Phone Not Showing Up On PC? Or, can’t connect your Android phone with your computer? Don’t worry; this problem can happen because of various reasons.
The reason may be incorrect connections, defective USB cables, or lack of proper drivers. Sometimes, the smallest issue can prevent your computer from detecting your device. Today in this guide, we will explain some common fixes for why phones are not showing up on PCs.
Our Android phones perform many functions wirelessly, such as sending and transferring files using the cloud, connecting to the internet over Wi-Fi, connecting with earbuds via Bluetooth, and in some smartphones – charging wirelessly without the need for a cable.
We can use our smartphones to perform a handful of functions, listen to music, watch videos, and take photos. But sometimes you want to transfer these files to the desktop PC, that’s why you have to plug your phone into a PC via a USB cable.
We also plug phones and PCs wirelessly, but there are some benefits of using this approach, i.e., the transfer speed is high, and the connection is stable and reliable. When things go right, it’s a great deal, but the situation is frustrating when your computer cannot detect your phone.
Most people think that the problem is with a USB cable, but there are other reasons why your phone not showing up on your PC. Without wasting a minute, let’s take a quick look at the solutions and fixes below.
Common Fixes Of Why Phone Not Showing Up On PC
Restart Both Devices
If your desktop PC can not detect your Android device, the first solution is to restart both devices. Sometimes the USB ports become faulty, and the problem occurs.
To fix, first, disconnect the cable and restart both devices. Once both devices are restarting, connect the devices using a USB cable.
Use An Original USB Cable
The other possibility is that the USB cables you are using are faulty. Well, it is hard to identify the bad USB cable, but the linked guide can help you.
Try to use the old USB cable with another device, or connect the devices using a new USB cable. Make sure that you are using a branded or original USB cable to connect devices. You can check out some of the best-rated USB cables below.
Connecting As Storage
Maybe you are using the wrong connection mode; that’s why your phone not showing up on your PC. You will see several different phone modes such as charging only, MTP, PTP, and MIDI while connecting with a PC. Check if you are using an MTP connection while connecting; if not, change the settings.
Step 1: Plug your Android device into your PC
Step 2: Now, pull down the screen from the notification panel and select the “MTP mode”.
Update The MTP USB Driver
As discussed above, you need to enable MTP mode on your phone while connecting with a PC. For this, you have MTP drivers installed and updated on your computer.
Most of the computers have this driver, but if there’s an outdated one, you need to install the driver using the device manager. Here are the steps to follow.
Step 1: Connect your phone and PC via a USB cable.
Step 2: Now right-click on the start button and open “Device Manager.”
Step 3: From the list, scroll down go on” Portable Devices” and search for your “Android Phone.”
Step 4: Right-click on your phone’s name and choose “Update Driver.”
Step 5: Now, click on “Browse My Computer For Driver Software.”
Step 6: After that, tap on the “Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer” option at the bottom of the screen.
Step 7: Now search for “MTP USB Device” and click on the “Next” button.
Step 8: Once done, check whether the problem is fixed or not.
Reinstall Android Drivers
Make sure that you are using the updated version of the drivers on your PC. There is also a chance that your drivers are outdated not installed properly or have been tampered with by other services like ADB drivers. Here are the steps to reinstall the Android drivers.
Step 1: Connect both devices via a USB cable
Step 2: In the “Device Manager”, go ahead to the “Portable Devices” and search for your phone.
Step 3: Right-click on your device name and click on “Uninstall.”
Step 4: Once your device name disappears from the list, disconnect both devices.
Step 5: Now again connect PC and Android phone via USB cable and wait until Windows reinstall the drivers.
Step 6: Once done, check your device appears inside My computer.
Download The Media Feature Pack (For Windows 10 Only)
If updating the MTP drivers or reinstalling the Android drivers didn’t work, the possibility is that the other driver is the culprit. MTP has standard processes with Windows media player, but some versions of Windows 10 don’t have this feature.
If you are on the same platform, installing the media feature pack for the N and KN versions is a good deal.
Connecting As USB Mass Storage
The older versions of Android phones connect with PCs via USB mass storage. USB mass storage doesn’t have the same drivers as an MTP connection.
It’s more like connecting an SD card or flash drive via a PC. That’s why your computer will treat it as a mass storage device and show files accordingly. To solve this problem, you don’t need to buy a new smartphone; it’s just a trick of settings, and you are done. Here is how to do that.
Step 1: Go ahead to the “Settings Menu” and tap on “More Settings.”
Step 2: from the list, click on USB utilities and then tap on “Connect Storage To Pc” from the given options.
Step 3: Then, from the list, click on “Turn on USB Storage.”
Step 4: Wait until the process is completed.
Step 5: Now, on your PC, open My Computer and check whether the computer detects your phone or not.
Enable USB Debugging
If all the above solutions fail, enabling USB debugging solves your phone not showing up on the PC problem. USB debugging is specially used to test and decompile apps on real devices, but it works for your computer too. Here are the steps to enable USB debugging.
Step 1: Scroll down the notification panel and open “Settings Menu.”
Step 2: Scroll the list at the end until you see the “About Phone” section
Step 3: Now, in the About Phone section, search for the “Build Number” option.
Step 4: Tap on build number seven times until you see the “Developer” option.
Step 5: Revert to the menu and tap on “Developer Option.”
Step 6: From the list, enable the “USB Debugging” option from grey to blue.
Step 7: Finally, plug in your device and agree on all the conditions, and you are done.
Final Words
So, those are the overall best solutions for why phones are not showing up on PC. We hope you try our solutions and encounter this problem. But if your phone won’t connect, don’t worry; use alternative methods to transfer files.
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