Solved Cannot connect phone with cable

TryingHard · Aug 30, 2024

My phone is a Motorola one 5 G ace
In my Windows 10 laptop I could connect the phone to it by cable and it would appear in my PC as another drive. But in my new W11 laptop, the "safely remove" appears on the taskbar but I cannot find the phone in "my pc" or anywhere else.
Under Devices it says "driver unavailable".
Is there a way to fix this?
Thanks.

glasskuter · Aug 30, 2024

I'm not an Android user but the whole connect phone to PC has never been 100% reliable for me with an iphone either, both using Phone Link and usb, especially Phone link. The only files I transfer to my PC from my phone are photos. If I use usb, and it doesn't connect,usually powering down both devices, powering on Windows, then power on phone resolves it.
If it doesn't, I don't waste my time on it anymore. I just access icloud for Windows (it would be Google Drive in your case)

Universal suggestions for Android here. There's one there about the driver when connecting usb. Maybe it will help.

Why Your Android Phone Won't Connect to Your PC: 9 Fixes

If your Windows or Mac computer won't recognize your Android phone over USB, here's how to fix the problem.

www.makeuseof.com

FYI - I noticed the new Intel Unison app mysteriously appeared on my system recently. I haven't gotten around to trying it on my iphone yet, so I'm hoping it works like the Phone Link is supposed to. You might try it out. It is in the Google app store.

Intel® Unison™ app User Guide

Guide for installation and use of the Intel® Unison™ app.

www.intel.com

TryingHard · Aug 30, 2024

Thank you. Appreciate the help and link.
Because I am paranoid, I try to avoid the cloud when I can.

Ghot · Aug 30, 2024

TryingHard said:
Thank you. Appreciate the help and link.
Because I am paranoid, I try to avoid the cloud when I can.

I'm absolutely no expert on phones, but I noticed in my Update History > Driver updates, there's a driver (installed) for my Samsung Galaxy A54 5G.

I have no trouble connecting my phone to Windows 10 or 11.
As you said, it shows up in File Explorer as Mike's A54

Maybe you should try checking Windows Updates while you have the phone connected to the PC?

Also check in... Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Devices > more devices and printer settings

My phone shows up there as well.
I'm, pretty sure it needs to show up there, to be able to connect. I had the same problem with my joystick.
Windows couldn't see the joysrtick, until it showed up here...

The phone must be connected to the PC to show up in Devices and Printers.

TryingHard · Aug 30, 2024

Thank you for your help.
I managed to install the driver using device manager.
It is now indicated as present (see screenshot) but I cannot find it to open it as mtp device.
I rebooted but still cannot find where it is so I can open it and view its files.
Weird.
search for motorola does not find it either.

TryingHard · Aug 30, 2024

The three dots after the motorola entry only offer the choice to remove it.

antspants · Aug 30, 2024

Have you looked at Motorola?

Motorola Support - Find Answers | Motorola Mobility, Inc.

www.motorola-support.com

TryingHard · Aug 30, 2024

I will next check with Motorola and their support groups.

antspants · Aug 30, 2024

That's an instruction page that I posted above.

Also: Some troubleshooting tips to look at in this post. Assume that Win Ten & Eleven are similar if not the same in process

Can't get USB drivers to work

Hello. I am having a lot of trouble getting the USB drivers to work. I am wanting to simply connect my Moto One 5G Ace with a USB cable and have it show up as a drive on Windows File Explorer. I want to copy files to/from the SD card. But...

xdaforums.com

Dru2 · Aug 30, 2024

TryingHard said:
My phone is a Motorola one 5 G ace
In my Windows 10 laptop I could connect the phone to it by cable and it would appear in my PC as another drive. But in my new W11 laptop, the "safely remove" appears on the taskbar but I cannot find the phone in "my pc" or anywhere else.
Under Devices it says "driver unavailable".
Is there a way to fix this?
Thanks.

I have never had an issue connecting any phone to Windows via USB cable and not be able to read it, including Windows 11. And for the record, Your Phone (phone Link) has zero to do with that part, so....

All that said, I'm completely unfamiliar with Motorala phones, but every Samsung Android phone, I've used has zero issues here. With that, you need to make sure the phone is on and unlocked. Also, that you allow access if asked. BTW, my phone is plugged in, and I have no Safely remove notice at all

All that said, check with Motorola to see if in fact a driver is required to be loaded to the PC for file access. I think a driver loaded for my phone the first time I plugged it in, but that was some time ago.

Good luck.

antspants · Aug 30, 2024

glasskuter said:
FYI - I noticed the new Intel Unison app mysteriously appeared on my system recently. I haven't gotten around to trying it on my iphone yet, so I'm hoping it works like the Phone Link is supposed to.

Better than phone link with way more uses

Ghot · Aug 30, 2024

TryingHard said:
I rebooted but still cannot find where it is so I can open it and view its files.

Scroll all the way to the bottom of... Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Devices
and click on: more devices and printer settings

If it doesn't show up in there, then Windows will not be able to "see" it in File Explorer.

I couldn't get my joystick to show up there. Turns out it was just a dirty USB connector.
I cleaned it with some Isopropyl Alcohol (90+%), and then it showed up.

antspants · Aug 30, 2024

Want aware you needed Bluetooth when connected via cable

Ghot · Aug 30, 2024

antspants said:
Want aware you needed Bluetooth when connected via cable

You don't.
That's just where MS decided to hide the old Devices and Printers window. :/

You used to be able to get this window by just going to Control Panel > Devices and Printers.
Now it's buried in the Settings... mess. :/

Now it's in: Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Devices > more devices and printer settings

Like I said above... if it doesn't show up here... then Windows can't "see" it.
It HAS to show up in this window... first.

antspants · Aug 30, 2024

Ah ok.

TryingHard · Aug 30, 2024

I cannot tell you exactly how I did it because I tried so many things, but now it works and all is well.

To help the next person, I think I:
1. downloaded the Moto drivers from Drivers | Motorola Support US
Thank you Antspants for the link. (Windows update did not have them)
2. Installed them from that file. But that did not mean W11 could find them to update the driver!
3. Went to C: found the motorola installation file in "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Motorola Shared\Mobile Drivers\Motorola Driver Installer.exe" and re-installed again from there.
4. Now device update in Device manager could finally "find" the Moto mtp driver file and all is well.
The phone now appears in "My PC" as it did in W10.

I hope this helps someone else some day.
Thank you for all who helped. You pointed me in the right direction.
(I wish some things were not this hard.......)

TryingHard · Aug 30, 2024

antspants said:
Want aware you needed Bluetooth when connected via cable

You do not.

glasskuter · Aug 30, 2024

@antspants Wow Unison is pretty slick.

antspants · Aug 30, 2024

glasskuter said:
@antspants Wow Unison is pretty slick.

I was impressed that you could utilise a device as an extended monitor. I am not 100% certain with iPads but if you have an Android tablet, the app can turn it into an extra extended monitor apparently?

antspants · Aug 30, 2024

TryingHard said:
I cannot tell you exactly how I did it because I tried so many things

I want to add, It’s always nice to help you. You’re not demanding and you don’t sulk.
But you do actually do too many things at once. I have seen you say the above before I think? or maybe it was someone else.

To benefit yourself (and probably anyone else facing your problems in here) it’s best to try one thing at a time and reboot if needed. I guarantee at some point in time you will probably do a fresh install of Windows at which point you are going to face the same issues again.

By trying one thing at a time, when successful, you can add the process and fix to a notepad file or something and save it to an external folder, like “D:\Troubleshooting\Motorolla Connection.txt” for example.

I am glad you’ve crossed another issue off your list

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