Solved unplug phone from computer

TheMystic · Jan 4, 2023

Edwin said:
Took me damn near 30 minutes to markup that stupid screenshot!!!

That should take only about 30 seconds though.

Edwin · Jan 4, 2023

TheMystic said:
That should take only about 30 seconds though.

LOL!
Yup! I'll practice a bit more!

Edwin · Jan 4, 2023

TheMystic said:
I'm quite surprised. If I get a chance to use another computer, I'll test this out.

Mine defaults to File Transfer on all my PC's even if I change it!
Can't remember how I got it to function that way..., perhaps it's because my device is paired to all my PC's

Haydon · Jan 4, 2023

Edwin said:
Mine defaults to File Transfer on all my PC's even if I change it!
Can't remember how I got it to function that way..., perhaps it's because my device is paired to all my PC's

View attachment 49092

There has to be a way to unpair.

I notice that under USB settings on the phone, only 'USB controlled by phone' can be selected, 'USB controlled by computer' cannot be selected.

I find it strange that there is a radio button that cannot be selected, but the upshot is that the USB connection is always controlled by the phone.

This is very much like a server-client relationship where the server is the phone and the client is the computer.

And like in any server, there has to be a means to disallow/unpair individual clients. I just don't know how to do it with a phone, perhaps @TheMystic or someone else may know.

Edwin · Jan 4, 2023

Ghot said:
Yeah, I know, you're all laughing at my phone.

Hell no! I loved em!
Still got one! (doesn't work, but...)

Ghot · Jan 4, 2023

Edwin said:
Hell no! I loved em!
Still got one! (doesn't work, but...)

View attachment 49094

Cricket keeps picking junkier and junkier flip phones.
Long, long ago, they offered the Nokia bar phone. That phone was indestructible.
Then came flip phones... they were pretty tough... Samsung, LG... etc.
Lately, two "forced" phone upgrades, one was a "who knows" model and this one is a TCL Classic.

I don't know if they're any good or not... but I always liked the ruggedness of the Sonim phones.
The Samsung Rugby phones seemed pretty rugged, also.

Haydon · Jan 4, 2023

Back to regular programming and disconnecting the phone from the computer (afer doing a file transfer)

Everyone here myself included have done the disconnect without taking any precautions, and nobody encountered any problems.

So, is setting the phone to 'charge' before disconnecting an unnecessary safety precaution? Or can there be adverse effects after doing thousands of disconnects? Is setting the phone to 'charge' before disconnecting perhaps a good habit to adopt?

Ghot · Jan 4, 2023

Haydon said:
Back to regular programming and disconnecting the phone from the computer (afer doing a file transfer)

Everyone here myself included have done the disconnect without taking any precautions, and nobody encountered any problems.

So, is setting the phone to 'charge' before disconnecting an unnecessary safety precaution? Or can there be adverse effects after doing thousands of disconnects? Is setting the phone to 'charge' before disconnecting perhaps a good habit to adopt?

I think they try to make the phones as idiot proof as possible. So, you can probably just unhook them when you're done.
No rocket science required.

Haydon · Jan 4, 2023

OK, then, now on to the security issue of connecting phone to computer.

Without unlocking my password protected phone, no file transfer can take place (or so I hope)

Nonetheless, I don't like the idea either, if my unlocked phone could transfer files to ANY connected computer. That's not the case in my stable, only 1 computer is paired.

Even so, I like to know how I could unpair that 1 computer.

More generally speaking, I like to know how I could allow/disallow my phone to pair/unpair to selected computers.

TheMystic · Jan 4, 2023

Edwin said:
Mine defaults to File Transfer on all my PC's even if I change it!
Can't remember how I got it to function that way..., perhaps it's because my device is paired to all my PC's

View attachment 49092

This is certainly not default behaviour of any stock ROM as this is a security risk. Which phone do you use and which ROM? What is the update version?

Haydon said:
There has to be a way to unpair.

I notice that under USB settings on the phone, only 'USB controlled by phone' can be selected, 'USB controlled by computer' cannot be selected.

I find it strange that there is a radio button that cannot be selected, but the upshot is that the USB connection is always controlled by the phone.

This is very much like a server-client relationship where the server is the phone and the client is the computer.

And like in any server, there has to be a means to disallow/unpair individual clients. I just don't know how to do it with a phone, perhaps @TheMystic or someone else may know.

This pairing thing you are referring to is not how it is designed to be. Once I get hold of another computer, I'll be able to confirm this.

When you use ADB to pass terminal commands on your phone via USB Debugging, you get a prompt like this on your phone:

This sets a unique pairing key between the phone and the computer. If you check 'Always allow....', you won't be prompted for the same next time, but only on that computer. You'll see a prompt like that on every computer you connect to, so you can choose which ones to allow, and if allowed, should it be permanent until revoked.

Please note USB Debugging should not be left ON when you are not using it, both as a security measure as well as to save phone battery life.

Same holds true if you are debugging your phone wirelessly.

As far as simply connecting a phone to a PC is concerned, there is no pairing key that is generated. It is a simple setting that ideally should be left to 'Charging only' and that setting would be universal. This is how it is designed. Any deviation from this behaviour is most likely a bug.

Edwin · Jan 4, 2023

TheMystic said:
Which phone do you use and which ROM? What is the update version?

Samsung Galaxy A52 - Android 13
ROM..., beats me!

Haydon · Jan 4, 2023

TheMystic said:
USB Debugging

Sounds scary ...

What Is USB Debugging Mode and How Do You Enable It on Android?

Learn what USB debugging is, how to enable USB debugging on an Android device, and what you can do in debug mode.

www.lifewire.com

TheMystic · Jan 4, 2023

Edwin said:
Samsung Galaxy A52 - Android 13
ROM..., beats me!

I'm assuming it is the stock ROM from Samsung. This behaviour baffles me. I haven't seen this on any of my phones (i mean the default behaviour).

Haydon said:
Sounds scary ...

What Is USB Debugging Mode and How Do You Enable It on Android?

Learn what USB debugging is, how to enable USB debugging on an Android device, and what you can do in debug mode.

www.lifewire.com

It is very useful if you want to get certain things done like debloating your phone, unlocking the bootloader, installing a custom recovery or ROM, rooting, creating a system image just like you do on Windows, etc.

But the setting should be turned OFF once your work is done. Leaving it on is a bad idea.

Edwin · Jan 4, 2023

TheMystic said:
This behaviour baffles me.

You and me both!
I can't remember what, or if I did something to allow it!

Haydon · Jan 4, 2023

TheMystic said:
It is very useful if you want to get certain things done like debloating your phone, unlocking the bootloader, installing a custom recovery or ROM, rooting, creating a system image just like you do on Windows, etc.

But the setting should be turned OFF once your work is done. Leaving it on is a bad idea.

Isn't most of all that (at least for an ordinary phone user like me) done by the regular Android updates?

I'd rather do the 'selective pairing' (or whatever you may call it) using the settings available to an ordinary phone user.

FWIW, long time ago, I also thought I could personalize my own PC better than the HMI (Human Machine Interface) specialists at MS could do. But nowadays, the number of personalizations I do is less than fingers on one hand. The rest I can and do work around.

WAI · Jan 4, 2023

The whole "Remove Device from the computer" is long gone from my point of view. As long as the files are completely copied you should safely remove the USB drive from the USB port

MisterEd · Jan 4, 2023

Years ago there was a reason for "Safely to Remove Device". It was write caching. Write caching was enabled on drives to speed up writing to that device. Now USB drives have gotten fast enough to make that less important. Now the norm is to turn off or disable write-caching for external drives. With write caching disabled it should be safe enough to disconnect that drive without going to the old Eject process in the system tray. This includes phones.

Here is a USB flash drive. Write caching by default is disabled. Note, there is an option to turn it on. However, doing this requires the old safeguard of Eject from the system tray to prevent data loss.

Note this is different for internal drives because they are not normally allowed to be disconnected while the computer is powered on. With write caching on these drives can write faster.

Here is an internal drive that by default has write caching enabled.

TheMystic · Jan 4, 2023

Haydon said:
Isn't most of all that (at least for an ordinary phone user like me) done by the regular Android updates?

None of that is done via Android updates. And those settings are called Developer Options for a reason. They are not meant for casual users.

I only wish Android provided a way to backup app data without root. Don't understand why they don't implement this very important feature.

Haydon said:
But nowadays, the number of personalizations I do is less than fingers on one hand.

That's true. There are too many things happening and it is difficult to stay on top on things for someone not working in that field.

I stopped unlocking the bootloader a few years back (after wasting years tinkering with them) as it is no longer as rewarding as it used to be. Much of what was earlier possible only on rooted devices are now possible without root, making root increasingly irrelevant today.

Then there is also the issue of privacy and security with tools used from unknown sources. You never know what is baked into the codes. It is better to stick with OEM solutions than use ones from random people on XDA and elsewhere, unless you're absolutely sure about the product. There are great tools available, but there is still that element of risk always present.

TheMystic · Jan 5, 2023

MisterEd said:
With write caching disabled it should be safe enough to disconnect that drive without going to the old Eject process in the system tray. This includes phones.

If it was indeed that safe, then Microsoft should have removed that option on the taskbar for external drives that have write caching disabled.

Even today, I often see the annoying inability of Windows to tell me why I can't remove the USB safely and which program is using it:

Haydon · Jan 5, 2023

@TheMystic Well, your last paragraph (in post #58) in particular makes me feel that I should be looking at workarounds on the 'selective pairing' issue. Any suggestions?

Solved unplug phone from computer

Well-known member

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

♦ ♦

My Computers My Computers

At a glance

At a glance

♦ ♦

My Computers My Computers

At a glance

At a glance

Well-known member

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

♦ ♦

My Computers My Computers

At a glance

At a glance

Well-known member

My Computers My Computers

At a glance

At a glance

Well-known member

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Well-known member

My Computers My Computers

At a glance

At a glance

Well-known member

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Well-known member

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

♦ ♦

My Computers My Computers

At a glance

At a glance

Well-known member

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Well-known member

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

♦ ♦

My Computers My Computers

At a glance

At a glance

Well-known member

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Well-known member

My Computers My Computers

At a glance

At a glance

Well-known member

My Computers My Computers

At a glance

At a glance

Well-known member

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Well-known member

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Well-known member

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Similar threads

My Computer

My Computers

My Computers

My Computer

My Computers

My Computers

My Computer

My Computers

My Computer

My Computer

My Computers

My Computer

My Computer

My Computers

My Computer

My Computers

My Computers

My Computer

My Computer

My Computer