It’s always important to safely eject connected external storage devices, such as pen drives and external drives, to avoid data corruption and loss.
While users can eject a USB drive from within This PC in File Explorer, most users are used to ejecting drives from the system tray by clicking the Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media icon and then clicking the Eject Storage Media option.
The Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media icon appears in the system tray as soon as you connect a USB drive to your Windows 11 PC, and appears in the system tray as soon as a USB drive is connected. What if the icon is missing from the system tray? How to restore it?
If the Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media icon is missing from your Windows 11 PC’s system tray area, you can try out the following troubleshooting methods.
Important: Windows 11 shows system tray icons only on the main display. So, if you have connected multiple displays, please check your main display for the Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media icon.
Check if the USB drive is showing up in File Explorer
As mentioned before, the Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media icon appears in the system tray only when an external drive is connected to your PC and detected by Windows 11. If, for some reason, your Windows 11 fails to detect it, the icon might not appear in the system tray.
So, ensure that the USB drive appears in This PC.
Check if the Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media icon is disabled
Like other icons, the Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media icon can also be turned off in Windows 11 Settings. Here is how to enable it.
Step 1: Open Windows 11 Settings.
Step 2: Go to Personalization > Taskbar page.
Step 3: Here, click Other system tray icons to see a list of all icons that can appear in the system tray.
Step 4: Check whether the Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media icon is enabled or disabled. If turned off, turn it on to see in the system tray.
Check if the Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media icon is hidden
The Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media icon might not appear on the taskbar even if it’s enabled in the Settings app. Click the hidden system tray icon menu to see all hidden system tray icons.
You may drag and drop it from the hidden menu to the system tray if you wish to see it there all the time (when an external drive is connected).
Eject the external drive from File Explorer in Windows 11
The methods mentioned above should help you restore the missing Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media icon. However, if all the methods fail, you can still eject a media drive from File Explorer or This PC. Here is how.
Step 1: Open File Explorer. Click This PC in the left pane to navigate to This PC.
Step 2: Right-click the USB drive and then click the Eject option.
If the USB drive is showing up in the File Explorer navigation pane (left pane), you can perform a right-click on the USB drive icon and then click Eject as well.
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