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, DeviceHarddiskDR1 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 truly annoying bug.
I keep getting this bug 76c:qttask.exe – no disk and it says “Deviceharddisk1DR5” 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 filesquicktime 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 Deviceharddisk1DR1. 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 drivedeviceharddisk1dr3 The medium works just fine and play music/movie without any problem once you get rid of the warning popup. What now?