Create Keyboard Shortcut to Access Safely Remove Hardware Dialog

It’s a bit of work but will save you time in the long run

If you use USB devices, such as USB thumb drives or external USB hard drives a lot, you are most likely very familiar with using theSafely Remove Hardwareicon in the system tray. You must click this icon to bring up a menu allowing you to eject external USB devices.

We will show you a method for creating a shortcut you can use to quickly access theSafely Remove Hardwaredialog box in Windows 7/8/10.

Create Shortcut to Safely Remove Hardware

Right-click in any empty space on the desktop. SelectNew | Shortcutfrom the popup menu.

TheCreate Shortcutdialog box displays. Copy and paste the following line into theType the location of the itemedit box. ClickNext.

Enter a name for the shortcut in theType a name for this shortcutedit box and clickFinish.

The default icon for the new shortcut does not really represent the purpose of the shortcut very well. We went tohttp://www.iconfinder.comand searched for “usb” to find an appropriate.icofile that can be used as an icon for the shortcut and downloaded a free icon file.

Change Shortcut Icon

To change the icon for the new shortcut, right-click on the new shortcut and selectPropertiesfrom the popup menu.

ThePropertiesdialog box displays. Make sure theShortcuttab is active and click theChange Iconbutton.

TheChange Icondialog box displays. To select a different icon, click theBrowsebutton.

AnotherChange Icondialog box displays for selecting an icon file. Navigate to where you saved the.icofile you downloaded, or to the location of the.icl,.exe, or.dllfile containing the desired icon. Select the file and clickOpen.

You are returned to theChange Icondialog box and the icon file you selected displays in the box. If you selected a file containing multiple icons (.icl, .exe, .dll), all the icons in that file display in the box. Click on the desired icon and clickOK.

The icon displays at the top of theShortcuttab on thePropertiesdialog box.

Create Keyboard Shortcut

You can also add a keyboard shortcut to run the shortcut you created. To do this, click the mouse in theShortcut keyedit box on theShortcuttab on thePropertiesdialog box. Press the keys for the keyboard shortcut you want to use. The keys are automatically entered into the edit box.

ClickOKto close thePropertiesdialog box.

The shortcut with the custom icon is available on the desktop.

Double-click the shortcut to quickly access theSafely Remove Hardwaredialog box.

If you want to access theSafely Remove Hardwaredialog box with only one click, you can pin the new shortcut to the Taskbar. To do this, right-click the shortcut on the desktop and selectPin to Taskbarfrom the popup menu.

The shortcut is now available on the Taskbar. Simply click it once to access theSafely Remove Hardwaredialog box.

NOTE:Remember you can also use the keyboard shortcut you defined for the shortcut.

You can create this shortcut in Windows 10 as well. It’s a little bit of work to setup, but it saves time when you have to eject USB devices from your computer. Enjoy!

Founder of Help Desk Geek and managing editor. He began blogging in 2007 and quit his job in 2010 to blog full-time. He has over 15 years of industry experience in IT and holds several technical certifications.Read Aseem’s Full Bio

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Create Keyboard Shortcut to Access Safely Remove Hardware Dialog#

Create Shortcut to Safely Remove Hardware#

Change Shortcut Icon#

Create Keyboard Shortcut#