Fixing the Qttask.exe No Disk Error…
Every now and then when I am sitting at my Windows XP system, an annoying error message just pops up out of nowhere. The title bar is a seemingly random four-digit hexadecimal value followed by “qttask.exe - No Disk”. The text of the message says “There is no disk in the drive. Please insert a disk into drive XX:.” At the bottom is the typical Cancel, Try Again, and Continue buttons.
The most annoying thing is that none of the button choices do anything to actual remove the error. The error message cycles back and forth showing an error message first for drive XX:, then for drive YY:, back and forth, over and over, at least 16 times.
Yes, that’s right — 16 times!!
That’s when I decided to do something about it.
But before I destroyed it, I had to find out more about it.
The qttask.exe program is a simple program that lets Apple’s QuickTime software (often bundled with iTunes) show up in the Windows taskbar. To me, the taskbar only needs to store the system’s volume control and be a place where I get a visual indication when I get mail. To hëll with everything else!
You’ll find solutions all over the ‘net that tell you (1) which registry entry to edit to stop qttask; (2) what option in the Control Panel to set; (3) to deselect the checkbox within the QuickTime software that says to display the control in the toolbar; (4) to remove and reinstall. None of that advice really matters or works. You think simply deselecting the checkbox will actually stop it from running in stealth mode?! Ha! Sooner or later, just like that bad apple MSN Messenger (that uses Microsoft’s own questionable sticky tactics), qttask will also eventually pop back.
The solution: Use the Task Manager to end the qttask process. Rename the qttask.exe file in your QuickTime directory to something else; you can even delete it as it is not used to play or view any QuickTime-associated data. Reboot. Simple!
I tried renaming the file (as you suggested), but I still get that message box popping up, telling me that there is no disk in the drive (for about five drives). Got any other ideas? –Jim
It will continue until you reboot or kill the task. Also, check for multiple installations. - RDL
i received three files that popping up often: 6d4:qttask.exe, \Device\Harddisk\DR1 and more?
This is info I found on the net. Credit to someone else! Simply open Quick time, Go File > Open Recent > Clear Menu. This clears all the recent movies you’ve seen that might of been played off a cd that is no longer in your cd-drive. I’m guessing Quicktime wants to touch-base with all the files it’s played in the past for some crazy reason??!!
–OR– you can remove this from the registry …. start/run: regedit navigate: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Run/ delete: item with value qttask.exe Then reboot.
That’s only a short-term bandage to the problem. You’ll run into the same error again. I need to point out that if you run QuickTime later, it reinstalls the registry entry — leaving you back in square one. Thus, my point above. - RDL
Thanks this is a truely annoying bug.
I keep getting this bug 76c:qttask.exe - no disk and it says “Device\harddisk1\DR5″ but with different numbers. I’ve [tried] both “Clearing the menu” and going down the “regedit” route. Thanks very much, but it still keeps appearing. Any other ideas?
Did you try the delete or rename suggestion that I originally gave? Hello? Is anybody listening?! - RDL
I tried to go to registry and remove the item with value qttask, but when I followed the tree as above, there was NO item with qttask. i ended up renaming the file, and that seemed to stop it, but shouldn’t it have appeared in the registry?
Delete or (at a minimum) rename as I already indicated several times above. Now do you understand part of the reason why editing the registry is NOT the solution to use in this case?! - Come on, folks! DELETE or RENAME!! Simple! - RDL
Uh, I hate having to edit my registry. Couldn’t I just delete or rename the qttask file?
thanx RDL! I was having the same problem. I deleted the file as suggested and it’s all good now.
Thank goodness for smart people.. Thanks!
Thanks! I ran into this problem out of the blue - it started while my computer was powered off over the christmas holidays..! And while that’s not strange enough it looks for my ZIP drive which I haven’t used in months.
Same problem here! I found out by running Dependency Walker 2.1 that quicktime.exe was trying to load quicktime.qts from the C:\program files\quicktime folder.. when it should of been looking for it in the system32 folder. To test my theory I copied quicktime.qts into the quicktime folder and the problem went away.
You are the MAN! Thanks for the tip!! Worked like a champ!
Oh my…..I finally got tired of this damm message and decided to look it up. The first page I get to is here, I renamed the file and wha-la, all better. Then I read the rest of the posts….Ummmm hello did anyone even read the first part of this post at all?!?! Thanks Richard
Ed
Wonderful answer to my problem. I was just wondering how long has this problem has been popping up on computers, because I had never seen it until the beginning of December after I upgraded my tower. Is this a recent problem for most? Quicktime might be Apple oriented, but it works better than WMA and that crazy “Real.” I renamed the file. I hope that’s enough. Thanks
I to have the problem and I think that quicktime assumes that my cardreader is containing 4 harddrives. If I disconnect my cardreader the problem is disappeared.
I have a similar error message, however, my error simply says: “Quicktimeplayer: QuickTimePlayer.exe - No Disk” then in the entry bar is says, “There is no disk in the drive. Please insert a disk into drive \Device\harddisk1\DR1. HELP!!!
That’s an easy one, covered under MS Knowledge Base Article 330137. Microsoft has acknowledged that this is a known problem in XP Pro and XP Home. Just make sure you insert a removable disk in your removable drive before you start the computer, and make sure that it’s a drive other than C:. - RDL
I have ms win xp home version. I have pretty much same problem with people posted before me. My question is, How can i use task manager? Sounds stupid, but i can’t seem to locate task manager.
Ctrl-Alt-Delete - RDL
There is a simple way to correct this problem. Click on Start, Click on Run. Type in -> MSCONFIG Click Ok. This will bring up the ‘System COnfiguration Utility’ menu. Click on the ‘Startup’ tab. In the ‘Startup Item’ area, you will see a checkmark in a box with ‘Qttask’ next to it. Uncheck the box. Click on ‘Apply’ and then Reboot your PC. This problem should not occur again. This will work for Win98 & XP. Enjoy.
I deleted qttask.exe. It seems to be working. However, everytime I open up quicktime application, this messege pops up; quicktimeplayer.exe-no disk there is no disk in the drive. please insert a disk into drive\device\harddisk1\dr3 The medium works just fine and play music/movie without any problem once you get rid of the warning popup. What now?
Thanks for the help Richard. I’ve finally gotten rid of the qttask message. I uninstalled the program. QuickTime have no business creating a program which gives such a bad error message (cannot find disc!). Really sloppy, and REALLY annoying. I decided to completely uninstall and use a more professionally written program to view movies. Cheers!
I too have encountered this problem on more than one occasion. I was lucky enough to find your ‘fixes,’ however; I would have to agree with Mike (above) that it should not be ‘on the market’ as free or otherwise until a fix is issued by Apple. I visited their website and left a nasty Feedback note regarding that. I, too, am uninstalling as I type and will not use their products again! The more comments that they receive maybe they will accomplish something.
There’s a program out there called QuickTime Alternative. Google knows where to find it. It lets you use windows media player to see quicktime movies. When you’re at it, you might as well get rid of RealPlayer or it’s more evil succesor RealOne. RealAlternative lets you see Real Media files without need for the spyware called RealPlayer.
Thank you so much. I finally have a stress-free computer. Really do follow the first point. It seemed a bit unclear the explination - Just find the Quicktime folder in your program files folder and find the fle qttask and then rename to something like qqtask1. Thanxs again guys!
My instruction to “simply rename the qttask.exe file in your QuickTime directory to something else” stands since not everyone installs QuickTime into their Program Files directory. I sure don’t. But I’m glad the solution worked for you! Cheers! - RDL
I too got rid of Qttask.exe which has actually stopped the message popping up at random. clearing the recent history in quicktime also helps but after a while the error comes back after watching a few movies when actualy launchin quicktime. It wouldn’t be so bad if it was just once but it’s about 16 times at once.
Thanks Richard. I tried the renaming strategy and the annoying message is gone (It has been one week now!)
I developed this same annoying problem after udating my Quicktime on XP Pro. I renamed the qttask.exe to qttask1.exe as suggested,rebooted and it worked like a charm. Thanks so much for all the info.
Same problem-same simple solution- you are awesome!
I echo the thanks above. Worked great for me as well!
Hey, thanks for the fix. Here’s everything Apple has on this problem: “Your search for All Documents containing qttask.exe returned no results. Please search again or try our Guided Search.”
Renaming or deleting Qttask.exe did nothing to fix the annoying popup box on my system. I did what one user suggested above… go to file/open recent and clear menu. That did the trick. I have also found a program called Media Player Classic that works great with .mov files and pretty much all other video files. Get it here: http://sourceforge.net/projects/guliverkli
Getting rid of QTtask and removing it from my msconfig startup did not fix this problem, only clearing the recent files did it. Yes, I had rebooted and everything, I’ve done this pretty thoroughly. Getting rid of qttask seemed to temporarily curb the problem, but it came back and the file was still gone. As I said, clearing my recent files was the only way around the problem. I guess we all had played a movie file from a cd rom recently.
I did not have this problem but used exactly the same mechanism to stop that dratted M$ messenger.
You’re fix worked for me too, and I’m so greatful. Just got an e-mail from my daughter: “The error I get when I open AIM is AIM.EXE-No Disk There is no disk in the drive. Please inert a disk into drive\Device\Harddisk1\DR34 then I hit cancel and it says the same but DR36, then DR37. ” I’m going to have her try your fix - Have you heard of this one also? Sounds like the same thing.
Have renamed qttask.exe, deleted it and still get the no disk error message. takes forever to get rid of it. sometimes quicktime pops up but can’t run it as an hourglass keeps turning over it. So can’t clear its memory. Help! Pete
I had a windows system file that was also named qttask. just do a search of qttask and you should find it.
Hi. This annoys me too. Good to find another approach to disabling “quiet” programs. Hey RDL. In an earlier comment you said, “My instruction to “simply rename the qttask.exe file in your QuickTime directory to something else” stands as not everyone installs QuickTime into their Program Files directory. I sure don’t. But I’m glad the solution worked for you! Cheers! - RDL You said “I sure don’t” I was wondering where, if not in program files, you do install quicktime, and what is the benefit of not installing it in program files? Thanks. hammer.
here’s Apple’s solution: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93687&sessionID=anonymous|486180&kbhost=kbase.info.apple.com%3a80%2f
Use this sequence. Quicktime, File, Open recent, Clear menu. Then Click Start, Run, type: MSCONFIG In the window Choose: Task Schedular and uncheck, click apply. Then choose: Startup and uncheck ‘qttask’ click apply. This will resolve the problem.
amendment to my previous solution: Use this sequence. Quicktime, File, Open recent, Clear menu. Then Click Start, Run, type: MSCONFIG In the window Choose: Services, Task Schedular and uncheck, click apply. Then choose: Startup and uncheck ‘qttask’ click apply. This will resolve the problem.
RE: Quicktime 6.xx No-disk error with WinXP sp1 Fix Open quicktime: ‘keep clicking cancel in that error window until it closes’ Use this sequence: File, Open recent, Clear menu. Then Click Start, Run, type: MSCONFIG In the window Choose: Services, Task Schedular and uncheck, click apply. In the same window choose: Startup and uncheck ‘qttask’ click apply. Restart computer. This will resolve the problem. Unfortunately task schedular will not be available automatically for other tasks, you will have to do this manually. The error window will return as soon as you view .mov files on other drives if you don’t use this sequence. NB: Do not change qttask.exe file names as others have suggested. I paid for quicktime pro. I’m sure Apple can add a fix for this problem soon and give me a discount on a new 17 inch powerbook. Neil
That OPEN RECENT >CLEAR MENU fixed my quicktime re-occuring Insert Disk message. Thanks to the RDL!
I really appreciated the comments about QuickTime Alternative and RealAlternative that let you see those formats in Windows Media Player. However… I have a problem with WMP that keeps me wedded to those other players. At some point during the movie, the WMP screen goes black, though I can still hear the sound. If I replay the clip, it goes black at the same place. I’ve googled myself silly and haven’t been able to find a reference to this problem. Has anyone heard of this? Is there a solution??
Here is the soluton.. 1) Be shure to “Clear Menu” in “Open Recent” from the File Menu in Quicktime Player 2) Open the (hidden) folder: “C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\QuickTime” 2) Right-click on the file: “QuickTimeFavorites.qtr”, choose “Properties” 4) Enable checkmark on “Read-only” in Attributes, click “OK” 5) No more recent file list in Quicktime
6) Good Luck!
My problem “Qttask” started 2 restarts ago (about 10 minutes) I searched “Qttask computer bug” online and this site/posting came up first on list. I re-named Qttask to something els and BAMMO!! FIXED!:-) Thanks RDL!! I hope this annoying bugs stays away Forever. :-)peace
Thanks for solving the “quicktime.exe - no disk” problem. I renamed the qttask file - and also copied the quicktime.qts file from windows\system32 also into the Quicktime directory. Quicktime now boots without the error message. The problem came about after installing the new AOL 9 SE software - which puts the new Quicktime software in place as part of the upgrade -complete with the problem. Thanks, RDL!
great thanks the renameing worked
Clearing the recent file mmenu worked for me. Thanks for the tip, Upham. You don’t have to rename the qttask. When I turn it off in the preferences it goes away in the task manager itself.
Hi Rich, I’m a bit of a moron on this stuff so would you please give me the actual steps to rename the qttask.exe file in the QuickTime directory including the bit about the Task Manager? Thanks
Do you know how to get rid of this MpfTray.exe warnihg that keeps popping up every time i log on to my computer. If you could help that would be great!!!!!!!!!!
don’t know if this will help, or if it’s been posted as I am too tired to read all these from trying to figure this out for myself and only partially reading your input, but, before I started quicktime, I put a disk in my flash card reader. I then opened quicktime…no error. Then, I cleared the recent menu with the card still in the reader, closed quicktime, removed the disk, and relaunched quicktime……ta daa no error! hope this works for you all.
Well, my fix to this annoyance was to simply acess the preferences in Quicktime for the taskbar and deselecting the launch to taskbar setting, this fully eliminated the anoying Windows Disk Error Message upon restart of Windows. The only problem I have now is, if I manualy open the program on the desktop it freezes up and forces me to go to the Windows task manager to stop the process, this only happens while logged into the internet via AOL. I suppose it wouldn’t matter what serviice your using to access the interent but I don’t know this for sure? In any case after many reboots the problem is completly gone…no more error.
WHAT DOES AIM.EXE-NO DISK. THERE IS NO DISK IN THE DRIVE. PLEASE INSERT A DISK INTO \DEVICE \HARDDISK2\DR12
Thanks for the tip. I named the file to quicktimesucks.exe! The only reason it’s on my computer is because of iTunes and I never would have guessed it.
-Rust.
Hi. The problem is with QuickTime (qttask is that program), and it’s a very silly thing (you wonder how professional programmers do this…): the program keeps a list of recently viewed files. If there happens to be one that was from drive E, then you’re done, no more QuickTime ever.
So, the *complete* solution is to uninstall and reinstall QuickTime, deleting any remaining QuickTime files in between the two things.
(1) The solution is not to uninstall and reinstall QuickTime, because you’ll run into the same problem again if you ever view QT movie files from a CD or DVD.
(2) qttask.exe is only a utility bundled and used with QuickTime; it is not QuickTime itself. It can be safely removed. Removing the file is the *complete* solution.
Richard, I have the same error, but it was originated after I inserted sony flash card into my sony laptop… The title bar says attrib.exe - when I looked for it, I found it in C\WINDOWS\prefetch and in C\WINDOWS\32… Any Idea how to deal with tis one? Thanks a lot for any ideas!