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Disable Do You Want To Scan And Fix Removable Disk, AutoPlay

Sometimes you see the prompt “Do you want to scan and fix removable disk” when you connect a removable device to your Windows PC. This usually happens if the device was not properly disconnected from the system in a previous session. It is more of a “we assume there is a problem because last time..” than a de facto problem.

The prompt displays two options to the user: Scan and fix (recommended) which will scan the disk for file system errors, or continue without scanning to ignore the prompt and start working with the device right away. Most users that I know are choosing the option to ignore the message and continue without scanning, as there is usually nothing to worry about.

If you search for do you want to scan and fix removable disk in an Internet search engine you find many users who see this message on a regular basis, and it does not really matter what they chose in the prompt, the message appears again on the next start. Most users however can work with the device properly no matter if they selected the scan and fix or the continue without scanning option in the notification window.

do you want to scan and fix removable disk

Options Scan and fix, and Continue without scanning are displayed

Some Windows users managed to get rid of the scan and fix notification whenever they connect a removable disk by making sure they always disconnect the device using the safely remove option. Here is how that is done. The safely remove media option is available as an icon in the system tray.

safely remove hardware and eject media

Just left or right-click on the icon to display a list of devices that can be safely removed from the operating system.

safely remove hardware

Disable Do You Want To Scan And Fix Removable Disk

The scan and fix message is powered by the Shell Hardware Detection service. If it runs the scan and fix messages are displayed. If it is stopped, they stop as well. Before you go ahead you should know that this will disable autoplay on the Windows system. Autoplay displays various options in a prompt whenever a device is connected to the computer. If you load a video DVD for instance Windows will display a prompt with options to play the video directly.

autoplay

There is another feature that gets axed when the Shell Hardware Detection service is stopped: The Windows Image Acquisition (WIA) service depends on the Shell Hardware Detection service. If the latter is stopped, the former will stop working as well. The Windows Image Acquisition provides image acquisition services for scanners and cameras.

To disable Shell Hardware Detection do the following: Press Windows-R, type services.msc and hit enter. This opens the Services configuration window. Locate the service Shell Hardware Detection and double-click it. Click on he startup type pulldown menu and change it from automatic to disabled.

shell hardware detection

This disables the service so that it does not autostart with Windows anymore. You may also want to click on the Stop button to stop it in the current Windows session as well. You can use the same path to activate the service again in case you want to do that. (via)

Related Articles:

Replace Scan Disk with Check Disk
Configure Media And Device AutoPlay In Windows 7
Scan your Hard Disk for Read Errors
Disable Low Disk Space Warning
Bitdefender USB Immunizer, Protect Removable Drives To Autorun-Based Attacks

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About the Author:Martin Brinkmann is a journalist from Germany who founded Ghacks Technology News Back in 2005. He is passionate about all things tech and knows the Internet and computers like the back of his hand. You can follow Martin on Facebook or Twitter.

Author: , Saturday November 27, 2010 -
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Responses so far:

  1. ilev says:

    AutoPlay in Windows is a security risk and must be disabled. Microsoft has issued patches to disable autoplay.

  2. NonYa says:

    Just another garbage popup from those masters of garbage at MicroSloth.

  3. Brendon says:

    I did everything here and it still doesn’t get rid of the pop up. All it did is get rid of auto-play – the original pop up still exists.

  4. Christine says:

    Ditto. I first stopped, then disabled the service. Still same message.

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