In a network environment, you enable some group policies in the following location:

User Configuration\Administrative Template\System\Removable Storage Access

However, if you add the removable storage drive to a client computer that is running Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008 during the period between the system start and the user logon, you find that you can still perform related operations to the removable storage drive.

For example, consider the following scenario:

• You enable the policy “Removable Disks: Deny write access”
• You start a client computer that is running Windows Vista
• You insert a USB storage drive into the computer
• You log on to the system

In this scenario, you can still write files to the USB, or create files on the USB storage drive. However, you expect to see an “Access is denied” message.

Consider the following scenario:

• You attach a removable cartridge disk drive to a computer that is running Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008.
• In Device Manager, you enable the Optimize for performance setting on the Policies tab of the device properties.
• In Windows Explorer, you select the drive icon, and then you click Eject to eject the cartridge.

In this scenario, the removable cartridge is not ejected, and you receive the following error message:

An error occurred while ejecting ‘Removable Disk (X:)’

However, when you click Eject again, the removable cartridge is ejected successfully. This problem occasionally occurs on certain removable cartridge disk drives.

On a computer that’s running Windows Vista SP2, you may be prompted to reactivate Windows each time you dock or undock your computer or add or remove other forms of removable hardware.

Consider the following scenario:

• Your computer is running Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008.
• The computer has a removable media drive, such as a Secure Digital (SD) card reader, that uses the FAT or exFAT file system.
• No media is in the removable media drive.
• An application tries to access files on the removable media drive.

In this scenario, you receive an error message that resembles the following:

Windows – No Disk
Exception Processing Message 0xc0000013 Parameters
[Parameters]

Instead of prompting you to insert some media, this error message contains only some confusing exception data. However, you can still dismiss the error message and continue to use your application.

Note: This problem occurs in many scenarios. For example, this problem occurs when you start Notepad and then try to open a file on the removable media drive. It also occurs when you start a Microsoft Office application, such as Microsoft Word.

On a computer that is running Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008, you use the built-in backup application to back up data to a removable USB cartridge disk drive. However, your removable USB cartridge disk drive is not recognized as an available backup destination. Depending on your operating system, you experience the following symptoms.

On a Windows Vista-based computer
If you use the Backup and Restore Center tool or the Back Status and Configuration tool on a Windows Vista-based computer, the removable USB cartridge disk drive does not appear in the On a hard disk, CD, or DVD list.

On a Windows Server 2008-based computer
If you use Windows Server Backup tool on a Windows Server 2008-based computer, the removable USB cartridge disk drive is mistakenly recognized as a DVD drive. You can continue the backup process by using the removable USB cartridge disk drive. However, some backup and restore functionality is restricted for DVD media. For example, you receive the following error message when you try to restore individual files or folders from removable media:

Recovery of individual files, folders or application data from DVD or removable media is not supported.

These symptoms occur even though the removable USB cartridge disk drive appears in Windows Explorer as a disk drive. This problem occurs only with some removable USB cartridge disk drives that are manufactured by certain vendors.

When you connect a removable PCI Express device, such as an eSATA ExpressCard device, to a Windows Vista-based computer, the device does not appear in Safely Remove Hardware dialog box. Therefore, you cannot safely remove the device.

Consider the following scenario:

• On Windows Vista-based computer, you connect a removable storage device, such as a USB device, to the computer. After you do that, Windows Vista assigns a drive letter to the removable device in the system device context.
• You disconnect the removable device from the computer, and then you map a network drive by using the drive letter that was previously assigned to the removable device.

In this scenario, if you reconnect the removable storage device to the computer, Windows Vista cannot find the device.

Note: If you disconnect the network drive, the drive letter is assigned to the removable storage device, and you can access the device.

Consider the following scenario:

• You connect a removable storage device to a Windows Vista-based computer.
• This storage device has a DCIM folder in its root directory.
• This storage device has an Autorun.inf file in its root directory.

In this scenario, a Windows Explorer window appears instead of the AutoPlay dialog box. Therefore, you cannot start the program that is configured in the Autorun.inf file.

If this storage device has a DCIM folder in its root directory but does not have an Autorun.inf file in its root directory, options for viewing pictures appear in an AutoRun dialog box. Therefore, you can select the program that you want.

You insert storage media into a removable drive on a Windows Vista-based computer. However, the volume label of the storage media is not updated. Additionally, the AutoPlay dialog box is not displayed.

Note: This problem occurs intermittently.

When you “hot detach” a removable hard disk device from a Windows Vista-based computer, a Warning event that resembles the following may be logged in the System log:

Event ID: 12
The device device_name disappeared from the system without first being prepared for removal.

Additionally, if the disk is formatted by using the NTFS file system, a Warning event that resembles the following may be logged in the System log:

Event ID: 57
The system failed to flush data to the transaction log. Corruption may occur.

This problem may occur if the disk is “surprise removed.” For example, this behavior may occur if you remove the disk without using the Safely Remove Hardware icon in the notification area to stop the disk first. This problem may occur even though the disk uses an interface that supports surprise removal, such as a universal serial bus (USB) interface or an IEEE 1394 interface.