Removing U3 (and associated bundled software) from the SanDisk Cruzer Micro USB flash drive
Thursday, August 24th, 2006
Ok, so this isn’t really a hack per se, but it’s useful information for anyone who’s just bought one of these little puppies.
I saw this nice little 1GB USB flash drive when I was in Wisconsin last week for 30 bucks (after instant rebate) at a Best Buy. I was there for something else, but my dad had just misplaced his USB drive just before an extended consulting trip to North Carolina, and I figured I’d call and ask if he wanted me to pick one up for him. (My question was really whether I should buy one or two – 30 bucks is a very nice price for a decent amount of storage, and I figured Christian and I could certainly use it.)
So 60 bucks later, I left Best Buy with two little USB drives. They’re nice and small, have a retractable USB connector, and don’t have a cap to lose (which may or may not be a good thing). I thought it was a good buy in any event. When I got to the car, though, I noticed the fine print about U3 technology and some crappy software bundled on the drive (Skype with a free month of voicemail, some password storage software, and an anti-virus package, I think). Eh, I thought to myself. I’ll just wipe it when I get home. As I’ve implied before, I don’t really like companies deciding what’s installed on my hardware for me.
Well, I finally unpacked the thing today, and for some reason or other decided to look up this U3 stuff before I plugged the thing in. I like to know what devices and software are going to do before I let them run amok on my system. Sure enough, Amazon’s reviews of the drive had lots of complaints about the U3 Launchpad application running everytime the drive was plugged in, lots of undesirable stuff going on in the background, errors if the drive was not removed using the U3 tool instead of the Windows “Safely Remove Hardware” application, etc.
Ewww… I thought. This could suck… Bunches of people griping about it can’t mean anything good.
Of course, I’ve overestimated people before.
But after finding out how to fix it and forwarding the link to my father (who I hadn’t talked to since he got to North Carolina and started using the thing), I found out even he had had trouble with it. He’s a darned smart cookie, and he was pretty irritated:
It is REALLY annoying. It even told me that I had removed it improperly without using the f@3$%$*** eject button, even though I had disabled it from windows. … [I] will fix it after I transfer my files, but it’s nice to know that I don’t have to throw the damned thing away!
So I figured posting the fix might not be a bad thing, and might speed up some frustrated person’s search on how to get rid of the unwanted software. Fortunately, poking around at the SanDisk site reveals that it’s pretty easy to get U3 and all of the associated crap off of your drive.
Here’s how it goes, if you’re running Windoze (I don’t know if U3 even runs for other OSs, so if you’re running MacOS X or a *nix distro, the fix may be as simple as just formatting the drive):
- If you’ve used the device before, make sure you’ve gotten everything off of the drive you need. You’ll be reformatting it. (The application may have an option that allows you to keep the data – I don’t remember – but better safe than sorry.)
- Plug in the drive – the U3 launchpad will load. You can close the U3 tour program and whatever main window pops up if you like, but leave the U3 launchpad icon in the system tray enabled (i.e. don’t exit the launchpad application entirely).
- Download SanDisk’s U3 Launchpad Removal Tool (opens in new window) – as the site says, make sure the USB device is plugged in and Launchpad is still running.
- Run the tool, and choose the option which completely removes U3 and formats the drive.
Voilà, you now have a regular old USB drive which you can break in any way you want.
(Edit: If the SanDisk tool above doesn’t work for you, you might try the uninstall tool from u3.com – thanks to Olaf for the information. I had no trouble with the SanDisk tool, but I can only speak for myself!)
I admit that I am not a fan of bundling unwanted applications with devices or other software. Hell, I get annoyed with programs that install links to URLs for internet providers on my desktop, let alone executables that hide on my disk doing God-knows-what. (Well, ok, I have a pretty good idea as to what, but that’s only because I take the time to find out and eradicate them.) This is just one more example of how companies think it’s really OK to do whatever they want with your machine once you’ve bought something from them – purchase this OS, and you tacitly agree to relinquish control of your data. Purchase this DSL package, and you agree to have MSN as your ISP, even if you don’t need the service. Purchase this hardware, and you agree to let data be tracked that you would otherwise keep private or to run certain applications on your machine that you have no desire or need for.
Now, I understand that part of the reason that drive was so cheap was probably because there was some monetary incentive to SanDisk to push U3 out to consumers. And it was easy enough to get rid of once I looked for a solution. But let’s face it – Joe Blow who uses his CD drive for a cup holder and thinks he breaks the Internet every time his connection lags is not going to know how to find a solution. My feeling is that unless the software is clearly advertised on the packaging along with an explicit mention of how to get rid of the software, companies have no business installing or running anything on your machine that is not directly related to the product you intended to buy.
I loooooove corporate America. Yes, yes I do.
Standard disclaimer: If anything breaks as a result of following any instructions anywhere on this site, the responsibility lies with you, not me. I’m a poor academic – suing me would be pointless anyway… 
Tags: corporate bullshit, hacks, hardware, software
August 29th, 2006 at 12:14
Thanks for the info on the removal tool. That U3 piece of crap software was driving me nuts. Thanks for finding out how to remove it.
September 3rd, 2006 at 12:24
THANK YOU i spent an hour looking through sandisk’s website and found nuten, then i googled my issue and this site came up top. you were verry helpfull and now i won’t be pulling out my hair every time i plug my drive into a new computer.
September 4th, 2006 at 18:59
[...] I’ve been reluctant to post of late, mainly because I was either too tired, had too much to do, or didn’t have the time to write what I really felt like writing. The extent of my involvement with the blog in the last few weeks has been to watch in amazement and amusement at how badly folks seem to want to get rid of U3 on their flash drives (nearly 350 hits on that one in the last 30 days, and I’ve only had the blog for a few days longer than that – are you guys listening, SanDisk?) or the stupid Actiontec ‘web activity log’ (210 hits)). I only posted that stuff out of my own frustration with commercial products, but it seems to have been useful for someone, so I guess I’ll keep doing that occasionally. In any event, this post will be less information and more blather, mainly meant to let friends, family, stalkers, and accidental readers (hi guys!) know what’s going on from here. [...]
September 4th, 2006 at 22:10
Thanks, That helps alot, I tried formatting the drive before, and no luck, Tried all sorts of junk and still was no resolve, Why don’t they bundle in the uninstaller??
Well, Thanks again for that link, saves me alot of time and software nagging..
September 6th, 2006 at 08:09
Thanks. Quick fix for an annoying problem.
September 9th, 2006 at 19:10
Thanks for posting this!! I was going nuts trying to uninstall the garbase U3 Launchpad. You saved me a LOT of time. Like someone else wrote, SanDisk should supply the uninstaller with the disk.
September 9th, 2006 at 23:41
This U3 stuff really is junk. It was annoying that it launched everytime I plugged it in on my PC and it was stupid that it came up that I had inserted a blank CD (and a Thumb Drive) everytime I plugged it into my MacBook. No thanks Sandisk, I’ll get my portable apps from portableapps.com and be done with it. Thanks for the tip.
September 12th, 2006 at 17:38
Thanks for the tip. I can now use my driver with out that piece of U3 sh*t slowing down my computer.
September 12th, 2006 at 17:53
Just an extra tip if when you run the uninstall software and it comes up with a message saying something about having more than one U3 drive you have to disable other drives on your computer. (this is on the sandisk website if i am confusing u)to do this right click on my computer and hit manage. Then select device manager and select disk drives. then right click any other drives and select disable. When u are done with the uninstaller go back and enable any drives you disabled.
September 13th, 2006 at 14:05
Thanks, really annoyed me to see that U3 junk on a nice cheap drive.
September 13th, 2006 at 16:14
Thank GOD!
My old micro was stolen, so I had upgraded to the 2 gig and was horribly disappointed with the U3 tech. I write my own programs for that sort of application, and they don’t reside in any hidden parts of the [censored] hardware, christ! SanDisk needs to pull their head from their sphincter before asphyxiation occurs.
September 17th, 2006 at 22:02
Thanks, Friend!
After finding your message and DLing the software, uninstall was painless. I was convinced there was hidden exe somewhere on my HD. I found it was only the micro, though, when I made a full capacity zip and stored it, u3 didn’t have enough memory to load, it would hang.
They can keep their craptacular software. As others stated, the uninstaller should have been included, that’s lame on SanDisk’s part.
September 21st, 2006 at 08:22
Thanks! I bought the drive for $25.00 at Staples yesterday (9/20/06). Too good of a deal to pass up, I didn’t know how much of a hassle this u3 was going to be, but the removal was quick and easy.
Thanks again!
September 24th, 2006 at 20:38
i have a problem i did the uninstall of the U3 and then ejected the flash drive and plugged it back in and went to my computer and there is no driver there but it still lets me eject it from the system tray
September 24th, 2006 at 21:19
Joe: You might check “My Computer” after you plug in the drive to see if it sees it as a removable drive; if so, there’s nothing more to do.
AFAIK, the generic USB storage device drivers are part of XP and there’s nothing more to be done (assuming, of course, you’re running XP). It’s been so long since I set up my system that I have no idea whether or not I had to install any additional device drivers for USB mass storage, but I don’t *think* I did. If it’s horked beyond that, I can’t tell you what’s going on, because I’m not there to see it. Sorry!
September 25th, 2006 at 06:12
Thanks, you saved me alot of time looking for the solution. We are given these for work, and desktop support is a pain when you suddenly run out of drive letters, as your thumbdrive has taken 2! Thanks again.
September 27th, 2006 at 07:46
I just bought one of the exact pieces of hardware that you did, and I have got to agree that that little jewel of a program U3 is a total piece of crap. It just annoyed the you know what out of me, it would work on my computer at home, but when I got to my college, it would not even load the programs from the usb to the computer, so I could access my files from home but not school. Thanks for the info about the driver fix.
September 28th, 2006 at 21:24
What were they thinking with that U3 junk and without including a very easy way to remove it? Hey I appreciate the nfo and insight you provided. Now I have a real drive. I had a slightly different prob than most. I have NO extra drive letters left for U3 to assign to its stupid CD(System) part. Ya know companies have been doin’ this crap for a long, long time. Even generic Zip disks came with junk on them. Who knows next thing ya know will CF,SD,MS,SM etc. will come with preloaded pictures for us so we don’t have to take any of our own!!
October 2nd, 2006 at 23:46
I LOVE YOU !
THANK YOU !!!!
ur my hero =]]]
October 9th, 2006 at 07:28
Thanks. Very annoying, especially when part of my intent of having a drive like this is to create my own bootable environment on the drive. I love how the uninstaller says loosely at the very end, “Formatting is complete. Your drive is now just a REGULAR storage drive.” Oh no! Not a REGULAR storage drive! What will I do?
October 10th, 2006 at 22:57
Thank you SOOO much! I’ve been debating wether or not to purchase this device. I too, am weary of the added software and want a plain and simple USB drive.
October 11th, 2006 at 12:38
thanks a million!
October 16th, 2006 at 00:47
Krista-
Let me add my thanks as well. I’d LOVE to get hold of the bozo at Sandisk who approved putting their “would be oh so clever and useful” proprietary software on the drive. It’s beyond me that the marketing people in these outfits cannot understand that we don’t WANT this kind of crap. Chairman of Sandisk, are you perhaps looking at this site? If you aren’t you sure as hell should be!
Thanks again Krista.
October 16th, 2006 at 11:23
Thanks for posting this information. It was on the first page of links that Google returned when I entered “Removing San Disk U3 Software”.
October 18th, 2006 at 15:14
Krista,
Thanks for doing the hard work in making this unholy amalgam of good hardware / annoying crapware actually useful. No legal threats from me!
October 22nd, 2006 at 13:43
I’m a novice and know just enough to get into trouble, LOL. I plugged in the Cruzer and nothing happened–in fact everything just hung up. I couldn’t “Safely Remove Hardware” because it wouldn’t open. I opened “My Computer” and there was nothing there, YIKES. Finally after 5 minutes, I got pissed and pulled the little crapper out–unfortunately, just as the U3 Launchpad appeared in my toolbar. I powered off, plugged the drive in again and restarted my PC. the “Auto Play” box popped and was searching endlessly–after 5 minutes, I clicked Cancel–nothing happened. Again, I pulled the Cruzer out and powered down–everything was okay after restarting. I found some suggestions on other message boards–hold the shift key down while rebooting–didn’t work (although the Cruzer did appear in my I and J drives when I opened “My Computer”; but I couldn’t save a Word doc to it–I tried just to see what would happen). I don’t think I can get my money back; and I don’t want to be stuck with something that is useless and wreaks havoc with my OS. I have Windows XP/Home Edition and am using a 2.0 USB port and have plenty of space on my harddrive. I’m afraid of doing anything because I have had no trouble with my PC and want to keep it that way–any help would be greatly appreciated.
October 22nd, 2006 at 20:30
Hi Lynne – I’m unfortunately not an expert on the device, so I’d actually suggest e-mailing SanDisk customer service. I also don’t have a Cruzer with the U3 Launchpad still on it anymore, so I can’t actually provide much in the way of technical advice. But this is certainly not about the space on your hard drive or anything else – this is about the goofy way the U3 software works.
That said, if you can actually see the drive on “My Computer” and want to see if you can get U3 Launchpad up and running so that you can uninstall it (as in the instructions above), you might double-click on the drive and look to see if there’s a *.exe file called “launchpad” or “setup” or “autoplay” or something, double-click on that, and if Launchpad runs, try the above. I can’t guarantee that’ll work, or that it won’t break your drive.
If you’re not confident with being able to fix it on your own, though, I’d recommend mailing SanDisk customer service or checking the LaunchPad support page at https://www.customernation.com/pls/ps/ps.ps_main?p_host=304&p_supplier=5096&p_parm=PSHPP – there are a bunch of links on there that might help you.
(Again, note that I don’t work for SanDisk or represent their interests in anyway – in fact, they rather tick me off!)
Good luck, and let us know if you manage to figure out how to fix it!
October 22nd, 2006 at 20:57
Hi Krista – thanks so much for the reply. I have been to all of the message boards I can Google and the posts are the same–you either have serious problems or Cruzer with U3 works fine. I am sure of one thing, there is definitely a conflict and I think it’s with my CD/DVD program (which I AM NOT going to uninstall). My PC just freezes up solid when the Cruzer is plugged in. It’s hit or miss (more miss than hit actually) whether the device will show up in My Computer–normally it’s just a blank window and if I try to close it, everything disappears. I was going to try the U3 Uninstaller; but since the drive now doesn’t show up–I’m up the creek. Sorry for going on, if I had known that this super deal was going to be such a mess, I would have passed on the Cruzer. If you want a really good laugh, here’s the back and forth with SanDisk (this is so typical of most support requests these days and I wish she would can the “have a nice day” wishes:
Your Question/Request:
I purchased a SanDisk Cruzer Micro 1.0GB and it is causing me a great deal of trouble. I plugged it in and everthing on my PC froze–I tried to use the remove hardware function and it wouldn’t open. When I clicked “My Computer” the window opened and there was NOTHING there! I tried to shut down my PC and finally had to power it off. I removed the Cruzer and restarted my PC, everything was fine, I kept the PC turned on and plugged in the Cruzer again–this time the Windows “Auto Play” box popped and kept searching for 5 minutes–I clicked Cancel and nothing happened. Again, I had to power my PC off. I have other SanDisk flash drives and have NEVER had this type of problem. I was going to download and install the U2 LaunchPad installer; but am afraid of making things worse! I’m using Windows XP OS and have plenty of space on my harddrive.
*******Update***** I Googled “trouble with SanDisk Cruzer” and found this message board which describes my problem exactly. I tried following the U3 troubleshooting instructions–powered my PC off, plugged in the Cruzer, pressed the Shift key and powered back up–this time, the two drives (I and J) recognized the Cruzer; but NOTHING else would function. My Computer was BLANK. I want to return this drive to Radio Shack; but I’ve cut out the UPC for the $15 rebate and mailed it yesterday. I really want my money back!
————————————————
SanDisk Response: (10/22/2006 02:09)
Hello Lynne,
Thank you for contacting SanDisk Technical support. We are happy to be of any assistance.
We apologize for the inconvenience that this issue has brought you.
Do you have any packet burning software installed on your PC?
Some CD-ROM or DVD burners are bundled with software that may conflict with the drive letter on which your smart drive is installed. Although there has been no formal testing to date of the various packet writing software applications in the market, it is advised that you uninstall the software and then try inserting the smart drive again. If the problem is resolved, please contact us at tier2support@sandisk.com with the name of the packet writing software installed on your computer.
Examples of such programs are listed below:
- B’s Clip (from BHA)
- Data Add 2.0 (Ulead)
- DirectCD (from Adaptec/Roxio)
- InCD and Nero 7.0
- PacketCD (from CeQuadrat)
- RecordNow MAX, MyCD, PrimoCD, PrimoDVD and DLA (from Veritas)
- Write DVD! (from Software Architects)
If the device works on another PC, then you might want to contact your PC manufacturer, a PC Technician, or Microsoft for assistance.
Should you have further inquiries or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us via reply to this Email.
Have a nice day!
Best regards,
Jennifer D.
SanDisk Technical Support.
————————————————
Your Response: (10/22/2006 04:08)
Thank you for the reply; but, I really would like a refund–I am a novice computer user and unfortunately, if I screw something up with installing and un-installing programs, I have to pay an expert to fix whatever I’ve done.
I have Record Now Plus installed on my PC (which is not included in your list). I visited a web message board and find that I am not alone with the Cruzer problem,
I have other SanDisk portable drives and have never had this problem with any of them–that is why I purchased the product. I really want my money back and ask that you elevate my email to someone who can tell me how to accomplish this.
————————————————
SanDisk Response: (10/22/2006 04:45)
Hello Lynne,
Thank you for your reply.
You may email your concern at rebates@sandisk.com. Since we do not have access to rebates cases, it would be better that you email your concern to the given email address.
Thank you.
Should you have any further inquiries or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us via Email.
Have a nice day!
Best regards,
Jennifer D.
SanDisk Technical Support.
————————————————
Your Response: (10/22/2006 04:45)
Jennifer–you don’t understand, I’m not asking about any rebate. I am very unhappy with my purchase of the Cruzer Micro and I don’t want to keep something I cannot use. I want my money back. Can I return it to Radio Shack and get a refund? Or, should I send it to SanDisk?
October 23rd, 2006 at 21:07
For whatever reason the SANDISK uninstall didn’t and doesn’t work. HOWEVER here is a link to U3’s website that DOES work.
http://www.u3.com/uninstall/final.aspx
October 24th, 2006 at 00:15
Olaf: Thanks for the link. The SanDisk uninstall did work for me, but it’s good to know there are more options!
October 25th, 2006 at 14:37
Couldn’t make u3 uninstaller or san disk uninstaller work.
Sledgehammer uninstalled it nicely though.
dabs.com sold me a drive with four times as much memory for the same cost as u3 drive.
Adam
October 29th, 2006 at 10:31
Thanks for taking the time to detail your problem. The link to U3 Uninstall helped, as the SanDisk version wouldn’t work because it thought I had more than one drive installed. You post saved me a lot of time surfing for answers!
October 29th, 2006 at 12:19
[...] Before I incapacitate anyone else’s computer, I better find out what kind of trouble other users are having with this flash drive. Top of the list on my Google search is Krista Grothoff’s post where I found everything I needed to remove U3 and all it’s programs from my new drive. I needed to use the uninstall program from U3 because SanDisk’s uninstall program thought I had two drives attached. [...]
October 30th, 2006 at 03:01
Thanks dude, this thing was driving me nutz…
November 1st, 2006 at 10:34
Cheers for the useful info, Krista.
I’ve just uninstalled that troublesome U3 Launchpad from my new Sandisk Cruzer. I’d rather have “just” a flash drive than some “smart bells and whistles” device that makes trying to use the friggin’ thing a nightmare.
November 17th, 2006 at 10:42
Krista:
Hi! i was a desperate guy fighitng against a tiny little thing named USB flash memory… haha but thanks to you i won the battle.
Im from Monterrey Mexico, and i had this trouble with a flash drive from an important director here in the company i work for.
Thank you, really i mean it, it was so helpfull your information.
Have a nice day, Krista…
before i go… y loved your story haha you meake it kind o f funny lol!
adieu!
November 19th, 2006 at 23:05
I did exactly what Krista did: Bought 2 of these little things on sale (at Office Max– one unit for me, one for my wife), got them home, and could not use them at all. Neither one. Could not use them at my office either. When I plug one into the USB port, its light flashes on/off, just like that. Then, nothing, nada, zip. Nothing runs, no splash screen, no U3 nuttin’. No device letter on My Computer, nothing on Computer Management. Other people around the web say to reformat it, but you can’t reformat what’s not there. I be stymied.
I’m going to try to find the device using Linux with a Knoppix or similar boot CD. If it shows up there, I know I can reformat it, and that should get the U3 stuff off.
On the other hand, not seeing the device itself is a bad sign; I’m worried that it’s hosed electronically.
If I have any success I will write back.
Thanks to all for sharing your thoughts.
Charles Hethcoat
November 25th, 2006 at 16:10
Thank you SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much!!! I am going through computer hell over here, and I have an old sandisk USB 2g and when I purchased the 4g today I went through HELL!!! God bless you for being so nice and helping me out. All I did was goto google and type, SANDISK without U3 and your site came up!!! Kudos !!!
-Danielle
December 1st, 2006 at 06:30
Hi Krista. Thanks for posting this. I bought a micro cruzer U3 which caused my PC to re-boot every time I plugged it in. Ever since then I get a message on start up which tells me that my system has recovered from a serious error. Don’t know why but the next challenge is to try to fix it. I was about to assign my Cruzer to the garbage bin but removing U3 and reformatting it has made it work like a normal memory stick. Back in the “smile zone”. Thanks again. Aly
December 1st, 2006 at 17:43
Had the stick in, had the launch pad open in the task bar, but the removal program from the websiterefused to identify the drive as a U3 program… looks like they put a fix for those trying to fix our sticks… dang!
December 1st, 2006 at 21:20
Thank you for the tip.
I bought the USB drive to replace my old faulty drive only to be confronted with the problems experienced by others.
The drive only worked once on my PC and it went crazy. Didn’t work on my home and office PCs. However it worked on my daughter’s laptop and my colleague’s PC at work. I began to suspect the problem was with my PCs – until I came accross your tip.
Thank you very much for saving my day.
December 4th, 2006 at 00:45
Thanks so much it really was such a waste of time and space because it took so long to load up and you had to wait to put on a little word file which can now be done so much faster
Thanks Again
December 6th, 2006 at 12:19
I had exactly the same problem. bought the sandisk 1 gig micro. Hated the U3 program. I don’t even understand how sandisk could even think that was helpful. Struggled with it. Found this site, and followed the procedure, now I’m happy. Thank you so much.
December 8th, 2006 at 23:57
I’ve been having problems using my sandisk 1 gig micro at my office since I didn’t have admin access to the work computer. The thing would just keep flashing on and off. It couldn’t get the launcher going as a result of the admin restriction barring loading personal software without prior IT approval. As a result, the sandisk was non-functional. With U3 uninstalled, everything is working fine. Thanks for posting the solution.
December 12th, 2006 at 15:08
Same old, same old… the Sandisk installer wouldn’t – suggested running the installer and then uninstalling from the Launchpad Settings menu. The newer version of Launchpad does include an uninstall option, but that didn’t work either!!
Fortunately, the U3 uninstaller did the trick – pleased that U3 is history!
Rai
December 12th, 2006 at 15:08
Doh! That should have been, “…Sandisk uninstaller…”
Rai
December 12th, 2006 at 19:52
Thank you a lot for this, I’m sure i could have done it myself but thanks to your cool blog I got it even easier
December 15th, 2006 at 20:57
Thanks man, really helps me out
I ahve bundled software
December 15th, 2006 at 20:57
*hate
December 18th, 2006 at 12:52
thank you
(btw, I found you from http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=how+to+get+u3+launchpad+off+sandisk+usb&btnG=Google+Search)
December 20th, 2006 at 12:58
THANK YOU! An amazing easy solution to a terribly frustrating problem. Happy Holidays
December 20th, 2006 at 19:16
Did anyone ever answer Joe’s question in message 14 above?
I have the same problem. I still see San Disk U3 stuff in my registry and would like to remove it all. I am denied when trying to delete some of the registry items.
I’m told I need to re-image my PC. I’ll do that only as a last resort. Right now I have a work around, bothersome as it is. I noticed that if a have attached a USB thumb drive [even the Cruzer from which I uninstalled the U3 stuff], the drive is available in Explore when I log back in. Once I ’safely’ remove it, the drive will not be visible in Explore again when I reattach it. I can use Disk Management–>Open, but not Explore until I log off and back on with the device attached.
How do I remove all knowledge of San Disk from my registry?
December 27th, 2006 at 12:09
I came across this page doing a google search, having purchased a 4GB Cruzer and having this annoying U3 crap popping up every time I insert the drive. Thing is, I’m on OS X (Tiger) and the two uninstall utilities are for Windows and I don’t have a PC. Even on the U3 site, it asks for the reason to uninstall, and it has “I use a Mac” as an option, so I hoped it would download a Mac uninstall utility, but no – it still tried to download the .exe which is useless to me.
I have tried using Mac Disk Utility to format the drive, zero it, repartition it – everything… nothing works. It says there is a 50MB locked CD boot partition on the Cruzer which cannot be modified.
Does anyone have a solution for getting rid of this aggravating piece of garbage from my Cruzer?
Thanks!
December 27th, 2006 at 13:07
Thanks for the info on the gunk removal. I knew there would be a way around it, I figured there would be quite a few people that wouldn’t put up with it. The removal is quick and painless.
December 29th, 2006 at 12:02
Many, many thanks!
December 31st, 2006 at 11:57
Thank you! The program was terrible, I’m so glad I’m rid of it.
December 31st, 2006 at 12:01
Thanks so much. I couldn’t figure out why I couldn’t simply copy files over like my Kingston drive from work. I had to use the alternative link because it kept saying I had two drives in when I only had one. But now its clean and I can use it for what its intended, just moving a file from A to B. Thanks.
January 1st, 2007 at 13:43
This U3 garbage may be the straw that breaks the camels (SanDisks) back. Haven’t seen a simular piece of garbage in years.
NOTE FOLLOWING FROM U3 WEBSITE:
“Only applications that are specifically developed for the U3 platform may be loaded onto the smart drive. These applications have been made “U3 smart,” and undergo testing and verification through our application certification program.”, so be careful.
Even most of SanDisk’s support personnel don’t know the U3 software can be removed, thus converting drive to a “standard flash drive”.
Thanks to all for helpful suggestions.
WW
P.S. Note many retail stores (Staples, BestBuy, Office Depot, Circuit City) are now selling the SanDisk Micro (U3) 1GB for $19.95 (or less). Do you think SanDisk now realizes they have a “dog” product and are trying to unload inventory?
January 1st, 2007 at 16:27
…the info here finally worked in wiping that U3 stuff off my new XMAS micro cruzer.
Note that only the ‘latest’ SanDisk removal-tool version would work — that’s called:
“u3 uninstall.exe” (Version 1.0.2.3)
Older version is “launchpadremoval.exe”
(Version 1.00.21). It froze up and did nothing on my windows XP system.
Both are downloads from SanDisk, and you must enable their ‘cookies’. They also make it a tedious chore to get thru the download process for the latest version — to scare off as many folks as possible.
———
Note, the Sandisk drivers for Windows 98SE don’t work– had to search for generic USB drivers, but micro cruzer will only handle about 25% of its storage capacity on a 98SE PC. {??}
January 2nd, 2007 at 14:39
For info: PNY also sells 1GB and 2GB “U3-Smart” flash drives (same price as SanDisk), however, unlike SanDisk the PNY drives will work either as a traditional USB storage device (without the need to remove any installed software) or at your option, as a “U3 SmartDrive”, if you have Windows 2000 or a later OS.
_______
Details here: http://www2.pny.com/1GB-USB-20-FLASH-DRIVE-WITH-U3-SMARTtrade-TECHNOLOGY-P2114C53.aspx
_____
PS- BestBuy has the 1GB PNY on sale this week for $19.99. (Note: I’m NOT affilated in any way with PNY.)
January 2nd, 2007 at 16:16
Does anyone know if choosing to reformat on another system (OSX or Linux) will remove all the PC auto run things? On my Mac, I get two loaded drives when I plug in the Cruzer. It’s almost like there’s a ROM version (that loads as a CD-ROM, BTW) that can’t be reformatted. I’m assuming that’s why the uninstaller from SanDisk or U3 is needed and that it must be doing a firmware update on the drive. Unfortunately, the uninstaller utility ONLY runs on Windows–so the irony is that I cannot eliminate this before ever plugging it in to a Windows box. Can anyone else either confirm or correct this?
January 2nd, 2007 at 16:19
In reply to my own comment #52: I found the following info at an Amazon.com review of the product…
Mac users-the U3 function won’t work for OS X (not that I’d want it anyway). I figured erasing and reformatting from FAT 32 to Mac OS Extended (Jounaled) would do the trick. Nope. I tried zeroing out the data. Nope. I went to the website and got instructions to use Get Info and unlock the files, but they are grayed out. It was so annoying having the U3 show up as a separate disk and having to eject BOTH every time, I finally called SanDisk. I was informed that the only way to remove it was on a PC (Yuk!). I finally went to my neighbor’s house, downloaded the U3 uninstaller to her Windows PC and followed the steps. It does work, but seems ridiculously Mac-unfriendly. We’re in the minority, silly as that is, but to have to use a PC to make this product workable is absurd.
January 3rd, 2007 at 12:47
John – When I first ran into this problem, SanDisk support personnel advised me their U3 flash drives contain a “chip”, thus the need to use their (SanDisks) U3 software, to remove/install U3 feature.
I have my doubts about the “chip”, but it could be one explanation as to both operational as well as modification problems with these new drives.
January 3rd, 2007 at 20:05
Nice post, but- WARNING- even after successfully performing the above procedure, if you plug the newly ‘cleaned’ drive into a Windows XP Media Edition computer, it will be unrecognized, and Windows goes looking for a driver (and won’t find one). Yikes! I opened yet another issue with Sandisk. They recommended exploring or calling Microsoft, and gave no help! This U3 fiasco will be the undoing of Sandisk, till now a reputable company… What trash!
January 8th, 2007 at 02:27
Thanks for the very useful tip! All I wanted was a USB flash drive, not a program-launching platform.
(Why would I want to carry software around with me in U3 format instead of EXE format? I’m shaking my head in disbelief at whoever dreamed that one up. I just don’t get it. And what’s with the two drive letters?)
Thanks again.
January 8th, 2007 at 04:45
Thank you, it was a complete pain in the arse having this software on the 20+ keys we use.
January 9th, 2007 at 07:00
why remove it.. it is very powerful.. you may never know.. wahaha
January 9th, 2007 at 07:01
a couple of noobs here ….
January 9th, 2007 at 21:40
Thanks for writing this up. I recently received a Sandisk Cruzer 1gb for Christmas from a friend and it had u3 (not the titanium, the other one). Personally, I had no problems with u3 since it wasn’t installing any software onto my hard drive, and I could default for the annoying warnings not to appear. Unfortunately however, my work computer is secured and prohibits unauthorized software from running, so the Sandisk was unusable at work without the u3 start-up. It’s really a pity too since the security password would be nice for storing confidential files with.
Sandisk seems to now bundle the removal software built into the u3 settings on the device. When I tried this I got a warning that “it could only be used on one device and to reinsert.” I tried to reinsert a few times, but the same error. I used the fix from the u3 website and I’m back with a normal, snazzy USB drive. No big loss, and I love the fact that the port slides in and out rather than having a cap that I would surely lose. Good to know that Sandisk tried to give the users the uninstall right on the device… even though that didn’t work, so the user-friendlyness of the device seems like it is evolving.
January 10th, 2007 at 14:37
The utility from the http://www.e3.com/uninstall link (mentioned in the main blog posting) worked perfectly to remove E3 from an Ativa-badged 1GB thumb drive. I picked the drive up at Office Depot at a really great price, assuming (like the poster) I could just delete the crap I didn’t want. Rather irritating to have a “CD-ROM” show up on a Mac desktop in addition to the actual thumb drive itself even though the actual E3 software itself doesn’t work/load. Keep this blog page up and running!
January 13th, 2007 at 18:02
Wow! I’ve been trying to remove this junk forever. U3 is really some worthless and sneaky stuff. Thank you!
However, if you want something for your drive that will load programs and whatnot there’s a more functional app at http://www.portableapps.com (which also has some really neat things you can do with a USB drive).
January 16th, 2007 at 16:09
That thing on my San Disk was about to drive me nuts, couldn’t find anything on the San Disk web pages to help me, so I went to Google and found your posting. Wow, just what I wanted, I am now rid of all the junk that was on the drive and can use it as a normal drive.
Bless you anyway, my friend.!!
January 18th, 2007 at 07:33
Helllo everybody.
I need help with my sandisk U3 cruzer micro USB.
ne for the Launchpad software and the other for store my own data but suddenly it only shows or assign a logical unit for the included software and not shows more my info.
It always worked well when i pluged it. In normal conditions, it shows or assigns 2 logical units
i tried to remove the software and to format the device from the website but now not assign nor any logical unit.
Any help will be more appreciated.
January 21st, 2007 at 18:55
Thank you for the information about removing the U3. They should not be allowed to attach the software without clearing stating it is attached and how to remove it. It totally froze my computer everytime I put the drive in. Thanks to your info I removed the software and now have a 1gb drive for a great price.
January 22nd, 2007 at 23:23
Thanks for the lead! U3 was annoying me big time. I thought I just reformat… No! The blasted U3 remained, still appearing as a CD drive.
Following your tip(s), I went to the SanDisk site, but I couldn’t find a removal tool, just some instructions. Unfortunately, my U3 was an older version and I simply didn’t have the uninstall option mentioned in the instructions. Clever as I am, within the launchpad, I chose “check for update” and selected upgrade. This _seemed_to_ work like a charm, and duely found the missing uninstall option. When I launched it, in not as many words, it essentially told me “I’m sorry Dave, I’m afraid I can’t do that!” and asked me to confirm this with several message boxes. It said, first I would need to remove the other (non-existent) U3 drive from my system. Well, f#@& you, too!!
Luckily, the http://www.u3.com/uninstall/final.aspx link worked like a charm – after a few annoying messages and 100 warnings.
I’m sure “U3 Smart Technology” is like the tastiest chocolate cake, but however delicious it is, I don’t like to have it rammed down my throat.
Thanks to all of you for the advice and for the original post, of course!!!
Shaman
January 24th, 2007 at 08:17
[...] *nix is that it CAN’T run automatically, but with Windows it still does.) At any rate, here’s a tutorial on how to remove the preinstalled software from a Cruzer. Share This This entry was written by [...]
January 24th, 2007 at 14:14
You Rock, Thanks!!!
January 24th, 2007 at 14:14
[...] some googling, I found this highly useful article out there which provided a link to the U3 site for a removal tool. Works like a normal USB flash [...]
January 25th, 2007 at 07:23
Allow me to add my appreciation for the information you have provided. I now have a flash drive that actually works like it should.
January 26th, 2007 at 10:10
Thank you so much!
January 26th, 2007 at 17:14
Thanks for the link but I’m having trouble getting it to work on my SanDisck Cruzer 2 GB.
If I follow your directions, I get an error telling me I have more than one flash drive installed and to remove one. Yet I only have one plugged in!
If I go the other route and start the program without the flash drive installed, I’m asked to insert it into the USB port but when I do, all that happens is the U3 program starts up but the removal tool still doesn’t see the drive pluged into the USB port.
So I don’t know what to do.
January 26th, 2007 at 17:22
Thanks for the help on removing the U3 ^%#^^%#^&#. I, too, like James, couldn’t get the SanDisk software to work. The software mounts a virtual CD drive and the PC assigns the USB stick two drive letters–one for the actual stick and one for the virtual CD drive.
To fix this, I had to use the link Olaf recommended (http://www.u3.com/uninstall/final.aspx). While there, they ask why you want to rid your drive of the invasive (my term) software, which gives you the chance to vent.
Many thanks to you and St. Olaf for the successful Cruzer Exorcism!
January 28th, 2007 at 04:58
If SanDisk has any business sense they will remove this software and keep it as a downloadable software by just saving a simple web page on the drive or by adding a CD with the software in it. It is just simply nasty business ethics and behavior to have a software in a hardware that you simply cannot remove. SanDisk, I hope you are reading the frustrations of “n” number of users!
January 28th, 2007 at 13:47
Hey! Now that worked. I just got almost 2 GB of MP3s on this thing until it ran out of space. Thanks for the link.
January 29th, 2007 at 08:19
i hate the software that comes with this stupid jump drive
January 29th, 2007 at 11:17
It is nice to see someone like yourself taking the time to research and share with others. The trend of bundling unwanted software needs to be controlled. It is not enough to label the package that widget is included but it should also clearly state what widget does and how to remove. After all, I paid for it just as I paid for my computer. In my book, that makes the owner regardless what the corporate weenies think! Good job. Glad you are a member of the human race.
January 29th, 2007 at 18:42
Thank you for the well-written, entertaining, remarkably quick fix Krista. You’ve saved a lot of people a great deal of aggravation.
January 30th, 2007 at 11:06
Bless you. Something needed to be done about that nonsense. Incidentally, the same process works for the 2 gig drive. Oh, and for those who were having problems with the removal utility, you may need to runn the Safely Remove Hardware wizard and close out ALL USB mass storage devices, SanDisk or not.
January 30th, 2007 at 19:23
Thanks a lot man!! This U3 was driving me crazy. On top of that I have a Mac…GOD!! It was the worst thing to have with a Mac, it never came off!! I was about to return the drive…but then I googled my frustration and got your site!! God bless you mate!!
January 30th, 2007 at 19:25
oops…isn’t Krista a girl’s name…
January 31st, 2007 at 09:32
thanks for this site. i transfer files from my windows machines to my mac powerbook all the time. the U3 software began to fail and really hampered my access on all windows machines. fortunately the mac access was ok, except for the annoying “fake” writeable CD image that always showed up. (mac users, always drag the writable CD to the trash first then eject the usb disk, else all kinds of strange finder behaviors start happening)
of note, whenver i put my device into windows and the U3 launchpad failed, initially there seemed to be no way to simply open up the drive using the “my computer”. whenever i seleced the usb removable drive icon, it would “snap” open revealing all my files and then “snap” back to the “my computer” view. this game would go back and forth until i just used the back arrow, then the view stayed put, giving access to my files.
at that point i dragged all of my files for safe keeping onto the desktop while i used the removal tool mentioned in your article to zap the sandisk programs and turn it into a plain old “usb mass storage device”
thanks!
February 1st, 2007 at 15:13
I hope Sandisk reads this thread very, very carefully, and reads what I am about to say.
The remover apparently works sometimes, but not always, or it creates conditions that cause trouble. Or U3 remains on the machine somehow no matter how much they say it doesn’t. Or U3 drives have a driver problem.
We had one professor who bought their drive, loaded his presentation on it, and went merrily off to another venu to give the presentation. When he plugged it in, his lack of administrative access prevented him from opening his presentation. Another professor was not able to use the drive at all; he was the lucky one.
I ran the uninstaller, and the drive would work on my machine but not his or any of our lab machines (in other words, my administrative access allowed it to work) Then I used drive management in Windows to remove both partitions, create a new, fresh partition, and format it, and the same condition; the Cruzer would not read on the user’s machine where it had previously been plugged in. We tried repartitioning it on a Linux machine with the same results.
I will never buy a Sandisk product again until U3 is GONE.
February 1st, 2007 at 15:15
Oh, I should add: many thanks to Krista for this post! XXX00XX
But I hope Sandisk Googles their company and finds this thread.
February 1st, 2007 at 21:22
Mod note: obnoxious, insulting introduction removed from the original comment – the relevant bits that remain follow.
By holding the shift key down when plugging in ANY U3 enabled flash drive, the U3 launch is bypassed….hence no annoying pop-ups. But you can still use the U3 application by clicking on the U3 System listed under My Computer. For those of us that use multiple computers in different environments, it can be very helpful to carry your own (favorite) software with you and not have to worry about what programs are actually installed on the computer you happen to be using……
February 2nd, 2007 at 04:32
Note to ej (above): In future, I will moderate your posts accordingly, as I have done above. There was no need to be juvenile and insulting about responses to a post which clearly wasn’t targeted toward you, since you are in fact a fan of U3 bundling. One might be led to believe you were a Sandisk/U3 employee…
That said, I’m sure your information will be useful to anyone who wants to *keep* U3 on their drives.
The real point, which you miss, is that most of us resent before forced to opt-out of crap we don’t want on our hardware, and furthermore are annoyed that removal seems to be such a pain in the ass.
Your mileage may vary, but don’t plan on coming back here and insulting other folks who are simply venting their frustrations.
February 2nd, 2007 at 08:34
Sweet- It works thanks now I can move files between my mac and a PC.
February 4th, 2007 at 11:17
On my Mac OS X the u3.exe was locked so I selected the file in the Finder, chose the menu File/Get Info, unchecked the Locked check box, dragged the file to the trash, and emptied the trash. Gone forever.
February 4th, 2007 at 22:43
I’m using this cruzer to take files between home and work. At home, although the software was (like any other virus) a bother, but at work, I couldn’t use it because our server would reject it’s request to do whatever it wanted to do, and not load the drive. Your tip to the software was a godsent, and the other tip to remove usb add on’s if the un-install didn’t work was a great help too.
For the issue of them making it hard to remove… well, uh, money is the bottom line. If they can get this to take off, then they will sell software for it and get to build great big houses, and drive limo’s and have servants and tell political leaders what to do…. you know just the simple perks in life.
Regards all.
February 5th, 2007 at 14:09
Thanks you very much! That software was a big pain!
February 7th, 2007 at 17:36
Krista, I think you have just saved me from pulling all of my hair out and probably toenails too! For that alone, I must thank you. And for the small matter of me now being free of this godforsaken U3 software, I double thank you. I actually had the uninstall software on the drive, however it would not work (…”you have more than one U3 drive” etc). I had to go into My Computer, Properties, Hardware, Device Manager, Disk Drives… and then disable all the other ‘Generic USB’ drives. The uninstaller then at least proceeded further, but just seemed to go into an eternal loop while trying to format. So I went back to My Computer, and used Windows to uninstall the device, and used Windows to format the drive. Got there in the end, and couldn’t have done it without your help. Thanks once again.
February 11th, 2007 at 11:21
Thanks for the solution. found it on the first google and it worked.
February 12th, 2007 at 14:46
Thank you so much.
February 13th, 2007 at 07:01
Thanks for the link to the removal kit. Like others, I hated the U3 software, particularly when you’re going to Staples to just print a document.
February 14th, 2007 at 20:10
Weeks of frustration have come to an end. Free at last. Thank you.
(Mac user who used a PC to reformat the USB drive).
February 16th, 2007 at 05:19
Krista, Thanks a BIIIG BUNCH!
My Cruzer U3 story is a bit different. About two weeks ago I got it uninstalled with the Sandisk remover just fine. Since I a dumb, old geezer I did re-install again. Must have been brain-dead that day… Tried to uninstall today and voila, all the well reported problems.
The difference: First uninstall was on an old Compaq that has only 4 “regular” USB ports. The computer I used today has a unit with card readers built in and that can’t be “stopped” if there are no cards in the slots. SanDisk’s remover seems to see the card slots as USB devices and then ask it’s dumb questions. I opened My Computer and right-clicked on every of the reader drives, then selected Eject. After that the U3 Uninstaller did it.
Questions that remains for me: How many different versions of their stuff does SanDisk have? How much more hardware dependent can they make the software? And how can they better hide it so we don’t even see it anymore? Hint for Sandisk: Rootkit is the name. Too sad the whole thing to even laugh about it.
Still, I’ll buy another one considering the current HUGE price reduction.
February 17th, 2007 at 17:38
BLESS YOU!!! BLESS YOU!!!
That thing was driving me nuts!!!
THanks!!!
February 18th, 2007 at 19:47
Sweet fix mate, cheers, had huge problems with it in my USB car head deck, kept on starting from track 1 out of 300 every time you turned over the engine. Thanks for your time n effort
February 19th, 2007 at 12:04
Thank you so much! I was pretty upset when I plugged this puppy in. I figured I could just format it and never run the software at all.
February 21st, 2007 at 09:31
thanks for posting this. That U3 was so annoying and the link got it off quickly. Great post!!
February 22nd, 2007 at 06:29
Good write up, thanks mate.
February 24th, 2007 at 20:22
Thank-you so much for your posting. I have been going though f…..g h… trying to figure out what was going on. With my maching freezing, things not working, not being able to turn it off – I was about to just deep six the little buggers until I read your rambling. Thanks for Rambling and thanks to you I know have two nice little behaving storage drives.
February 25th, 2007 at 14:51
Your posting still helps me today. That software is EVIL! It purposely makes the software difficult to remove by telling Windows that the data is on a CD readonly, which can’t be read or written to–EVIL! Thank you very much. I thought it would be easy to remove the software, and it was after I found your site. Notice that the u3 site doesn’t have a contact or feedback page.
February 26th, 2007 at 13:09
Another thank you for a great piece of work. This U3 piece of crap blue screened (to a system halt) one of our machines on insert.
Tried reformatting using Linux, no joy, but the information here got things sorted out fine.
The folks at Cruzer / Sandisk need to listen.
February 28th, 2007 at 13:12
Thanks ! Quick solution to soemthing that was going to really piss me off everey time I used the USB stick.
Your solution page is the reason I love the internet !
March 1st, 2007 at 21:53
I appreciate the forum topics AND replies… although each flash drive is different on response to the U3 software removal tool… some take 2 minutes to remove the spyware/adware enabled programs and drivers, others take 30 minutes (which is INCREDIBLY annoying I might add)… So far on this 512MB flash, I’ve been “erasing” it for over 45 minutes, on the same machine and software that it took 2 minutes to do on the 2GB flash, last week!
Thankx again.
March 6th, 2007 at 08:03
Awesome tip! Thanks soooo much for pointing out about the U3 removal tool. Your site came up as an earlier link on google than Sandisk’s own site!!
The U3 thing was driving my friends nuts more than me!
So, still in grad school or have you moved on? ….
March 9th, 2007 at 08:13
Krista, thank you or the info. Our IT dept hands these drives out to people, and I have forwarded a link to your entry to them. And also recommended they NOT purchase SanDisk sticks due to the invasive sw. SD, are you listening?
March 9th, 2007 at 09:57
Awesomeness! Thanks for this post, especially the edit on what to do if the sandisk removal tool doesn’t work. My 1gb cruzer micro has worked fine for the last 6 months, but my new vista laptop couldn’t recognize it (thanks microsoft). I tried the launchpad removal tool at sandisk, and it couldn’t figure out the uninstall. the app at u3.com worked like a charm.
March 11th, 2007 at 08:46
I’m going to reverse the situation. Does anyone know how to make a generic USB Flashdrive INTO a U3 Smart Drive?
March 11th, 2007 at 18:55
Thank you Krista
I went trhough your instructions, and now I am U3 free, thanks, I have finally a memory to store my info
March 14th, 2007 at 14:11
I only managed 82 responses before my ADD kicked in, so I don’t know if, between 83 and 120, anyone addressed the U3 uninstall for Macintosh. Krista speculated that for Macintosh, simply formatting the Cruzer would take care of the U3 pest. On my G4 Power Mac I tried formatting with completely writing zeros to the disk with the U3 still showing up in Disk Utility as a mounted drive.
Since I was at work at the time, I had a Windows machine available to deactivate the U3. At this point, I’m not really sure that I could have done it on the Mac.
March 14th, 2007 at 16:13
It is people like you that make a soso computer geek happy.
I thank you for the posting. Worked like a charm.. No more stupid U3
crap thanks to you.
March 15th, 2007 at 19:10
c h a m p i o n – absolute champion – buy yourself a prezzie for this golden nugget in an ocean of sandisk crap…….
March 16th, 2007 at 13:09
Thanks for the help. I hate those stupid “add-ins” that are supposed to make life easer for us but turn out to be big pains in the @$$.
March 17th, 2007 at 13:05
[...] TCSFOUBTS was configured to use D:.The up side is that SanDisk was considerate enough to provide a removal utility for this crapware. It would be better if they didn’t include it in the first place, but as crapware purveyors go, [...]
March 19th, 2007 at 05:01
I just bought a 1GB SD Cruzer for 20.00 at Best Buy. I’m thinking, “Wow, what a difference in price from a year ago!” Then I get it home and all this popups and stuff from my Zone Alarm firewall/AV. I hit OK, thinking I’d get into the drive’s junk and just remove it. No can do. Anyway, I brought it to work where I edit audio, and since I’m not ADMIN on the PC at work, the thing wouldn’t mount. So I’m gonna go to the u3.com site and blast this crud off.
By the way: My net stat viewer showed this thing with an open internet connection. Probably to launchpoint, but what the hell?
March 19th, 2007 at 11:07
I have one of these U3 smart drives and I gotta say I like being able to run games off of it no matter where I am or what computer I’m using. Also I’d like to add that on the U3 Launchpad program (the one in your system tray) there is an option under “Help and Support” that lets you unistall the software. Sure it takes you to the U3 site and asks you nicely to reconsider, but in the end you can remove it all you want.
Also on another side note, I have a 2gig Kingston Flash disk that didn’t come with the U3 software that was only 10.95. I honestly thought that my $30.00 1gig PNY flash disk w/ U3 software was more expensive because of the software bundle on it.
March 19th, 2007 at 18:36
Hey man!
Thanks for that. Now I dont need to cut my wrists
March 21st, 2007 at 11:34
That U3 thingy was super annoying. Thanks bunches.
March 21st, 2007 at 14:25
Genius! Thanks a bazillion. F’ing big brother…
March 23rd, 2007 at 10:54
I have a mac, and it was IMPOSSIBLE to use the drive with the U3 software on it. Now it works like its supposed to. Fortunately I have a pc and a mac- I’d be pissed if all I had was a mac…
March 23rd, 2007 at 10:59
clarification… pissed because I couldn’t have erased the U3 crap. Otherwise, I’d be completely happy with just my macbook pro!
March 23rd, 2007 at 14:04
I bought a 2GB drive from best buy for 29.99. Noticed there were quite a few that looked like they were returned so was skeptible at the price then try it out and have this software coming up annoying me every time. Evidently those people that returned them didn’t find your site and probably returned it because of the U3 crap.
Thanks
March 24th, 2007 at 13:14
Thanks for the link. BTW, do not plug this drive into a USB car stereo before converting it into a mass storage drive. It drove my stereo into endless searching of files, and then it would not work with any USB drives. I had to exchange the unit.
March 24th, 2007 at 20:50
Thanks for the tip, I just bought one of these today (my first USB drive ever). Should make my portable USB experience a lot more painless.
March 25th, 2007 at 17:18
Thank you, thank you, thank you for posting the solution to get the d*(m U3 off that drive. I did what you did (I believe) and tried to delete and format and that didn’t work. Then changed the properties of the application (removed read-only — or tried to) and I was really MAD. Yes, the drive was cheap, but wasn’t worth the hassle to remove the software! I was glad that I hadn’t purchased two, but now I think that I will!
Have a great day!
Laui
March 25th, 2007 at 19:09
Thanks for the tip. Similar boat. Don’t feel bad, the price was still $25 when I bought it recently.
March 25th, 2007 at 21:12
I had tried SanDisk’s U3 Launchpad Removal Tool with no luck before I found this page. Thanks for the tip on the uninstall tool from u3.com. It worked like a charm (quickly, too).
I’m a 30 year veteran computer geek, and getting rid of that U3 ©®@¶ was tough. I feel sorry for all the newbies, like my sister in law I bought this thing for, that are left clueless.
March 26th, 2007 at 13:40
Good tip. I knew there was a U3 removal tool out there somewhere, I just didn’t realize SanDisk actually had it on their site.
March 27th, 2007 at 07:52
Thanks much !!
I was so much annoyed within a couple of day I bought this drive. Now its a peace !!
Cheers !
March 28th, 2007 at 16:41
OMG, thanks a bunch!!! I recently lost my 1 gig flash drive, and bought this as a replacement. It was half the price and twice the capacity, so I was thrilled. That all changed when I got home. I tried using one of the password storing programs, but it didn’t work at all like they said it would. There was supposed to be a pop-up asking to save the password: there was none. After decideing that their software was of no use to me, I decided to delete the files. Nope, still there. Then I reformatted, and you guessed right, it was still there. Finally, I did a good old Google search, and found your site. Thank you for your help. I now finally have what I set out for in the beginning: a regular data-storing, non-invasive flash drive.
March 28th, 2007 at 18:48
Thanks for the u3 removal tool. Sandisk’s didn’t work for me. What a bother. I’ll steer away from this company in the future.
March 29th, 2007 at 08:52
Thanks very much. Now I don’t have to fish out the coffee-grounds-covered packaging from the trash for a return to Staples.
March 31st, 2007 at 06:51
The Sandisk one didn’t recognize my U3 Drive. VERY ANNOYING, THANKS for the u3.com link
March 31st, 2007 at 16:48
[...] meet the challenge. Unfortunately, the only people who would care are a bunch of people who want to get rid of U3 software on their thumb drives. (I get about 200 hits a day on that alone. [...]
March 31st, 2007 at 22:37
Thank you! I use this on my macbook and pc. Its great to have that damn autolauncher gone!
April 2nd, 2007 at 06:03
this dumb u3 thing takes up 4mb on my 512 drive, and it comes us as 2 drives on my system (winme)- & the launch thingy doesn’t work anyway, so the uninstallers won’t work- how can I simply repartition it so I don’t have two drives, or even just scrub the additional 4mb drive?
Its a pain becoz I have to stop both drives before pulling it out
any help would be appreciated
April 2nd, 2007 at 17:07
i took out the jumpdrive while i was tranfering files because it wasnt responding….the next time i put it in it wasnt formatted!!!!! all my pictures are in there and my unfinished science project!!! HELP ME!!! how do you format the jumpdrive without erasing the information??!!??!!
April 3rd, 2007 at 01:50
You are a frustration lifesavor. I Love how googling ‘remove u3 software from cruzer’ had your comforting site as number one. Nice work and thanks again!
April 3rd, 2007 at 19:32
Thanks for the link to the uninstaller at sandisk. It was the first thing I did after plugging in the drive. I ran it from the website and selected NO…
I got my 2 gig from Office max for 24.95.
April 4th, 2007 at 14:04
I came across a 1GB Cruzer Micro at Staples for 19.99 plus tax. I bought two, one for my husband and one for me.
When I first plugged it in I was impressed. I’d owned two previous key drives and neither one of them came with an instruction video. However it was annoying to have the U3 thing pop up all the time. And rarely do I use my key drive long enough where I was willing to sit down and figure out how to get it to stop or to uninstall it altogether (glad I just didn’t delete U3 launch and system files like I started to, that probably would have been a disaster, eh?).
After reading your article, I decided not to uninstall the U3 stuff but I did finally find the option that stops it from loading automatically when you plug it in.
For those who aren’t sure if they want to delete the U3 stuff but just want it to stop loading every time they plug the darn thing in do this:
Double Click on the U3 icon in the System Tray
Settings
U3 Launchpad Settings
Autorun
Click the button that says “Disable Autorun”
Funnily enough, I wasn’t even looking for information about USB flash drives when I found you. I was looking for USB hubs. In my search, I noticed where someone had said their older Micro Cruzer had suddenly stopped working. That scared me because I got was supposed to be an $80 flash drive for a little over $20 and I wondered if this why I got it so cheap. I’m going to invest in another flash drive of another brand to back up all my stuff just in case. Maybe it’s time for me to get an external hard drive.
Nice blog.
April 5th, 2007 at 17:05
Thank You,
I’m glad they had a program to remove that crap. Shame that I really liked the company.
Word to other Companies – We dont want your B*llSh*t add-ons just make the dam thing work.
If you feel your program will help us out provide a disk and let us decide what we put on our computers.
-G
April 5th, 2007 at 21:02
I don’t have that particular flash drive, but why not just disable autoplay and reformat?
I usually reformat thumb drives when I get them as a rule. I even defrag them and scan for viruses. You never know what types of badware are bundled with things like that.
All that aside, thumb drives are the greatest thing ever! Very good for school, where floppies have too little space (and you can’t write CDs every day). My thumb drive also doubles as a NES, SNES, PS1, Gameboy Advance, bootable Linux, and more.
April 6th, 2007 at 00:28
I will second the portableapps.com recommendation. They have some really nifty freeware usb-ized programs so you can carry your favorite stuff with you anywhere. They even have their own launch program that *doesn’t* suck, and you can configure it any way you want. I bought two cruzer minis as well, since now they’re going for $20 at circuit city…
I wonder if U3 can be wiped with Linux…
April 7th, 2007 at 04:56
Thanks, that was really annoying. I bought one last August, so I’ve had it the past 8 months. Now I have a little more disk space!
April 7th, 2007 at 18:36
Thanks for the link to the removal software.
Other than post #119 (Rick), I’ve heard nothing good about this U3 software.
Does anyone out there (a user – not a developer) WANT this U3 stuff?
April 11th, 2007 at 07:51
HOW DO U EJECT IN WITH A MAC OS X????
THANXSSSS
April 12th, 2007 at 09:01
157, drag the stick into trash.
—
Thanks for an useful advice.
My company won’t buy SanDisk any more!
April 12th, 2007 at 09:02
I also advise you to contact SanDisk directly, and bug your reseller about this subject. And off course change your supplier!
April 12th, 2007 at 13:25
Thanks, Krista. SanDisk didn’t exactly make its U3 removal tool easy to find. I appreciate the commentary and links.
April 14th, 2007 at 04:55
Thanks for the website for removing this unwanted crap one may call “bundled software”. It should be bundled out the door as soon as it is plugged in for the first time. I have an intense hatred of software that is “included” and I liken it to when you download and install an application similar to winzip, which wants you to install toolbars etc. At least that will give you the option of de-selecting it prior to installation.
April 14th, 2007 at 12:22
Add another thanks to the list! I just bought this thing and wondered what was up when I plugged it into my Linux machine and it popped up a CD-ROM and a USB drive. I also wanted to know if it was safe to delete the junk that came on it. Thanks to your advice, the first thing I did was to fire up WinXP in a VMware virtual machine and run the removal program from U3.com. Now the device does what I want it to do, and behaves like the device I thought I was buying.
April 16th, 2007 at 16:54
I searched google for “Cruzer delete crap” and this site was number one, thanks. By the way the U3 stuff doesn’t show up using Vista, but you have about 200MB less available space. I was able to download the removal tool and move it to my XP machine, which isn’t connected to the web, and get the job taken care of.
April 17th, 2007 at 17:13
I just wanted a thumb drive for mp3 storage for an FM modulated player in my car. Now I have one. Thanks for the help…
April 19th, 2007 at 12:42
This U3 System is a piece of crap. I am a home user of Mac and work user of PC (from office) so I bought this stick originally with transferring files between Mac and PC in mind. Thanks so much for the original author’s post I removed that piece of … instantly. On PC, you may wan to access your “mac-formatted” USB drive (w/o the annoying U3 piece of…) using MacDrive, which is a freeware (?) I have been using on my PC to access all files from my mac drives (exteral). The software also allows you to unformat your U3 stick (but first you have to remove U3 by way of the stated above) and reformat it to either a PC or Mac version. Anyway… I am not affiliated with MacDrive but simply wanting to share my experience with file sharing and this U3 piece of …. so far.
April 23rd, 2007 at 08:21
I have problems! I was pretty excited to see that I was able to remove the U3 crap from my drive (I’m a Mac user). So I went ahead and did it. No problems. No when I insert the drive into my Mac it says, “this drive is not able to be read by a Mac”. So my Mac does its usual thing and tries to fix it by brining up the disk utility. I’m thinking to myself that its still gonna be okay cuz it will just initialize the drive and all will be well. The Cruzer shows up in the list of drives to the left so I select it but when I try to repair/initialize it, all of the options are “greyed out” and I cannot select them. So now I basically have an unusable jump drive. Did anybody else have this problem? I didn’t see much mentioned about it. Everything seemed to run smooth but now the drive is unreadable to my Mac. Help!
April 24th, 2007 at 13:19
Thanks for the removal link.
April 24th, 2007 at 15:15
Thanks for the removal link. I removed this for a different reason than everyone else. I actually bought 2 Sandisk 4GB drives because I got a good price. I already have a drive with the U3 program on it and I like it very much.
I’m not sure I understand everyones disdain for this software. I can lock the drive down with a passord. Some of the programs are useful the rest can easily be removed. Like I said, I like it.
The only reason I wanted to remove it from the second drive is that I want to use it as a large public flash drive that I can loan to someone else and not require using the software.
All in all I have no problem with U3 and I would say to everyone else that they should give it a chance. I think it is a useful program that takes minimal space on the drive.
April 26th, 2007 at 17:43
[Ed: Removed for being obnoxious and abusive. Executive summary follows. I don't like assholes in my sandbox.]
Mr. Rolling Eyes here thinks folks who didn’t see the logo are ignorant. His basic gist is “caveat emptor” with a lot more hostility involved. Read: Troll. Or someone who needs to get out more. Either way…
Editor’s note: Do note that on my packaging when I purchased this in August, said “bright yellow logo” was barely visible, and I knew it was something I was going to have to remove before I plugged the bastard in, because I’ve been a geek for a long time. If Sandisk has rectified this, good for them, but my guess at the time – and I was correct – was that most average Joes wouldn’t notice, and that once it managed to make a mess of itself on one’s computer, it would cause problems. Hence the post. And it turns out I was right – see comments. That Mr. Eyes-of-the-Rolling-Kind feels the need to bitch about something that was posted last August and has nothing to do with him is beyond me.
I posted some apparently useful information with a story. A lot of people apparently were looking for such information. They got it, and they were either happy or felt the need to disagree (and those that have done so appropriately have been allowed to express themselves here), and that’s all. End of story.
April 27th, 2007 at 23:43
Thanks for the post. I couldn’t get SUSU 10.2 to recognize the cruzer until I removed the U3 software. After the software was gone SUSE gnome recognized it as soon as I plugged it in. HUGE help. Thank you!
April 29th, 2007 at 06:45
Thank you! i kept trying to format my drive forever, this program is so annoying. this is a great guide. good work.
April 30th, 2007 at 21:42
Thanks!
May 1st, 2007 at 14:28
Thank you SIR
May 2nd, 2007 at 05:14
You are a god send. this was driving me nuts. Thank you for providing the answer to this stupid issue.
May 3rd, 2007 at 06:40
Many many Thanks. One issue can we format this to NTFS.
May 4th, 2007 at 15:38
Am a Mac user and am trying to download the U3 uninstaller. I’ve been to all the sites mentioned above to download the software and can’t open it. I want the U3 software off of my drive and it’s driving me nuts.
Any ideas would be so appreciated!
May 6th, 2007 at 09:35
Thanks for posting this info. Huge help and time saver.
May 10th, 2007 at 04:55
thanks for U3 removal tip, just a stupid question but whats
the small metal thing for that comes supplied with the
Cruzer.????
May 11th, 2007 at 21:59
thanks! worked like a charm!
May 15th, 2007 at 13:57
I really appreciate this. I got a half-dozen of these thing for a very good price and hate that U3 junk.
May 15th, 2007 at 19:38
I got my wonderful flashdrive for $50 including tax with 4 GIG. Yipee.
I change it from the generic name of K drive and changed it to my name so that if someone stole it and deleted all my stuff, I could tell its mine.
Then I attempted to delete U3. Didn’t work. Kept on being ‘write-protected’. All that crap they place on it is so irritating.
I already got skype, don’t need it twice. I got portable apps. Don’t need U3. I don’t want games on my flashdrive. No calendars. I just want a place to bring my stuff between mac to pc and school computers to my personal computer. And a place to use Mozilla Firefox.
It keeps on saying I have two versions of u3 on my fd when I try to uninstall it. Let me tinker with it a little bit more.
-Sterre
May 18th, 2007 at 03:54
Thak you so much for the info!
/matias
May 18th, 2007 at 10:33
Sweeett….Thanks.
May 21st, 2007 at 04:07
[...] either. Finally after a google search (why didn’t I think of that earlier), I came across this page from a user with a similar predicament, turns out there are a lot of unhappy users out there. Oh [...]
May 21st, 2007 at 15:55
Thanks Krista,
Google brought this up on the first search.
I’ve only had this thing for 10 minutes. Saw the launch pad stuff come up and couldn’t get rid of it fast enough.
I have my own tools, if I wanted their’s I’d ask.
~Dan
May 25th, 2007 at 14:26
[...] und andere Leute, die sich mit dem gleichen Problem schon herumgeschlagen haben. In dem Fall hat Krista die relevanten Links zur Hand. [...]
May 27th, 2007 at 19:19
Thank you very much! Not only was it annoying like everyone says, since this computer has Japanese installed for my dad who’s a translator, every time that U3 thing came up, it’d all be in Japanese gibberish.
This is nice though.
We get it for cheap, take a minute to download and run the uninstaller, and it’s like brand new. Now I’ll figure out how to install Ubuntu on it…
May 27th, 2007 at 20:26
Thanks for this! I’ve had mine since last fall and that U3 system annoys the crap out of me. Usually I just ignore it, but I finally got annoyed enough to Google for a solution, and this post popped up first! Thanks again!
May 29th, 2007 at 15:59
OMG THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH THE U3 SYSTEM IS S@#!
May 30th, 2007 at 00:38
Just when you think things can’t get any worse……
Okay, so first off, thanks to everyone that so wonderfully shared their experiences and information here.
Sadly, I think I’m the only doh doh head that tried to use this crazy thing on my laptop which is running WinME. The whole reason I ran out and bought this thing ($45.) was because they were selling it for $39+tax for a 2GB. I figured it was the better deal since the pink 1GB was $24. That’s neither here nor there.
I am not computer illiterate. I even asked the guys at WalMart if I’d have problems since I was running ME and they said I wouldn’t. I must be tired because I didn’t even read the back of the package which clearly states Win2000 to XP.
This all stems from the fact that my CD-ROM is toast, I only have a floppy drive and although my very good friend was kind enough to buy me the Western Digital portable HD for Christmas, IT also was only compatible with XP!!!
Ok, so I go get this flash drive thinking, my prayers are answered, I don’t have to fish for laplink cables! Oh, did I mention that I just bought a new laptop!?! Ok, so I guess you figured out that I simply want to take the info from my old system and bring it to the new one.
Well, I plugged in the Cruzer Micro and was able to drag and drop a few files. I figured I’d start small. I then put the little device in my new laptop running Vista, no sweat.
I then plugged it back into the old laptop to grab my other files, NO SUCH LUCK!!!!!!! Nothing’s working anymore. It’s giving me messages like: Error Copying File or Folder; Access is denied. Make sure the disk is not full or write-protected and that the file is not currently in use.
Nothing else is in use. The files are not protected and I certainly haven’t put passwords on anything.
I’m at a total impass. The device still works on my new laptop but alas, my new laptop is empty! I don’t need to move anything OFF of it!
I’m back to square one on the old system. Lots of info ready to move, no way to transport it. I don’t even have internet access on the old thing as my Xircom Ethernet Cardbus went caput!
Anyone have good news for me Any advice at all????? I can’t use that uninstall file either by the way since it doesn’t fit on a floppy disk. I know, I know…. no one uses floppy disks anymore…. Maybe I should change my name from WD to NoOne:-(((((( Please help! I’m not even sure if U3 is the reason for my problems.
June 1st, 2007 at 13:41
Thanks for the information. I first tried using your first prescribed advice, but that didn’t work. When I used your second method all went well.
I truly understand that U3 has it’s advantages, but to me and what I do it’s a waste of space!?!
June 1st, 2007 at 16:39
THANK YOU!!!
I (incorrectly) assumed U3 would go away once I re-formatted the drive. I found the removal within the SanDisk LaunchPad app, but it wasn’t working for me.
The U3 removal app did work.
ANNOYING!
This is the first SanDisk USB drive I personally purchased. I’m an I.T. Buyer, and will no longer recommend this drive to others since it’s bundled with this crap.
June 2nd, 2007 at 03:45
For crying out loud people. I’m a TEACHER!!!!! I am constantly telling my kids to read and re-read until they find the answers they’re looking for.
Well, now that I’ve practiced what I preach, I’m happy to report that the drive is working!!!
I don’t know what happened between the first time I used it and the following attempt but whatever it was, EVERYTHING was on lock down. If you scroll up, you’ll note all the problems I was experiencing HOWEVER,…..
…..after staying up all night and re-reading all the advice from THIS site and the awesome contributors, I finally figured it all out. I haven’t gone to the trouble of uninstalling or removing the U3 stuff, I’m just happy the key is working. The problem stemmed from Vista recognizing both the removable drive and a CD drive. I’m still not sure I understand why it does that but basically, I’m just happy that I was able to delete it and that it is now working like a charm!
Thanks again everyone!!!! If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again!!!!
June 3rd, 2007 at 14:30
Okay, in case, I wasn’t clear. John(61), Olaf and the Exorcized Cruzer Owner(82) all said it before me. When you insert the Memory Key, it recognizes TWO removable drives…. one is the Flash Drive itself and the other is a virtual CD ROM. The CD ROM is the one I disabled (by right-mouse clicking on it and hitting Eject and then doing the Safely Remove thing again choosing CD ROM at the bottom in the SysToolbar where your clock is).
Once that is done, there shouldn’t be any troubles with Dragging and Dropping files to the Flash Drive (memory key).
To be even more clear about things, I am using MS Windows Vista Home Premium and quite frankly am too afraid of deleting or removing the U3 software, so I still have it. I do have to disable the CDROM bit every time I use the drive but I don’t mind as I like using the little folders that the U3 program has on it. (yes, I know I could perceivably create my own)
Someone else in here mentioned that the U3 program takes up 200MB of space. I don’t know it that’s true but it doesn’t bother me and it hasn’t gotten in the way of me using the drive for my purposes. If it ever does, then I will come back here and re-read everyone’s comments before I go through with deleting the U3 software.
Okay I think that’s it for now!!! Good luck to any of you novices like me!
WD
June 4th, 2007 at 18:25
now i am a happy man.
thanks , now the drive really works, but does anyone knows howto makeitworkunder win 98?
yes i know it is old, but there are many who love past and dont like to embrace future. specially if future sucks
thamks again and everyone who wrote here have a nice day
June 5th, 2007 at 12:15
Thank you! I know there are many out there who like the software (my mom is one who likes the cruzersync). However, I am not in that camp. I have tried for several days to format this little sucker to no avail. I know what I am doing and thought I had finally encountered something new. Turns out I had just encountered something that sucks.
All that being said, I do like the idea of what the U3 software had to offer. I just want the “portable apps” version with the open source programs on it.
Thanks for the info.
Tim
June 7th, 2007 at 13:39
Thanks. Fix saves time, money and my nerves
June 7th, 2007 at 14:51
So… how do you delete all the crap from your computer?
I don’t even own the drive – my friend put it in my computer, & now I’m getting major software bugs in Sonar (music program)
even when the drive is not in!!
My computer has worked 100% perfectly since I got it a year ago – until the U3 rubbish self-installed. Funny coincidence…
I’ve located 9 prefetch files & a hidden U3 folder – is it safe to just delete them? or do I have to do t another way?
Please help!
June 8th, 2007 at 17:22
Good deal, first hit on google, great info. I probably would’ve figured it out on Sandisk’s site, but thanks for documenting the fix here to make it easier to find, as undoubtedly Sandisk hides it pretty deep.
June 9th, 2007 at 09:19
Thank you SO much – I’ve been struggling with this darn U3 program pack. It made my work computer lock up every time, rendering the drive somewhat less than useful. MUCH better now.
June 13th, 2007 at 12:58
I had just about given up on my drive, but decided to give one last chance on finding a removal tol for this software. Thanks for this software, it has helped a great deal.
June 15th, 2007 at 02:25
[...] 15th, 2007 by Krista Well, apparently my disturbing popularity as a top hit for removing U3 software from Sandisk (and other) thumb drives is at an end, which amuses me highly. Now this blog is back to what it was meant to be, a quiet [...]
June 18th, 2007 at 15:05
Thanks for the useful info on how to remove the U3 garbage. I picked up a 2GB Cruzer at Staples for $20. Plugged it in, deleted all the crapware that it came with, so far so good. Took it to work and tried to plug it into a networked computer – so sorry, no dice. Error messages, freezes, all kinds of fun stuff. All the docs I had loaded up to take to work were inaccessible. Brought it back home and tried to delete the U3, and got the error message about “more than one drive”. Threw it in a corner for a few days, then Googled today and found your blog. The Sandisk installer wouldn’t work, but the U3 one finally did. Now I finally have a FUNCTIONING USB drive without a bunch of trash I didn’t ask for. Bad move, Sandisk!
June 24th, 2007 at 17:17
Got my 4GB Sandisk U3 drive recently and enjoyed playing with its features. I don’t have local admin rights on my work machine so it’s no use there. After I eject it properly my machine eventually crashes with the blue screen and when restarts says “system has recovered from a serious error.” I don’t *think* that the system will do this after restarting and not inserting the drive, but we’ll see. I guess that’s what restore points are for…
June 25th, 2007 at 01:52
Thanks for the information.
Who needs another OS in our flash drive.
U3 is just another dumb idea.
August 5th, 2007 at 10:48
Thank you Thank you Thank you!!!!!!
I have the uninstall bundled in the U3 crap but it wouldn`t work……none of the uninstall programs would work either, just kept getting a message that it only works with one removable disc. Then I came across this……..
Just an extra tip if when you run the uninstall software and it comes up with a message saying something about having more than one U3 drive you have to disable other drives on your computer. (this is on the sandisk website if i am confusing u)to do this right click on my computer and hit manage. Then select device manager and select disk drives. then right click any other drives and select disable. When u are done with the uninstaller go back and enable any drives you disabled.
Thanks Zack
and Krista……….I LOVE YOU
Thank you all sooooooooooo much!
August 22nd, 2007 at 17:39
Thanks for the info. I just got a 2gb with the u3 crap on it. It is still kinda nuts, though. Who wants to download a 3mb program just to delete some crappy software… oh well… Thanks a billion!
August 30th, 2007 at 14:22
GREAT!!!!
September 5th, 2007 at 03:49
Thank you! I’m freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee……………!
September 8th, 2007 at 14:41
Thanks Krista and Olaf for the great information I had to use the solution suggested by Olaf as the uninstall that came on the drive kept complaining about 2 drives being Plugged in. Well Duh The stupid drive is partitioned into 2 drives to make the stupid U3 software work. I guess nobody at U3 or Sandisk ever think of testing this stuff before they ship it
Many Thanks to all
September 14th, 2007 at 09:41
Thanks Dude.
September 25th, 2007 at 06:24
I just got a 2gb cruzer for a gift with the U3 and I’m afraid to put it even near my pc with that software on it. I want to take it to work and do the uninstall but am afraid it’ll screw up that machine. What the best way to remove all the garbage? Does the “uninstall” process on the Sandisk site work? Thanks for any help as I’m not too savvy with these things.
October 8th, 2007 at 08:15
Thanks a million. My 2GB titanium cruzer, purchased for its ReadyBoost capabilities has now been wiped of rubbish and now has space!!!
October 10th, 2007 at 01:43
Dude, Your a legend!! It was doing my nut!!
October 18th, 2007 at 23:40
thanks Man great nice little unit bad little software – slow and send the virus checker bonkers
October 22nd, 2007 at 18:10
Thanks for this solution mate. Very helpful. And I agree, it’s a bunch of BS the way these corporations think they can manipulate your data just b/c you bought their product. I wanted a USB drive…that’s it. Plain and simple.
Cheers!
- MWM
October 23rd, 2007 at 17:32
thanks for the tip, it was preventing me to use Nero, the startsmart just froze and refused to go anywhere else. And when I tried to use the flashdrive in a photo store to print some stuff, it bugged their application. So good riddance ! thx again !
November 8th, 2007 at 05:45
I purchased a Cruzer Micro 4GB USB drive a few weeks back, and found it had this irritating U3 software pre-installed on it. For the first few weeks I simply ignored it, but then I accidentally found out how to stop it running on drive insertion. (Yay!) But that wasn’t really enough…
I whacked “Remove U3 software from SanDisk USB drive” into Google, and this site appeared at the top of the results page. I read your blog entry, and promptly downloaded the U3 removal tool…BUT, I then had a little play around on the Cruzer software, and found an Unistall option nested within the U3 software.
I don’t know if it’s something they’ve started doing recently, but my USB stick definitely had an Uninstaller on it. (However, in my excitement to be rid of this irritating software, I neglected to screenshot it!)
To find it:
- Open the U3 LaunchPad
- Click on Settings
- You should have a menu on the left hand side of the window
- The menu you want is near the bottom, I believe it was called Uninstall.
- Clicking Uninstall runs the same program that is available for download on the SanDisk website.
- It DOES have an option to restore the data that was on the drive after you format it. But I would still recommend you back it up manually before you start.
- Enjoy your U3 free USB drive!
November 11th, 2007 at 18:15
[...] man aus einem Sandisk Cruzer einen richtigen USB-Stick macht, erfahrt ihr hier. Es ist so naheliegend, wenn man es erst einmal weiß… [...]
November 19th, 2007 at 21:24
I tried your solution on the Cruzer 1.0 micro that my son gave me. He had used it before with a MAC but when I tried to use it with my PC it continually locked up my computer. I checked all of my USB ports with a removable harddrive and they all worked. Every time I tried to insert the SanDisk the computer would lock up and nothing would happen. I tried to download and install a new U3 launcher but that would end up with a locked up (program not responding message). So I took the Cruzer to work and to Best Buy and it started right up at both places. WTF? My PC is a 6-7 year old HP with Windows XP and runs everything else I plug into it. So I thought, maybe my antivirus software was preventing it from working so I disabled that and tried again – no luck. I’m out of ideas and will probably will have to buy another thumbdrive. All I want it for is to load a few files for my FTA satellite receiver in my workshop and this is the best way to transfer the files. However, I cant see buying another thumbdrive if a new one wont work either – any ideas?
Thanks, pete
November 20th, 2007 at 12:24
Pete:
Have you tried the U3 uninstallers listed on this page? (Not a new launcher, but uninstallation of U3 altogether)
If you’re only looking to transfer files, U3 isn’t really something you need, and it’s probably what’s causing your computer to lock up. You may need to find a PC which doesn’t lock up with U3 to run the uninstaller so that you just have a generic thumb drive.
Beyond that, I don’t know – since I took U3 off of my drive the second I got it, I’ve never had any problems under any OS (Windows XP or Linux), but I have no idea what special things may be going on in your situation.
Hope that helps,
Krista
November 23rd, 2007 at 20:24
Thank you for all of the great help got this for my sister and she hated how when she would plug it in it would open multiple windows.
November 24th, 2007 at 09:56
Thanks for the info. Just tried it on a new 8GB Cruzer Micro and it works perfectly.
November 24th, 2007 at 12:31
Thanks a bunch for helping me remove that U3 crap… so aggrevating that I have to pay to have them advertise to me! I am sure you saved me loads of time.
November 24th, 2007 at 17:32
Ok i accidentally formated my micro cruzer 1GB while reinstalling windows. Now whenever i try to open the usb drive it says to insert disk. Anyone know a solution for this?
November 30th, 2007 at 07:19
Glad your blog got Googled! The thing that bothered me the most was that phantom fake CD-Rom drive that U3 would create. I figured I’d just format through Windows and that would take care of it, as it has with other USB sticks. NOPE. WRONG. Your instructions were very easy!
December 7th, 2007 at 12:58
Thank you thank you thank you thank you.
Have I ever told you you’re my hero. You are the wind beneath my wings.
I would like to bear your children, but seeing as you’re pregnant already I’m not sure how that would work. Plus, I have no womb, I’d have to keep it in a shoe box. Then the baby would be all rectangular, not egg shaped like alien pod things that pop out and eventually turn into humans, and people would get confused. “What a cute little… cinderblock?” they’d say, “Is it a boy or a gir… do cinderblocks have sexes?”
Plus my wife would probably be pissed about me having someone else’s box baby when she has to do all the not fun parts of our own.
December 7th, 2007 at 13:26
Woo Hoo,
Nice Job.
Rod Carroll
December 17th, 2007 at 11:49
Just wanted to say thanks.
I had a U3 drive before, and had saved the uninstal program. I lost the computer with the uninstal on it. The only computers that I have now are linux machines. I had to use my work computer to uninstal the U3. Thanks for the link to both uninstal programs.
December 21st, 2007 at 10:59
Thank You very much for doing the leg work.
December 23rd, 2007 at 01:28
Thanks!!
I had to use the app from U3 – the SanDisk app said I had no disk inserted. Go figure.
gS.
December 27th, 2007 at 12:09
Thanks, nearly tried to return the stupid drive because of the U3. I had to use the universal program because the on the drive was too confused by the virtual disk that U3 creates. It thought I had more than on drive connected, I guess in a sense I did.
December 30th, 2007 at 22:41
Wow, I couldn’t read everyone of these but I didn’t see one positive comment about U3 and Cruzer’s use of it. I LOVE THIS THING! It works perfectly everytime on all my computers(XP Pro’s), and it hides my client, personal and financial data from anyone who finds the thing if I mis-place it (easy to do). I don’t use any of the other “free” apps yet, but I like the whole concept. Granted the 232 posts above mean there is a problem with it in certain situations (they must have sold millions). I think people need to be more careful with their data and this is pretty effective. BTW, I do not work for an IT company of any sort…I am an engineer who designs machines that make stuff.
December 31st, 2007 at 08:09
Hy from France,
Since i used http://www.u3.com/uninstall/final.aspx
i could take out the U3 from my Kingston 2Go key and its better now
January 4th, 2008 at 13:57
cheers! thanks mate!
January 7th, 2008 at 18:23
Gavin-
You’re a troll, baby!
January 14th, 2008 at 18:34
Yeah, you saved my day. Many thanks.
January 15th, 2008 at 14:58
Thanks a bunch for the uninstall info, U3 what a pain. The first link wouldn’t work, but instead of disabling this that and the other under device manager, the SECOND link at U3 worked just splendidly thank you! I can now click/drag stuff on to the drive with zero hassle, which of course is WHAT I WAS LOOKING FOR IN THE FIRST PLACE SANDISK CRAP lol.
Thanks again.
Mark
January 17th, 2008 at 12:53
Thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaank you!
January 21st, 2008 at 00:24
Thanks!!! That stupid software was bugging the heck out of me when I was not in Linux.
January 22nd, 2008 at 11:44
Thanks, couldn’t even use my flashdrive for what I bought it for…
January 23rd, 2008 at 00:36
Gavin, that U3 in some situations creates severe problems with other apps isn’t the big problem. The main annoyance, I think, is that SanDisk thinks its OK, just because you bought their HW, to bundle it with a piece of SW you did not choose yourself.
On top of that, they deliberately made it difficult to remove.
U3 might be a fine application, but I want to make my own choices. The only thing I remember clearly now is that I lost an hour of my life that I won’t get back and that SanDisk is responsible.
February 2nd, 2008 at 18:10
A friend used his Micro Cruser drive on my Mac OS X, an Untitled CD icon and LaunchU3.exe left on my desktop. I’m unable to remove the items.
How do I remove it?
February 8th, 2008 at 20:34
I just picked up four 4Gig Cruzer Micro USB flash drives for work. We do not allow any unauthorized software, so I brought the drive home to work on removing the s/w.
It turns out that the drive comes packaged with the removal tool already. When you open the emulated CD-ROM drive, you will see a zip file on the folder. Open the ZIP file, and the LaunchPadRemoval file in there is the uninstaller. Simply double click the removal tool, and follow the prompts.
At least they were kind enough to package the removal tool on the drive. Too bad they don’t make it easier to remove though. A link in the U3 LaunchPad “Settings” menu, even if burried, would have been nice.
Thank you for the blog, it is sure to help many, many, many people.
February 8th, 2008 at 20:36
BTW: If you run XP or Vista, you might already know that formatting the flash drive for NTFS will improve the drive’s performance, (and reliability in vista).
when U3 is installed, you cannot format the drive as anything except FAT32.
February 9th, 2008 at 18:57
thanks dude. Big help. I hate that BS software bundling stuff. My workplace gave me this drive for free, but i hated using it because of that dumb U3 stuff. I’ll be letting the others know how to get rid of it too, i expect they’ll be pleased.
February 10th, 2008 at 09:09
Brilliant! thank you very much
February 12th, 2008 at 01:54
Thanks for the info. The SanDisk website is a joke: It asks why I want to erase U3; I tell it because I use Mac OS X; and it downloads a PC .exe file. BRILLIANT!
February 12th, 2008 at 16:48
Thanks for this. I hated that freaking program.
^_^
February 29th, 2008 at 11:22
God Bless Google!!!
Thank you for listing how to remove that annoying software! Boy was it driving me crazy mounting the U3 partition every frickin time I put it in my computer.
March 18th, 2008 at 10:54
Thanks a lot for this quick info. I can’t believe SanDisk would force a program on you and not even include the removal software on the stick itself. A$$clowns.
Thanks again.
March 25th, 2008 at 10:32
Ed note: As usual, if the comments are abusive, they get edited, generally cut down to whatever useful information they may contain.
Also, do note that this post was written in late 2006, when there was not in fact removal software built into the drive and the SanDisk + U3 was in fact one of the cheapest thumb drives available. Use your damned brain before you flame.
What follows is the only useful information from the post, IMHO, and MHO is the only one that counts on my own damned blog. Pick someplace else to be an asshole, dude…
And to Armand, Start > Run > CMD > type “Convert DriveLetter: /FS:NTFS /X” If you Upgrade to a newer version of U3 it doesnt format the drive back to Fat32 it just writes to the CD partition so it stays NTFS or in my case EXT2
March 25th, 2008 at 13:41
After 250+ comments and nearly 2 years, I’m still getting the occasional dorkass that sees the need to flash his unimpressive tackle in the comments for this post; I only left the comments open because occasionally someone added something useful (it doesn’t matter to me anymore anyhow, and was never that important to me personally except as an irritant).
I think, though, that this may have outlived its usefulness. Trolls can head back on over to Slashdot
The comments are now closed.