Solved unplug phone from computer

TheMystic · Jan 5, 2023

Haydon said:
@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?

Selective pairing in itself is an unexpected behaviour. If Developer Options is disabled on your device (it is disabled by default), you can enable it by tapping on the Build Number (under About Device) 7 times. Once enabled, go into Developer Options and look for Default USB configuration (you'll have to scroll down a bit or use the Search function):

And choose 'Charging only' here:

Haydon · Jan 5, 2023

What I wanted to find workarounds for was to achieve pairing/unpairing to/from selected PCs without using dangerous developer tools.

If that cannot be achieved using benign tools available to casual users, then I should perhaps use stronger passwords for my phone, watch my phone more carefully, etc.

TheMystic · Jan 5, 2023

Haydon said:
What I wanted to find workarounds for was to achieve pairing/unpairing to/from selected PCs without using dangerous developer tools.

If that cannot be achieved using benign tools available to casual users, then I should perhaps use stronger passwords for my phone, watch my phone more carefully, etc.

Since selective pairing isn't something I'm aware of, I'm unable to provide a solution to this at this point.

There is no harm in enabling Developer Options on your phone, and setting the default USB configuration there. Once set, you can turn the Developer Options OFF.

And let me know if that helped.

Haydon · Jan 5, 2023

TheMystic said:
There is no harm in enabling Developer Options on your phone, and setting the default USB configuration there. Once set, you can turn the Developer Options OFF.

Too many accidents happen if city street drivers hop into all-terrain vehicles, that's not particularly prudent for practical human factor reasons.

Anyway, perhaps someone can achieve the following without going into developer mode:

a) default behavior after connecting = 'transfer file' with computer A
b) default behavior after connecting = 'charge' with computer B, C, D, ... Z

and being able to toggle the default behavior from 'transfer file' to 'charge' or from 'charge' to 'transfer file' at any time for selected computers.

Edit: I know for a fact that the above can be achieved with a server-client model, long time ago I ran MS server on my home LAN, it's pretty simple. I am surprised that Android does not implement such a simple model, it greatly enhances security.

TheMystic · Jan 5, 2023

Haydon said:
Too many accidents happen if city street drivers hop into all-terrain vehicles, that's not particularly prudent for practical human factor reasons.

It isn't all that risky or complicated. This is a fairly simple process without any risk involved as long as you don't change other settings there that you don't understand.

Haydon said:
Anyway, perhaps someone can achieve the following without going into developer mode:

a) default behavior after connecting = 'transfer file' with computer A
b) default behavior after connecting = 'charge' with computer B, C, D, ... Z

and being able to toggle the default behavior from 'transfer file' to 'charge' or from 'charge' to 'transfer file' at any time for selected computers.

Not possible as far as I know.

Haydon said:
Edit: I know for a fact that the above can be achieved with a server-client model, long time ago I ran MS server on my home LAN, it's pretty simple. I am surprised that Android does not implement such a simple model, it greatly enhances security.

It would indeed be nice to have such a feature. But leaving the default setting to Charging only for all devices, and manually changing it per instance from notification area isn't a hassle either.

Haydon · Jan 5, 2023

TheMystic said:
But leaving the default setting to Charging only for all devices, and manually changing it per instance from notification area isn't a hassle either.

The toggle from 'charge' to 'transfer file' is one way only.

After transferring files, you can toggle it from 'transfer file' back to 'charge' but the next time you plug the phone in, it's back to 'transfer file' again, see also @Edwin post #43 that I quote below.

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

The 'one way issue' is the reason why I pair my phone to only one desktop computer in my stable.

I can't explain the issue any further though.

TheMystic · Jan 5, 2023

Haydon said:
The toggle from 'charge' to 'transfer file' is one way only.

After transferring files, you can toggle it from 'transfer file' back to 'charge' but the next time you plug the phone in, it's back to 'transfer file' again, see also @Edwin post #43 that I quote below.

That's because the default setting has changed somehow. The only way to change it back is via Developer Options. Unless you try it and see if that helps, not much can be done. If that too doesn't help, I would consider that a bug in the ROM.

Haydon said:
The 'one way issue' is the reason why I pair my phone to only one desktop computer in my stable.

As long as you don't plug in your phone on another computer, this should be fine assuming your computer isn't infected.

MisterEd · Jan 5, 2023

Years ago on my Samsung S7 I couldn't set the option to enable transfer mode. Online it suggested I use Developer Mode. That worked. However, later I found that Developer Mode really wasn't necessary at all. I found out accidentally that all I really had to do was reboot the phone to get that option working again.

BTW, normally when you connect your phone to your computer using USB there should be a notification on the phone. You just have to swipe down on the screen to access it. The problem I originally had was no notification was showing up.

1. If the notification shows the phone was in USB charging mode, then tap on it to open it

2. You can then change the mode to Transfer files

I also found that with my Samsung S7 transfer mode would automatically be enabled after the first time I set it. A friend had a Motorola E6. With his phone he had to set transfer mode manually every time he connected it to his laptop.

Some people might worry about security. They might think that anyone can access the data on your phone just by connecting it to their computer. Fortunately, there is a safeguard. You will find that the data on the phone will not be accessible unless the phone's screen is unlocked.

1. Phone shows up in File Explorer after you connect it to computer with USB cable.

2. However, if the screen on the phone is locked nothing is accessible.

3. If the screen on the phone is unlocked then you can access its data.

MisterEd · Jan 5, 2023

TheMystic said:
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:

View attachment 49176

View attachment 49177

I see that annoying message once in a while. Usually stopping all programs that are running will solve the problem. Sometime its Firefox has to be stopped. In the rare case when even that did not work I just pull the USB device. Nowadays I have never had a problem doing that. Years ago when I was running Windows XP or Windows 7 that was a dangerous thing to do because you risked data loss. I had that result a few times.

To avoid being faced with that problem I found it was better to never edit anything on a flash drive. It was better to first copy the file to the PC, edit it there, and then copy it back to the flash drive.

Edwin · Jan 5, 2023

TheMystic said:
Once enabled, go into Developer Options and look for Default USB configuration

Pretty sure that's how I set mine.

Edwin · Jan 5, 2023

TheMystic said:
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:

Most of the time it's probably Defender scanning it!

Haydon · Jan 5, 2023

MisterEd said:
I also found that with my Samsung S7 transfer mode would automatically be enabled after the first time I set it.

Your unlocked Samsung phone may be in transfer mode too if connected to another computer. Try it (perhaps with a computer in a public library) I am curious.

MisterEd said:
A friend had a Motorola E6. With his phone he had to set transfer mode manually every time he connected it to his laptop.

I would consider your friend's Motorola phone to be more secure. It was released in August 2019 with Android 9.0 (Pie) I wonder if the feature was considered inconvenient and hence abandoned.

Haydon · Jan 5, 2023

Edwin said:
Pretty sure that's how I set mine.

If you indeed set yours via developer options then your unlocked phone would 'transfer files' with just about any USB connected computer.

I really wonder why Android does not do the following simple (and more secure/selective) algorithm on a main setting screen:

a) all USB connected computers are disallowed (can only charge)
b) tap allow > computer x and only computer x is allowed (can transfer files)
c) tap disallow > computer x is disallowed again

Are we really sure we haven't overlooked something?

Edwin · Jan 5, 2023

Haydon said:
Are we really sure we haven't overlooked something?

Beats me!
I don't go around plugging my phone into all sorts of computers.
Just my own.

TheMystic · Jan 5, 2023

MisterEd said:
With his phone he had to set transfer mode manually every time he connected it to his laptop.

That is the default configuration on all phones, and all ROMs, until the user overrides it manually.

MisterEd said:
To avoid being faced with that problem I found it was better to never edit anything on a flash drive. It was better to first copy the file to the PC, edit it there, and then copy it back to the flash drive.

I don't know why Windows allows any program to access the USB drives without the user requesting it. Most of the time, the user only uses the File Explorer for file operations, and if there are no currently active operations, Windows must automatically keep it ready to be removed.

Edwin said:
Pretty sure that's how I set mine.

That confirms what I have been saying repeatedly.

Edwin said:
Most of the time it's probably Defender scanning it!

Why can't Windows simply say that or just say which program is using it?

Haydon · Jan 5, 2023

Edwin said:
Beats me!
I don't go around plugging my phone into all sorts of computers.
Just my own.

LOL, just imagine your are in a customer meeting, you leave your unlocked phone on the table to go to the copier and your customer plugs your unlocked phone in his laptop

jvickers · Jan 5, 2023

Haydon said:
LOL, just imagine your are in a customer meeting, you leave your unlocked phone on the table to go to the copier and your customer plugs your unlocked phone in his laptop

Oh, the interesting music that person would find! :ROFLMAO:

Haydon · Jan 5, 2023

jvickers said:
Oh, the interesting music that person would find!

LOL, the way the discussion is going, though, Android would not even meet a pretty low level of commercial security, something is wrong.

Edwin · Jan 5, 2023

TheMystic said:
That confirms what I have been saying repeatedly.

I hear ya! I just couldn't remember!
It's all comin back to me now!!!

Haydon said:
... your customer plugs your unlocked phone in his laptop

I'd probably punch him right in the mouth!!!

MisterEd · Jan 5, 2023

Haydon said:
Your unlocked Samsung phone may be in transfer mode too if connected to another computer. Try it (perhaps with a computer in a public library) I am curious.

I can't test that with the Samsung S7 because someone stole it.

I did some tests with my Samsung S21 5G phone with Android 13. I tested it with a desktop PC which has a dual-boot of Windows 7 and 10 and my laptop PC with Windows 11.

Under all three operating systems the first time I connected my phone it changed to transfer mode automatically. All three computers could see the phone but could not see its files. If I unlocked the phone I had a popup notification.

If I selected Allow all computers could see the phones files and if didn't they couldn't. I could still see the files if I then locked the phone.

Note I only had to do this the first time I connected the phone. Even if I rebooted the phone or computer I was still allowed to see the files. In the past this popup returned at times forcing me to give permission again but I don't know what triggered that.

BTW, I plugged my phone into an old computer with Windows XP. I got the Deny/Allow popup on my phone and the computer could see the phone and its identity. Unfortunately, Windows XP lacked the proper ADB driver to allow it to see the files. I tried a driver I found online but couldn't get it to work.

To summarize, at least Android 13 has the security in place to prevent access to its files unless permission is given to do so.

Solved unplug phone from computer

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