Help with practical joke - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

Scorpion23 · 12-09-2003, 02:21 PM

Does anyone know how to trigger the ejection of a piece of hardware from the "unplug or eject hardware" wizard using a .bat file?

I want to be able to insert my USB drive into a computer, and after running a bat file eject itself so I can remove the drive without manually going through the wizard.

FYI: This is for a practical joke war going on between offices here at school.

MontanaXVI · 12-09-2003, 07:19 PM

umm not quite sure why this would be a joke, but just unplug it without even messing with the wizrd i do this all the time with my digital camera and never cause any problems

Dilbert1234567 · 12-10-2003, 01:11 AM

it should be an icon on the task bar (should look like a drive with a green arrow over it.)

what do you want to run?

what operating system are you guys running?

what kind of sycurity are you running?

are you all connected on the same network?
do you know there computer name?

do you have admin rites on your system or their's?

let me know what you have and i can come up with some fun safe pranks.

Dilbert1234567 · 12-10-2003, 02:07 AM

technical dificulties

Scorpion23 · 12-10-2003, 10:37 AM

Here's what I plan to do:
When I insert my USB key drive into a computer, the autoplay wizard will run a bat file located on the USB key. The bat file will copy a new version of the hosts file to c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\ , overwriting the blank default file.
I then need something to automatically eject the drive so i can remove it without touching the keyboard. That way I can just hang around the back of the machine, plug it in and remove it after a few seconds. I don't want to just pull the drive out without ejection because the file system might still be accessing it.

I'm not sure what the exact contents of the host file will be, but probably along the lines of rerouting google to goatse or something.

Dilbert1234567 · 12-10-2003, 08:52 PM

ok the only risk is to the disk it self, not the computer

if you pull it out to soon it will corrupt the disk (just format to fix)

ill try to find a way to eject it with a batch file though

ill get back to you.

Krycheck · 03-26-2005, 11:04 PM

Hmmmm, I was just thinking of doing this so I searched and found this.

Dilbert did you find a way to do this? This would be the perfect way for me to get the last laugh when I quit my job Thursday!!

vinaur · 03-27-2005, 07:33 PM

Don't know if you can or want to install anything before doing the joke, but if you install devcon, you can use devcon remove <device id> command.

EDIT: actually, I think the file just has to be on the jump drive. I was testing it and I didn't have much luck removing anything, but it might work for you.

12-09-2003, 02:21 PM	#1 (permalink)
Scorpion23 Psycho	Help with practical joke Does anyone know how to trigger the ejection of a piece of hardware from the "unplug or eject hardware" wizard using a .bat file? I want to be able to insert my USB drive into a computer, and after running a bat file eject itself so I can remove the drive without manually going through the wizard. FYI: This is for a practical joke war going on between offices here at school.

12-09-2003, 07:19 PM	#2 (permalink)
MontanaXVI Junkie Location: Go A's!!!!	umm not quite sure why this would be a joke, but just unplug it without even messing with the wizrd i do this all the time with my digital camera and never cause any problems __________________ Spank you very much

12-10-2003, 01:11 AM	#3 (permalink)
Dilbert1234567 Devils Cabana Boy Location: Central Coast CA	it should be an icon on the task bar (should look like a drive with a green arrow over it.) what do you want to run? what operating system are you guys running? what kind of sycurity are you running? are you all connected on the same network? do you know there computer name? do you have admin rites on your system or their's? let me know what you have and i can come up with some fun safe pranks. __________________ Donate Blood! "Love is not finding the perfect person, but learning to see an imperfect person perfectly." -Sam Keen

12-10-2003, 02:07 AM	#4 (permalink)
Dilbert1234567 Devils Cabana Boy Location: Central Coast CA	technical dificulties __________________ Donate Blood! "Love is not finding the perfect person, but learning to see an imperfect person perfectly." -Sam Keen Last edited by Dilbert1234567; 12-10-2003 at 02:29 AM..

12-10-2003, 10:37 AM	#5 (permalink)
Scorpion23 Psycho	Here's what I plan to do: When I insert my USB key drive into a computer, the autoplay wizard will run a bat file located on the USB key. The bat file will copy a new version of the hosts file to c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\ , overwriting the blank default file. I then need something to automatically eject the drive so i can remove it without touching the keyboard. That way I can just hang around the back of the machine, plug it in and remove it after a few seconds. I don't want to just pull the drive out without ejection because the file system might still be accessing it. I'm not sure what the exact contents of the host file will be, but probably along the lines of rerouting google to goatse or something. __________________ "Empirically observed covariation is a necessary but not sufficient condition for causality" - Edward Tufte

12-10-2003, 08:52 PM	#6 (permalink)
Dilbert1234567 Devils Cabana Boy Location: Central Coast CA	ok the only risk is to the disk it self, not the computer if you pull it out to soon it will corrupt the disk (just format to fix) ill try to find a way to eject it with a batch file though ill get back to you. __________________ Donate Blood! "Love is not finding the perfect person, but learning to see an imperfect person perfectly." -Sam Keen

03-26-2005, 11:04 PM	#7 (permalink)
Krycheck Sultana ruined my evil persona Location: Los Angeles	Hmmmm, I was just thinking of doing this so I searched and found this. Dilbert did you find a way to do this? This would be the perfect way for me to get the last laugh when I quit my job Thursday!! __________________ His pants are tight...but his morals are loose!!

03-27-2005, 07:33 PM	#8 (permalink)
vinaur Insane	Don't know if you can or want to install anything before doing the joke, but if you install devcon, you can use devcon remove <device id> command. EDIT: actually, I think the file just has to be on the jump drive. I was testing it and I didn't have much luck removing anything, but it might work for you. Last edited by vinaur; 03-27-2005 at 08:16 PM..