Removable USB Devices
Yet another fun little Vista issue. I haven't posted one of these in a while.
I've got a 128mb SD memory card and I wanted to transfer some stuff to it, so I plug it into the computer. The computer doesn't recognize it for some reason - the drive letter is there, but it doesn't show any device being there. "Hmm", I think, "Maybe I didn't safely remove the device last time". So I right-click the drive and choose to safely remove it.
The SD card reader I have is mounted in a drive bay, and came with the computer. It has a number of readers - four of them - and Windows unmounted all of them. "Hmm".
I put the SD card back in the reader, expecting the drive to re-appear, but no drive. "Hmm".
Open up Device Manager, and I see a little yellow triangle next to the reader. 
Open Properties, and here's what it says:
Windows cannot use this hardware device because it has been prepared for "safe removal", but it has not been removed from the computer. (Code 47)
I guess what it wants me to do is open up the computer and disconnect the reader from the motherboard. Thanks, but I'd rather not. A reboot would fix it, but being a bit stubborn I tell Windows to disable the device and then re-enable it. But Windows is on to this trick, and tells me I must reboot.
So a quick attempt to copy some files onto an SD card turns into a half hour distraction involving drivers and rebooting. If only there was an OS where this stuff just worked.