Patent ID: 7612901

Claim:
An image forming apparatus comprising: interface means for enabling access to a removable storage device; mode switching means for performing switching between a normal mode and a service mode, wherein the normal mode is a mode in which a general user performs an image processing with the image forming apparatus using image data or document data stored in another storage device, different from the removable storage device, and the service mode is a mode in which a service person performs maintenance of the image forming apparatus using data stored in the removable storage device; storage device detecting means for detecting whether the removable storage device is connected to said interface means when said mode switching means performs switching from the service mode to the normal mode; normal mode inhibiting means for inhibiting switching to the normal mode when the removable storage device is detected by said storage device detecting means; maintenance allowing means for allowing the service person to perform the maintenance of the image forming apparatus using the data in the removable storage device when the removable storage device is detected by said storage device detecting means after the normal mode has been switched to the service mode; and display means for displaying a warning when the removable storage device is detected by said detecting means in a case where an instruction to switch from the service mode to the normal mode is made by said mode switching means after the service person has performed the maintenance of said image forming apparatus, wherein said display means comprises a display/operation section of said image forming apparatus, and said normal mode inhibiting means causes the display-operation section to display a warning prompting to remove the removable storage device.