Unable to eject Android phone

Question

When I try to eject my Android phone from my Windows 8 laptop (using the "Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media" icon in the task bar) I get a "Problem Ejecting USB Composite Device" pop-up with the message:

Windows can't stop your 'Android ADB Interface' device because a program is still using it. Close any programs that might be using the device, and then try again later.

I have a number of background and Windows processes running, but no apps, so any idea what could be causing this? One of the background processes is "abd (32 bit)", so should I just end that task? Or would it be better to just unplug the device and not worry about ejecting it first?

Answer 1

As Andrew Halloran stated, device can be safely removed if you first end Android Debug Bridge adb. That can be done using the Task Manager

Then click "Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media"

Answer 2

Android uses ADB to communicate with physical devices and emulators. To properly disconnect your phone first stop the ADB server and then eject your device.

CD C:\Users\<user_name>\AppData\Local\Android\android-sdk\platform-tools
adb kill-server

Then eject your device.

More info here.