or reboot, just hangs. Have to hold
the power button down till it switches off, this can result in chkdsk
errors and data loss.

Any idea what can stop the OS from unmounting drives?

Using updated Win7 64bit.

If you boot in Windows' safe mode, can you then shutdown okay?

On 11/18/2016 01:40 AM, Dex wrote:
I am unable to unmount any drives when the PC is running, USB stick,
external drive, VHD or TrueCrypt container. Cant format them either as
it cant be unmounted before the format. When using Unlocker the only
process that shows is explorer.exe

As a result the PC wont shut down or reboot, just hangs. Have to hold
the power button down till it switches off, this can result in chkdsk
errors and data loss.

Any idea what can stop the OS from unmounting drives?


Using updated Win7 64bit.

Sometimes an anti virus will start scanning and that
will keep you for ejecting

On 18/11/2016 18:45, Paul wrote:
Dex wrote:
I am unable to unmount any drives when the PC is running, USB stick,
external drive, VHD or TrueCrypt container. Cant format them either as
it cant be unmounted before the format. When using Unlocker the only
process that shows is explorer.exe

As a result the PC wont shut down or reboot, just hangs. Have to hold
the power button down till it switches off, this can result in chkdsk
errors and data loss.

Any idea what can stop the OS from unmounting drives?


Using updated Win7 64bit.

There's a couple ideas at the end of this thread.
Using Sysinternals.com Process Explorer and looking
for handles.

On what?

When I right click the drive and select Unlocker it says explorer.exe is
the only process that has handles to it.


Or looking for Ashampoo Defragmenter, which
apparently holds onto something. The idea the Search
Indexer locks something, is pretty far-fetched.


No Ashampoo product on my PC. The Windows Search service has been disabled.


http://www.tomsguide.com/forum/24277...force-dismount

If you don't keep a sea of small utilities running
on this machine, and don't think that's the root cause,
it might be a good idea to do an AV scan, as well
as a rootkit scan. Maybe run TDSSKiller. Or
use GMER.


Done and done, nothing found.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GMER
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alureon

I don't have any idea, how TrueCrypt
reacts to the "Windows ecosystem", and
when exactly it dismounts things. Or
which thing "stops first". There has to
be a shutdown order, a request from the
OS to dismount, and a response from any
running software.

Paul

On 18/11/2016 10:41, Mike S wrote:
On 11/18/2016 1:40 AM, Dex wrote:
I am unable to unmount any drives when the PC is running, USB stick,
external drive, VHD or TrueCrypt container. Cant format them either as
it cant be unmounted before the format. When using Unlocker the only
process that shows is explorer.exe

As a result the PC wont shut down or reboot, just hangs. Have to hold
the power button down till it switches off, this can result in chkdsk
errors and data loss.

Any idea what can stop the OS from unmounting drives?

Using updated Win7 64bit.

Not a solution, but to allow you to shut down normally, are you able to
log off?

Can log off as it does not unmount the drive, try to shutdown or reboot
from the login screen and it hangs.

On 18/11/2016 23:00, T wrote:
On 11/18/2016 01:40 AM, Dex wrote:
I am unable to unmount any drives when the PC is running, USB stick,
external drive, VHD or TrueCrypt container. Cant format them either as
it cant be unmounted before the format. When using Unlocker the only
process that shows is explorer.exe

As a result the PC wont shut down or reboot, just hangs. Have to hold
the power button down till it switches off, this can result in chkdsk
errors and data loss.

Any idea what can stop the OS from unmounting drives?


Using updated Win7 64bit.

Sometimes an anti virus will start scanning and that
will keep you for ejecting

AVG is set to on-demand. Unlocker shows explorer.exe as the only thing
that still has a handle to it, if I kill that it wont make a difference
as whatever it is that happens during ejecting it from the taskbar is
still busy waiting for something to happen and wont let the shutdown
command complete.

On 11/18/2016 04:04 PM, Dex wrote:
On 18/11/2016 23:00, T wrote:
On 11/18/2016 01:40 AM, Dex wrote:
I am unable to unmount any drives when the PC is running, USB stick,
external drive, VHD or TrueCrypt container. Cant format them either as
it cant be unmounted before the format. When using Unlocker the only
process that shows is explorer.exe

As a result the PC wont shut down or reboot, just hangs. Have to hold
the power button down till it switches off, this can result in chkdsk
errors and data loss.

Any idea what can stop the OS from unmounting drives?


Using updated Win7 64bit.

Sometimes an anti virus will start scanning and that
will keep you for ejecting

AVG is set to on-demand. Unlocker shows explorer.exe as the only thing
that still has a handle to it, if I kill that it wont make a difference
as whatever it is that happens during ejecting it from the taskbar is
still busy waiting for something to happen and wont let the shutdown
command complete.



If you have Windows Explorer (WE) open looking at something,
the drive will not unmount. Try moving to C:\ before unmounting.

On 11/18/2016 4:04 PM, Dex wrote:
On 18/11/2016 23:00, T wrote:
On 11/18/2016 01:40 AM, Dex wrote:
I am unable to unmount any drives when the PC is running, USB stick,
external drive, VHD or TrueCrypt container. Cant format them either as
it cant be unmounted before the format. When using Unlocker the only
process that shows is explorer.exe

As a result the PC wont shut down or reboot, just hangs. Have to hold
the power button down till it switches off, this can result in chkdsk
errors and data loss.

Any idea what can stop the OS from unmounting drives?


Using updated Win7 64bit.

Sometimes an anti virus will start scanning and that
will keep you for ejecting

AVG is set to on-demand. Unlocker shows explorer.exe as the only thing
that still has a handle to it, if I kill that it wont make a difference
as whatever it is that happens during ejecting it from the taskbar is
still busy waiting for something to happen and wont let the shutdown
command complete.

Have you made any hardware changes recently, and if so do you have any
reason to believe there are any issues with them? Does everything look
good in the Device Manager?

On 19/11/2016 03:37, Mike S wrote:
On 11/18/2016 4:04 PM, Dex wrote:
On 18/11/2016 23:00, T wrote:
On 11/18/2016 01:40 AM, Dex wrote:
I am unable to unmount any drives when the PC is running, USB stick,
external drive, VHD or TrueCrypt container. Cant format them either as
it cant be unmounted before the format. When using Unlocker the only
process that shows is explorer.exe

As a result the PC wont shut down or reboot, just hangs. Have to hold
the power button down till it switches off, this can result in chkdsk
errors and data loss.

Any idea what can stop the OS from unmounting drives?


Using updated Win7 64bit.

Sometimes an anti virus will start scanning and that
will keep you for ejecting

AVG is set to on-demand. Unlocker shows explorer.exe as the only thing
that still has a handle to it, if I kill that it wont make a difference
as whatever it is that happens during ejecting it from the taskbar is
still busy waiting for something to happen and wont let the shutdown
command complete.

Have you made any hardware changes recently, and if so do you have any
reason to believe there are any issues with them? Does everything look
good in the Device Manager?


No. Tried restoring backups from 6 months ago and further, things are OK
for a few days then it starts over again.

Device manager shows a problem in Portable Devices with WPD filesystem
volume driver 'This device cannot start. (Code 10)'.

On 19/11/2016 07:31, Dex wrote:
On 19/11/2016 03:37, Mike S wrote:
On 11/18/2016 4:04 PM, Dex wrote:
On 18/11/2016 23:00, T wrote:
On 11/18/2016 01:40 AM, Dex wrote:
I am unable to unmount any drives when the PC is running, USB stick,
external drive, VHD or TrueCrypt container. Cant format them either as
it cant be unmounted before the format. When using Unlocker the only
process that shows is explorer.exe

As a result the PC wont shut down or reboot, just hangs. Have to hold
the power button down till it switches off, this can result in chkdsk
errors and data loss.

Any idea what can stop the OS from unmounting drives?


Using updated Win7 64bit.

Sometimes an anti virus will start scanning and that
will keep you for ejecting

AVG is set to on-demand. Unlocker shows explorer.exe as the only thing
that still has a handle to it, if I kill that it wont make a difference
as whatever it is that happens during ejecting it from the taskbar is
still busy waiting for something to happen and wont let the shutdown
command complete.

Have you made any hardware changes recently, and if so do you have any
reason to believe there are any issues with them? Does everything look
good in the Device Manager?


No. Tried restoring backups from 6 months ago and further, things are OK
for a few days then it starts over again.

Device manager shows a problem in Portable Devices with WPD filesystem
volume driver 'This device cannot start. (Code 10)'.


Sorted the Device Manager error by reinstalling the Realtek Card Reader
drivers, it give me a useless drive letter in Disk Management I never use.

Problem still persists though.

Dex wrote:
On 19/11/2016 03:37, Mike S wrote:
On 11/18/2016 4:04 PM, Dex wrote:
On 18/11/2016 23:00, T wrote:
On 11/18/2016 01:40 AM, Dex wrote:
I am unable to unmount any drives when the PC is running, USB stick,
external drive, VHD or TrueCrypt container. Cant format them either as
it cant be unmounted before the format. When using Unlocker the only
process that shows is explorer.exe

As a result the PC wont shut down or reboot, just hangs. Have to hold
the power button down till it switches off, this can result in chkdsk
errors and data loss.

Any idea what can stop the OS from unmounting drives?


Using updated Win7 64bit.

Sometimes an anti virus will start scanning and that
will keep you for ejecting

AVG is set to on-demand. Unlocker shows explorer.exe as the only thing
that still has a handle to it, if I kill that it wont make a difference
as whatever it is that happens during ejecting it from the taskbar is
still busy waiting for something to happen and wont let the shutdown
command complete.

Have you made any hardware changes recently, and if so do you have any
reason to believe there are any issues with them? Does everything look
good in the Device Manager?


No. Tried restoring backups from 6 months ago and further, things are OK
for a few days then it starts over again.

Device manager shows a problem in Portable Devices with WPD filesystem
volume driver 'This device cannot start. (Code 10)'.


Here's a thread on WPD. The actual answers are further down
the thread. I'm not really following what's going on here,
but it looks like some USB controllers aren't being handled
properly for some reason, and need to be deleted.

https://social.technet.microsoft.com...ovistahardware

Paul

On 18/11/2016 19:55, VanguardLH wrote:
Dex wrote:

I am unable to unmount any drives when the PC is running, USB stick,
external drive, VHD or TrueCrypt container. Cant format them either as
it cant be unmounted before the format. When using Unlocker the only
process that shows is explorer.exe

As a result the PC wont shut down or reboot, just hangs. Have to hold
the power button down till it switches off, this can result in chkdsk
errors and data loss.

Any idea what can stop the OS from unmounting drives?

Using updated Win7 64bit.

If you boot in Windows' safe mode, can you then shutdown okay?


Yes.

But here is a pic of what is running in a normal boot.

http://pasteboard.co/t1JQIe1Za.png

Dex wrote:

VanguardLH wrote:

Dex wrote:

I am unable to unmount any drives when the PC is running, USB stick,
external drive, VHD or TrueCrypt container. Cant format them either as
it cant be unmounted before the format. When using Unlocker the only
process that shows is explorer.exe

As a result the PC wont shut down or reboot, just hangs. Have to hold
the power button down till it switches off, this can result in chkdsk
errors and data loss.

If you boot in Windows' safe mode, can you then shutdown okay?

Yes.

Then something you load on startup of Windows is causing the problem.
You may not see it in a list of processes. SysInternals and others only
show some processes, not all. Could be a service (rolled into
svchost.exe). Could be a dynamically loaded driver put into memory by a
startup program. Safe mode does NOT load non-critical services and
startup programs.

Start with disabling all startup programs and reboot Windows into its
safe mode. Reenable each startup program one at a time and reboot to
test if the shutdown problem reappears. If it does then then just
previously reenabled startup programs is the culprit.