Windows 7: How to stop Windows Explorer closing for removable Disks!

I have autoplay completely disabled.
I realize that Windows Explorer (WE) will open if a new dvd, usb drive, etc is connected/inserted.

But 'I open' all of the WE windows I use but "Windows 7 64 will close that WE window if the thing is removed, even when it did NOT create/open it" !!

Anyone know how to disable this 'automatic' CLOSING of WE by Win 7??



Thanks for any help!! , this is a pain (and infinitely stupid on Windows 7's part) !!

Unfortunately there is no feature built into windows 7 that can stop this from happening, there could be a 3rd party application somewhere. I personally think there was a-lot of stupidity on Microsoft side when they built windows explorer

Also Welcome to 7 Forums!!

If explorer is actually displaying the contents of the drive you're removing, its going to close the window when you remove that drive. There is no point showing files and folders that are no longer there? If you switch the view to another folder/drive before you remove the drive the window will stay open and the drive you removed will disappear from the tree view on the left and the window will remain open.

If you remove the drive whilst it is open you are likely to damage some of the files on the drive. Hence the clever facility called "Safely remove hardware and eject media" If you have say a USB stick open and use the Safely remove option then that will close the window before saying "It is now safe to remove etc"
If you choose to ignore that facility then you are likely to damage the contents of the removable device!

I take it from your response you never used Windows XP .... windows 95.
(I was not asking how WE works, I know it quite well)

All previous windows, if you were 'viewing' the 'removed' drive/device, Windows Explorer (WE) would 'SIMPLY' move the 'focus' down 1 drive, ex. G:\ is removed, it would move to H:\ or even to control panel (I think) but NEVER would it close WE!!

Maybe vista acted like WE does in Windows 7 but no other windows ever did!

So thanks for the explanation, but this action must be completely related to 'Autoplay' (and obviously the recoded WE) which I think IMHO, is totally for unsophisticated/inexperienced/and the MAC/OS-X user.

Who wants a 2 TeraByte drive to be 'autoplayed' everytime you connect it?!!
Totally absurd! Personally I want NOTHING to autoplay and have it set thus.

So, it would have been VERY easy for WE to 'know' if it opened a specific WE, and thus close it appropriately OTHERWISE WE would ignore the closing and act exactly like WE did in all previous windows, focus elsewhere.

So, thanks again but......

This is totally unrelated to 'Autoplay' and the closing of Windows Explorer (WE), you are discussing the 'caching' or delayed writing of file related data (or even background ghost file writing), which IS done by Windows 7 (foolishly IMHO, except for the few milliseconds it may take to actually finalize a recent file/folder/partition/disk change).

And generally, ONLY if you are actively writing to a device will there be ANY damage if the device is simply removed, damage COULD occur but VERY unlikely, maybe 1 in a 100 or even 1 in 1000 chance. But what you do say is the safe manner to remove a device, but WE acts the same no matter the manner of device removal!!

Thanks anyway!

You are clearly so much more experienced than any of us here on this Forum that I for not shall not embarrass you any further with my ignorance!

I've used XP, 2K, 98 ,95, etc. If what you say is correct, IMHO Microsoft finally got it right. It saves me from having to manually close explorer when I remove the thumbdrive or CD/DVD. Dude what is your problem? You mentioned Autoplay in your first post. Then you flame somebody when they mention it in their reply?

I'm on my XP pc at the moment. If I open My Computer and then eject my thumbdrive explorer remains open and the thumbdrives icon disappears. If I navigate to the actual thumbdrive to view the contents and then eject it, explorer closes. Seems to me that that is almost exactly the same way windows 7 does it?

I apologize to all if I offended. I just don't do well with the very 'obvious' answers, which honestly was what was posted.

I suppose I just use WE differently than most. I ALWAYS have at least one if not more WE open at all times, since I navigate across my 3 Hdd's and multiple partitions very frequently.

I also always have a 'folders' view in WE so WE action is very important since so much time is spent using it.

But again, I am using WinXP as I type this and also have Autoplay disabled, I suppose I just do not 'auto' stuff too much since it rarely does what I want.

One of the few 'auto' things I encountered was a rental car and it would 'lock' the doors above 5-10mph, I actually liked that, but M$ autoplay I absolutely abhor, so its just me.

So I apologize again! Thanks Mom!