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File transfer via USB cable

RhinoCan

RhinoCan

Well-Known Member
I've just acquired a reconditioned Pixel 3 and am trying to figure out a few things. Apparently, this model didn't come with a manual and guessing hasn't solved my problems yet!

I'm trying to transfer a few files from my Windows 10 laptop to the phone, which is running Android 11. The problem is, I can't get the phone into File Transfer mode.

This past weekend, I stumbled on the USB Preferences page in the settings and found that it is set to "No data transfer" by default. Fair enough, that's a reasonable default. On the weekend, I merely changed that setting to "File Transfer/Android Auto" and then Windows was able to see the phone and I could transfer files to the phone by dropping them in the relevant folder under Pixel 3.

Today, when I went to transfer files via the same technique, I found that the phone had reverted to "No data transfer", which is fine, but now I can't enable "File Transfer/Android Auto"!

What do I need to do differently to enable File Transfers??
 
RhinoCan said:
I've just acquired a reconditioned Pixel 3 and am trying to figure out a few things. Apparently, this model didn't come with a manual and guessing hasn't solved my problems yet!

I'm trying to transfer a few files from my Windows 10 laptop to the phone, which is running Android 11. The problem is, I can't get the phone into File Transfer mode.

This past weekend, I stumbled on the USB Preferences page in the settings and found that it is set to "No data transfer" by default. Fair enough, that's a reasonable default. On the weekend, I merely changed that setting to "File Transfer/Android Auto" and then Windows was able to see the phone and I could transfer files to the phone by dropping them in the relevant folder under Pixel 3.

Today, when I went to transfer files via the same technique, I found that the phone had reverted to "No data transfer", which is fine, but now I can't enable "File Transfer/Android Auto"!

What do I need to do differently to enable File Transfers??
Click to expand...
maybe try a different cable.....sometimes cables can be finicky.
 
If you want to complete the transfer process as quickly as possible you’d be much better off copying your files onto an external USB 3.0 hard drive or SSD and then copying them from there onto the new computer.
 
The default is "No data transfer" to help mitigate the risk of connecting your phone to a malicious charging port:
https://www.fcc.gov/juice-jacking-dangers-public-usb-charging-stations

If you're not getting the option to enable data transfer then that suggests the phone isn't registering that the thing on the other end of the cable is able to support data transfer. That could be caused by a dirty USB port (on either the phone or computer end) or a bad cable.
 
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