Support

Product: USB Drive Eject for Windows (Stream Deck plugin for Windows) · Provider: GRAMSHIFT (Tokyo, Japan)

Contact

Email contact@gramshift.com in English or Japanese. We reply within 7 business days, usually sooner. Please include your Windows version, your Stream Deck app version, what the key shows, the text under Status in the key's settings, and the kind of drive (for example "USB stick", "USB hard disk in an enclosure", "card reader").

Eject Drive

Install the plugin from the Elgato Marketplace. In the Stream Deck app, find USB Drive Eject for Windows in the action list and drag Eject Drive onto a key.
Select the key and choose the Drive: a drive letter from the list (only USB drives that can be ejected are listed), or Automatic, which ejects the USB drive when exactly one is connected (with two or more it asks you to choose one).
Press the key. It turns amber and shows PRESS AGAIN with a 3 second countdown. Press it again within 3 seconds to eject. A second press within 0.3 seconds of the first counts as the same press, so a bump never ejects anything. If you prefer, set Confirm to Hold for 1 second: then hold the key until the bar is full; letting go earlier cancels.
When the drive was ejected, the key shows a green frame and EJECTED — safe to remove. You can unplug the drive.
Right before ejecting, the plugin reads the drive list again. If another device now has the drive letter, or the drive was unplugged, nothing is ejected and the key shows CHANGED.

Eject All and Drive Count

Eject All ejects every USB drive that can be ejected, one after another, with the same confirmation. Only the drives shown at the first press are ejected; a drive plugged in after that stays. If some can not be ejected, the key shows how many worked (for example 1 OF 2) and the first drive that did not, with the reason.
Drive Count shows how many USB drive letters can be ejected, and which. Press it to read the list at once.
The drive list is read every 3 seconds while a key of this plugin is visible, and not at all otherwise.

What the key shows

Key	Meaning
Eject symbol, size, `press twice` / `hold 1 s`	Ready. The top line shows the drive letter and its name.
Amber, `PRESS AGAIN`	Waiting for the confirming press (countdown).
Blue frame, `EJECTING`	Windows is ejecting the device (a few seconds at most).
Green frame, `EJECTED`	Done; safe to remove. Other drive letters on the same device (partitions) are removed too.
Red, `IN USE` and a program name	Windows refused because a program has files open on the drive. When Windows reports which program, its name is shown (the settings also show its process number). Close the files or the program and press twice again. `files open`: Windows did not say which program.
Red, `IN USE`, `needs admin`	A policy on this PC only lets administrators eject drives (set by your organization). The plugin never asks for administrator rights.
Red, `CHANGED`	The drive changed between the two presses. Nothing was ejected.
Red, `ERROR`	The helper could not ask Windows (see "The key shows ERROR" below).
Gray, `SYSTEM`, `INTERNAL`, `FIXED`, `PAGE FILE`, `PLUGIN`, `SPANNED`, `SHARED`, `NOT A DISK`, `UNKNOWN`	This drive is never ejected (see below). Pressing only shows the warning triangle.
Gray, `--`, `no USB drive` / `E: not here`	No USB drive, or the chosen letter is not connected.

Drives that are never ejected

The plugin only ejects USB drives, and checks this twice: in the plugin, and again in the helper right before the request to Windows. It never ejects:

SYSTEM: the Windows drive (normally C:), and any other drive letter on the same disk as Windows.
PAGE FILE: a drive that holds Windows' page file, swap file or hibernation file.
INTERNAL: a drive that is not connected by USB (SATA, NVMe, SD card slots, Thunderbolt NVMe enclosures, FireWire).
FIXED: a USB device that Windows does not list as removable, for example a card reader built into the PC.
PLUGIN: the drive the Stream Deck app or this plugin runs from.
SPANNED: a volume that spans more than one disk. SHARED: a drive on the same device as one of the above.
NOT A DISK: network drives, CD / DVD drives and RAM disks. UNKNOWN: Windows did not report enough to be sure.

Common questions

The key shows ERROR.
The plugin asks Windows through a helper that Windows PowerShell compiles the first time (this takes 1 to 3 seconds). If PowerShell is blocked on your PC (for example by an organization's application control, or "Constrained Language Mode"), or an antivirus blocks the compile, the helper can not start. The text under Status shows Windows' message. The plugin tries again every few seconds.

Can a single press eject a drive?
No. There is no one-press setting on purpose. Multi actions are not supported for the same reason.

What about data that is still being written?
The plugin makes the same request as "Safely Remove Hardware": Windows finishes writing and refuses the eject while a program has files open. Wait until copies have finished before you eject.

Does it work on Mac?
No. This plugin is for Windows 10 or later only.

Privacy

The plugin runs entirely on your PC and sends no data anywhere. See the Privacy Policy.