What does transferring mtr files mean? What is MTP Device - description and installation

If you are reading this article, then it is obvious that you are having trouble transferring files via USB on your Android device. Don't worry, you are not the first person to contact us with such a question.

Fortunately, we know several ways to solve this problem. So, without further ado, here's what you need to do to get USB file transfer working again.

Cause of USB file transfer error

There are several reasons why you may not be able to transfer files via USB:

USB cable does not support file transfer
The device is not configured to accept files via USB
You have installed the Samsung Kies application
The Micro-USB port on your Android device is broken (unfortunately I can't help you with that)

Step 1 – Enable File Transfer on your Android Device

This is the first thing you should do to be able to transfer files via USB to your Android device.

To enable USB file transfer, go to Settings > Storage > Click on the three vertical dots in the top right corner of the screen > USB connections to computer > Check the box next to “Media device (MTP)”

If you think the problem with USB file transfer is software related, try connecting the device to your computer using USB, select "Camera (PTP)" and put it away again. This helps some users.

Step 1.1 - addition for the “clean” version of Android 6.0 Marshmallow

If you don't see the above option under Memory, make sure you enable USB debugging. After that, do a little trick:

Disconnect the USB cable from the device.
Enable developer mode. To do this, go to Settings > About phone > tap on the build number several times until a pop-up message appears that you have become a developer.
Go to Settings > Developer Options.
Enable USB debugging.
Lock your device (lock button on the side or top).
Connect your smartphone to your computer using a USB cable.
Unlock your Android device.
Swipe down to open the notification panel and tap on USB Charging.
Select "File Transfer" from the pop-up window.
Lock your device and unlock again.

Using this method, you will be able to transfer files via USB. For some reason this option is not available without Developer Mode enabled.

Step 2 – Uninstall Samsung Kies program

Skip this step if you do not have Samsung Kies software installed.

Samsung's official file transfer program often causes interference when transferring files via USB. To remove Samsung Kies, you need to first download the program and then select “Uninstall”.

Step 3 – Check USB Cable

Not all USB cables are created equal: some are capable of transferring files, some are not. It is recommended to use the USB cable that came with your Android device. Typically, they have a USB file transfer feature.

If none of the methods helped solve the problem, then try installing AirDroid. This software allows you to transfer files to Android devices without a USB cable.

Media Transfer Protocol is an official driver released by Microsoft that allows you to manage the content of portable devices connected to your computer. For the most part, this software is used to be able to transfer data between a Windows computer and a smartphone/tablet based on the Android operating system. In fact, modern operating systems are able to “independently” pull up such software from the network, so this driver is more likely to be useful to users of older versions of Windows.

Usage

You need to install Media Transfer Protocol if you encounter problems when trying to transfer data to or from a portable device. This driver is also required for the operation of some Android device managers. What is true, in the case of managers, Media Transfer Protocol is often installed with the program itself, so a separate driver download is also not required. Well, the third “case” of using the Media Transfer Protocol is working with various “flashing programs” (programs designed to install new “firmware” on devices from a ROM file). Most often, they do not install the “accompanying” drivers themselves. So here the user has to download and install the MPT driver “manually”.

Additional purpose

In general, initially, Media Transfer Protocol was part of the Windows Media Device Manager 10 SDK. So it began to spread as a separate component not so long ago. Why was this component included in the Software Development Kit? To enable developers to test and debug applications created for mobile platforms.

Key Features

provides data exchange between a PC and a portable Android device;
distributed as a stand-alone component and also with Windows Media Device Manager 10 SDK;
compatible with older versions of Windows;
installed automatically;
is the official solution from Microsoft.

Recently, the synchronization of mobile gadgets based on the Android OS with standard computer systems has undergone quite significant changes. The new technology was based on the use of the so-called MTP Device driver when directly connecting the device to a computer or laptop via a universal USB port.

What is MTP Device?

In general, the technology first saw the light back in 2008 on mobile gadgets with Honeycomb in the Android OS Ice Cream Sandwich. At the time, it was considered part of the Windows Media suite, but was later standardized as one of the main types of USB devices.

That is why now stationary operating systems, when connecting a mobile gadget, identify it as an MTP Device. In fact, the development itself was not something new, since it very much resembles the PTP (Picture Transfer Protocol) protocols, or rather, it is one of its varieties in the form of additional extensions.

MTP Device Driver as an alternative to USB Mass Storage

As for the functioning of such a system, it is probably clear that without installing a driver it is in principle impossible. However, compared to normal data exchange via USB MTP Device, the driver works slightly differently.

The most important difference, also known as the advantage of the new technology, is the following. The fact is that when using a standard connection using USB Mass Storage, two partitions are created (for media files and for applications separately), and one of them always depends on the other. A situation arises when a smartphone or tablet does not have access to one of the sections, but the computer perceives both. This is why a situation arises when applications installed on an SD card not only do not work, but do not even start.

There are no such restrictions when using MTP Device. In addition, there is even no need to use the FAT file system. And if previously the redistribution of free space occurred due to the influence of one partition on another, in this case there is nothing like that. Simply put, in the past, taking up the free space of one partition resulted in reducing the size of another. Now both sections remain unchanged.

Standard driver installation on Windows

Now let's see how a standard driver installation is performed when synchronizing a device with Windows. Let's say we have a Samsung smartphone or tablet.

As a rule, usually when you first connect a device to a computer terminal, the system displays a message in the system tray that a new device has been found (in our case, MTP Device Samsung). The system itself installs the driver necessary for synchronization without any problems, after which data transfer can be carried out in the same way as using a regular USB connection, when both the internal drive and the external SD card are detected. Of course, errors may appear (such as “Samsung Mobile MTP Device driver is not installed”), but we will dwell on them a little later.

General recommendations for installing drivers for most Android devices

In principle, the automatic installation of the necessary drivers by the Windows operating system itself almost always works. However, you can also use alternative methods related to the installation of related utilities for a smartphone or tablet.

For example, the same Samsung MTP Device driver is installed automatically if you have the latest version of the Kies application. Please note that Samsung Corporation does not release drivers for each specific model of a mobile gadget, so looking for them, say, for the S6 or Galaxy Note 2 makes absolutely no sense.

For HTC smartphones, you need to use specialized software called HTC Sync Manager (sometimes you may need to install the firmware via FastBoot mode). For LG, you can find a driver on the manufacturer's official website specifically for a specific model. For Nexus, you need to use the ADB RUN utility and install the driver from the standard Device Manager. When using Sony gadgets, there are two options: installing Sony PC Suite or using FlashTool drivers. In principle, there is no difference, but you need to remember that these are two mutually exclusive programs - when installing one, you must first remove the other.

Use on Mac OS

The use of devices classified as MTP Device when synchronizing with desktop Macs or Apple laptops is not much different from its counterpart in Windows.

Just to be completely sure, you can additionally install the Android File Transfer application, that’s all. Otherwise there shouldn't be any problems.

Installation on Linux (Ubuntu)

On Linux systems, due to their specificity, installing MTP Device drivers is somewhat more complicated. As an example, consider this process when installing a driver for Nexus.

So, we use the command window, in which we first write sudo nano -w /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules (installing UDEV rules). Then enter the command SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR(idVendor)=="04e8", ATTR(idProduct)=="6860", MODE="0600", OWNER="<Имя пользователя>", after which we sequentially execute the lines sudo apt-get install mtpfs, sudo mkdir/media/GNexus and sudo chmod 775/media/GNexus.

Next, connect the gadget to the computer and enter sudo mtpfs -o allow_other /media/GNexus. That's it, now, using Nutilus, you can start moving any files and folders. Yes, the most important thing. When all operations are completed, remember to use the final command sudo umount mtpfs.

Possible errors and methods for eliminating them

Unfortunately, errors cannot be ruled out either. In most cases, this only applies to Windows operating systems. Let's try to look at the most common failures and the simplest methods for eliminating them.

First of all, it is worth checking whether the accompanying utilities are up to date with the latest versions. When using them, it is advisable to download the latest distribution from the manufacturer’s website.

If the driver for MTP Device still does not work, you can try to reinstall it manually. To do this you need to go to “Device Manager”. In theory, if the driver is not installed or the device itself is not working properly, it will be marked with a yellow icon. Everything is simple here. You need to find the driver update button in the properties, and then select only compatible devices from the list. If this does not help, you will have to remove it and then install it again automatically. If this does not work, you will have to tell the system the location where the installation distribution containing the necessary information is stored.

Sometimes, however, this does not help. There can be any number of reasons. In some cases, installing the latest version of Windows Media Player on your system may help. You'll probably just have to check the system partition of your hard drive for errors, but you never know what could happen. It also happens that this type of error or failure can be generated by the “native” media player itself (this option, unfortunately, cannot be ruled out). In this situation, if you are using versions of Windows 7 and higher, you can simply try to disable multimedia components in the programs section of the Control Panel.

As is already clear, the reasons for such failures are simply innumerable. Therefore, you will have to move from the simplest methods of solving the problem to more complex or even drastic ones, taking into account the specifics of the cause in each specific case and for each specific device.

However, as practice shows, one of the universal solutions can be the use of the system registry. Here you need to find the UpperFilters key in the main section HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE by sequentially moving through the tree (System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class) and delete it. This will not affect the performance of the operating system, but the connection will work as expected. Let us immediately note that in most cases this method can be used for gadgets from Samsung.

Conclusion

That’s basically all that concerns the main issues related to using a connection using MTP technology. As you can see, you don’t have to work hard to install the driver, except on Linux. Basic errors can be resolved quite easily, but in each case it is advisable to find out the root cause before taking any drastic actions like deleting registry keys. But in most cases there should be no failures, especially if you install the latest versions of additional software for your gadget.

In any case, you can simply turn to the official Internet resources of mobile equipment manufacturers. Surely there is a help section with a description of problems of this type. Perhaps the problem is not even in Windows, but, for example, in the device’s firmware or disabled functions and settings.

As you know, Android smartphones can be connected to a computer via a USB cable to gain access to the built-in memory of the smartphone and the contents of the memory card (if it is installed in the smartphone). With branded smartphones - Samsung, Huawei, Lenovo, Sony, HTC and so on - This is usually what happens: you connect your smartphone via USB, after which it appears in “Devices and drives”.

Next, click on the smartphone icon (or tablet, it doesn’t matter) - you get the contents of the built-in memory and memory card. Well, there you can create folders, copy audiobooks, music, photos, documents, videos and the devil there.
However, many users of Chinese smartphones (tablets) from lesser-known manufacturers complain that when they connect their smartphone to a computer, it does not appear in “Devices and drives.” What should you do in this case? In this case, you need to look at the notification area and click on the “Charging via USB” notification there. (Usually called this, but it may be called something like “Setting up a USB connection.”) After this, a window will open for you to select the USB usage mode.

Charger- the computer charges the connected smartphone, but the system does not see it. File Transfer (MTP)- maximum access from a computer to a smartphone, in which the contents of the built-in memory and memory card will be visible. Photo transfer (RTR)- with this type of connection, the smartphone should appear in the devices, but access will only be to the folder with photos, videos (DCIM) and screenshots (Pictures). You need to select the "File Transfer" item, after which the smartphone should appear in devices. Keyword - must to appear. Or it may not appear, which often happens with Chinese smartphones when they are first connected. When testing a bunch of smartphones, I come across this all the time. So, how to solve this problem, because it is very inconvenient if you cannot access the contents of the smartphone? (The memory card, if anything, can be pulled out and connected to the computer via an adapter, but this number will not work with a smartphone.) The fact that the smartphone did not appear in the list of available devices only indicates that the system was unable to install for it the right drivers. You will find confirmation of this thesis if you go to. There will probably be an icon on the list with the name of the smartphone, on which there is a warning yellow triangle with a black exclamation mark. This just means that the correct drivers are not installed for the device.

Right-click on the device and select "Update Drivers".

A window like this will appear in front of you. There you select "Search for drivers on this computer."
Then in the next window, select “Select a driver from the list of already installed drivers.”
And there you select the USB MTP device.
And that’s it, the required driver will be installed, the smartphone will appear in the system! If you saw a smartphone icon with a yellow triangle in the “Device Manager” and tried to update the driver with automatic search, then with a high degree of probability you will receive a message like this.

And the device will then end up in “Other devices” with the name “Android”.

In this case, you also need to perform the steps described above, only after calling the driver from the list of installed ones, you will first need to select MTD devices, and only after that the corresponding list will appear in which you need to select the MTP USB device.

And that's it, the problem is solved. Well, so as not to get up twice.

Right-click on the device and select "Update Drivers".

And the device will then end up in “Other devices” with the name “Android”.

And that's it, the problem is solved. Well, so as not to get up twice.