Error: USB MTP device. Failure: recommendations for resolving the problem. What is MTP Device - description and installation
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 somewhat 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.
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.
You can often encounter situations when a user connects a mobile device to a computer via a USB cable, but the system does not recognize the device and even displays an error message. And this, unfortunately, applies not only to the simplest phones, but also to modern tablets, smartphones and even cameras. How to identify an MTP USB device, make it visible and fully operational, is then proposed to be considered in as much detail as possible. Let's try to apply several classic methods and solutions that are offered by users on the Internet.
Windows 7 error: “USB device MTP. Refusal". General essence of the problem
I would like to immediately note that the problem is that the mobile device is not detected by the operating system solely as a drive (neither the internal partition nor the removable card is visible).
Many users think that the main reason is that the driver is not working properly. Yes, indeed, such a situation can be observed, but only partially. Sometimes the problem may be in the settings of the device itself or even in the Windows system registry settings. In addition, if some additional components and updates are not installed on the system to ensure the correct operation of connected devices of this type, the error may also appear.
Initial actions with the registry
So, before downloading the MTP USB device driver, you can take, so to speak, preventive measures using the system registry, since some installed keys may contain prohibitions on identifying mobile devices.
First of all, call the editor (regedit in the “Run” menu) and go to the HKLM branch. Through the SOFTWARE section and control directories, we move to the final directory, as shown in the image above. On the right there is the UpperFilters key, which is exactly what is stopping us. We delete the entry, exit the editor and reboot the system. After this, as a rule, when you connect the device to a computer or laptop, the drivers, if they were not present, will be installed automatically, and the MTP USB device itself becomes visible in the system.
Installing or updating the driver
But it also happens that the above key is initially absent from the registry, and devices are not detected under any pretext. What to do in such a situation?
Here you need to, with the device connected to the computer, go to the “Device Manager”, find your device marked with a yellow triangle, and through the RMB menu select the driver update (you can also use the properties section). When the system starts making recommendations, you should select only compatible drivers. If this does not help, download the universal MTPPK driver from the Internet, install it yourself, or point the system to the full path to the saved file.
Sometimes a non-working MTP USB device can be identified if you select the hardware ID in the information drop-down list on the details tab, and then search for a driver on the Internet using the longest string containing the DEV and VEN identifiers. It goes without saying that after downloading, you will also have to install the driver yourself.
Installation of additional system components
Sometimes, even if there is a working driver, the error may occur again and again. It is believed that this situation is largely due to the lack of special components of the operating system itself.
The fix for the error is to download the Windows Media Feature Pack or its missing elements from the official Microsoft website and then install it. User reviews indicate that sometimes this works.
Other troubleshooting options
Some owners of mobile equipment, after deleting the registry key described above, recommend disabling the mode. Sometimes setting the settings using the connection type PTP (camera) instead of MTP helps.
Owners of Samsung smartphones and tablets claim that to detect an MTP USB device, it is enough to install the appropriate adapter (it is installed along with the Samsung Kies program).
Another option is said to be to boot Windows into Safe Mode and log in as an administrator. In this case, the drivers are installed automatically and without problems.
To identify Apple mobile technology, many users recommend using the following steps. Using RMB on the system partition (drive “C”), select the properties section and the security tab, and in the groups or users menu, check for the presence of the “Authenticated” line with the “Read” parameter.
Similar actions are performed for the Windows directory. If the specified parameter is not enabled, it must be added through the change options button. After Windows restarts, Apple devices will be recognized by the system.
Finally, if your system has been exposed to viruses, you should perform a full scan using portable antivirus utilities.
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.
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 and 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.
Many users are annoyed by the fact that by default, when connecting a smartphone, the “Just charging” mode is set. And there is no way you can change it from the default to "File Transfer" mode.
In fact, this can be done, but with a couple of spells. To do this, you first need to enable developer mode on your smartphone, which is turned off by default. To do this, go to “Settings”, then go to the “About phone - Device information” section and tap “Build number” 8 times. After this, a new section “For Developers” will appear in the settings at the very bottom above “About phone”.
MTP technology first saw the light back in 2008 in mobile devices with Honeycomb in the Android Ice Cream Sandwich operating system. At the time, it was considered a core part of the Windows Media software package, but it was later standardized as one of the main types of USB devices. It is for this reason that today desktop operating systems, when connecting a mobile device, identify it as nothing more than an MTP Device. However, in essence this development is not something new. It closely resembles the PTP protocols or one of its varieties in the form of additional extensions.
Alternative to USB Mass Storage
If we talk about the functioning of this system, it becomes clear that it is, in principle, impossible without installing the driver. However, when compared to regular information exchange via USB MTP Device, the driver works a little differently. The main difference of the new technology is as follows. When using a standard connection using USB Mass Storage, two partitions are created (for applications and media files separately). One of the sections always depends on the other.
However, in a number of cases, a situation arises when a tablet or smartphone does not have access to one of the sections, but the computer accepts both sections. It is for this reason that a situation arises when applications installed on the SD card do not launch and do not work. When using MTP Device there are simply no such restrictions. There is also no need to use the FAT file system.
If previously the redistribution of free disk space was carried out due to the influence of one partition on another, then in this case this does not happen. To put it in more understandable terms, in the past, increasing the free space of a partition led to reducing the size of another partition. Now both sections remain unchanged.
Installing the driver on Windows OS
Let's look at how standard driver installation is carried out when synchronizing a device with Windows. Let's assume we have a tablet and a smartphone from Samsung. When you connect a device to your computer for the first time, as a rule, the system displays a message stating that a new device has been found. In our case, we will be talking about MTP Device Samsung. The system will automatically install the driver required for synchronization. After this, data transfer will be carried out in the same way as using a regular USB connection, when an external SD card and internal storage are detected. Of course, errors like “driver not installed” may also appear. We'll look at them a little later.
In principle, on such devices, the automatic installation of all necessary drivers by the Windows operating system itself almost always works. You can also use alternative methods that involve installing appropriate programs for your tablet and smartphone. For example, the same MTP Device drivers are automatically installed on Samsung products if the latest version of the Kies application is available. It is also worth noting that Samsung does not release drivers for each specific model of mobile gadget.
So it makes no sense to look for drivers for the Galaxy Note 2 or S6. Smartphones manufactured by HTC require specialized software called HTC Sync Manager. In some cases, firmware installation via FastBoot mode is required. You can find drivers for LG devices on the official website of the manufacturer.
For Nexus, you can try using the ADB RUN utility or installing drivers using the standard Device Manager. When using gadgets from Sony, there are two options: using FlashTool drivers or installing Sony PC Suite. In principle, there is no particular difference, but it should be borne in mind that these are two mutually exclusive programs. When installing one of them, it is better to immediately remove the other.
Use on Mac OS
When synchronizing with Apple laptops and Macs, the use of devices classified as MTP Device is not much different from the similar Windows. To be completely sure, you can only additionally install the Android File Transfer application, and that’s it. Otherwise there shouldn't be any problems.
Installation on Linux systems (Ubuntu)
On Linux systems, due to their specifics, the process of installing MTP Device drivers is a little more complicated. As an example, let's look at the process of installing drivers for the Ubuntu version when installing a driver for Nexus. You must use a command window in which you enter the combination sudo nano –w /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android rules.
After this, enter the command SUBSYSTEM== “usb”, ATTR (idVendor)== “04e8”, ATTR (id Product) == “6860”, MODE= “0600”, OWNER = “User name”. After this, you need to sequentially execute the lines sudo apt-get install mtpfs, sudo mkdir/media/GNexus and sudo chmod 775/media/GNeus. Now you need to connect the gadget to your computer and enter the command sudo mtpfs – o allow_other/media/GNexus. After that, using Nutilis, you can move any folders and files. One important point: when all operations are completed, do not forget to use the final command sudo umount mtpfs.
Errors and methods for eliminating them
Unfortunately, errors cannot be ruled out when installing drivers. In most cases, they occur when using Windows operating systems. Let's try to look at the most common errors, as well as ways to eliminate them. First of all, you need to check whether the utilities you are using are up to date with the latest versions.
If everything is in order, but the driver for the MTP Device still does not function, you can try to install it manually. To do this, you need to go to “Device Manager”. If the device is not working properly or the driver is not installed, the device itself will be marked with a yellow icon. Everything here is quite simple. Find the driver update button in the properties and select only compatible devices from the list. If this operation does not help, you will have to remove the driver and then reinstall it automatically.
If this does not work, tell the system the location where the installation distribution with the necessary information will be stored. In some cases, this turns out to be ineffective. There could be a lot of reasons for this. In certain cases, installing a fresh version of Windows Media Player on the system can help. Most likely, you just need to check the system partition of your hard drive for errors. The problem could be anything. Sometimes it happens that the “native” media player itself produces this type of errors and failures.
This option also cannot be excluded. In this situation, if you are using a version of Windows 7 or higher, you can try to disable multimedia components using the “Programs” section in the “Control Panel”. There are many reasons for such failures. Therefore, we will have to move from the simplest methods of solving this problem to more complex and radical methods. In each specific case, it is necessary to take into account the specifics of a particular device. However, as practice shows, a universal solution to this problem can be the use of the system registry.
It is quite simple in the main section HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE by sequentially moving through the tree to find the UpperFilters key and delete it. This will not affect the performance of the operating system in any way. However, the connection will finally work as expected. It is worth noting right away that this method is in most cases effective for gadgets manufactured by Samsung.
Conclusion
In this review, we tried to briefly describe the main issues related to using a connection using MTP technology. As you can see for yourself, the user will not have to put much effort into installing the driver, unless of course you are using Linux systems. All major errors when installing drivers are quite easy to fix. However, in each case, it is still advisable to establish what the cause of the problem is. It is better to do this before performing drastic actions such as deleting system registry keys.
However, in most cases, failures should not occur, especially if you install the latest versions of additional software for your gadget. In any case, you just need to turn to the official resources of mobile device manufacturers. Surely, you can find a help section on the official website, which will describe the process of dealing with problems of this type. Most likely, the problem is not even in Windows, but in disabled settings and functions or even in the device firmware.
