Hello all,
i was facing a similar issue with my Dyson v11
I used a screw driver to sneak inside the opening to pry open the canister. Once the canister flap was released, i removed the canister (i had just cleaned it) and wiped any left of over dust i might have missed during my cleaning. then i used some wd40 on the canister where the mechanism would be. Also removed any dust with an old soft toothbrush. before putting back in, i wiped off most of the wd40, then the canister would slide in and out no problem ?