 Hello everybody! In today's video, I'll tell you what to do if your computer cannot recognize a smartphone connected via USB cable, though the phone itself is charging all right. In our channel and blog, you will find solutions to any problem, from installing an operating system or configuring it to fixing possible bugs and errors or optimizing mobile gadgets. Our specialists will answer any questions you ask in your comments under the videos or articles. If you suddenly discover that a phone connected to a computer is charging properly but is not displayed in the Windows Explorer, that is, the computer does not recognize it as a digital device, and you can't access the data you have on that phone, this video is just what you've been looking for. We will find out why it happens and how to fix this problem. All the methods I will suggest are meant for Android smartphones and tablets, but some of them could work well with devices with a different operating system on board. So let's begin. With when did your computer stop detecting the smartphone? Did it happen after you modified some settings? Or did something specific to your phone occur on your computer? Or maybe things were this way from the very start and this computer never recognized the smartphone properly? Answering this first question is very important in discovering the true cause of the problem. Before you start modifying any settings, I'd recommend restarting the smartphone and the computer, and checking the situation once more. The next step should be to check the USB cable, for example, by using it to connect a different device to your PC. This simple check will help you eliminate such obvious things as oxidized connectors of the cable or damage to the wires inside it. One more widespread cause could be a damaged USB port of the computer, so it makes sense to try plugging the USB cable into a different USB port. If your everyday choice is to use a front panel USB, try plugging the cable into the back panel USB port and see what happens. The front panel connectors can be disabled. Another weak point is that the USB port on the smartphone itself can get damaged, too. Though in most cases it makes charging the phone impossible, but there is an exception to every rule, right? If you are using an older operating system like Windows XP, you need to either upgrade to a newer version or download and install MTP protocol. You can download it from the official website by following the link below this video. For installing the protocol and restarting your PC, it should recognize the phone properly. Now, let's find out what to do if your computer runs Windows 7, 8 or 10. Here is an important piece of advice. For devices secured with a graphical key or password, you should unlock such phone or tablet before connecting it to the computer so that the Windows Explorer could display their files and folders. The next step is to make sure that the phone connected to a computer with a USB cable says it is connected as a media device, and charging is not the only option available. You can see it by tapping the notification on the phone screen when connecting it to the computer. If you didn't see the notification, swipe down from the top of the screen or find the USB mode options in the phone settings. If there aren't any notifications on the screen when you connect the phone to a computer with a USB cable, here is what to do. Try using a different USB port on the computer. It's better to use USB 2 ports on the back panel, I mean the ports which are other than blue. If you have compatible USB cables from other devices, try them instead of the standard phone cable. As I said, cable issues can cause this problem, too. Make sure that the USB port on the phone itself is not damaged. Was it repaired recently? Did your phone contact water? If it did, this could be why the computer can't see it, and the only way out would be to replace the USB port. Check if another computer can see your phone via USB. If the result is negative, then the problem must be either in the phone itself or in the cable. The third option being you have overlooked some Android settings. If another computer can detect the phone properly, then look for the problem in your computer. If you did see another application on the screener of your phone, then select MTP mode to exchange data. If the phone is still not displayed, try choosing a different mode, for example, PTP, which is camera, or another. And one more thing to keep in mind – the computer should have the update service running so that it can download drivers for your smartphone as well as the service for detecting new devices. To check it, type services in the search field and run this app. Scroll down to see the status of the service – Windows Update. If it is stopped, right-click on it and select Properties, choose Start, set startup type as Automatic and click Apply. The next step is to check if drivers are installed for the smartphone. Open the Device Manager by right-clicking on the Start button. In the Device Manager, you can see an unknown USB device. This descriptor request failed – that's what it says. And your gadget is not displayed anywhere. If there are no lines marked with exclamatory marks, but your phone is not there either, try disconnecting it and connecting it again. It may finally appear after such actions and you will see an arrow like that. It means the device is disabled, so you should right-click on it and select Enable Device. As you can see, now the device is detected and it should appear in the Windows Explorer. Next to the device name, you may see a yellow triangle with an exclamatory mark inside it. If that's your case, open the Device Manager, right-click on the unrecognized device and choose Update Driver Software. Choose Browse My Computer for Driver Software and let me pick from a list of available drivers on My Computer. Look for portable devices, check the box for a standard MTP device and MTP USB device. Agree and continue. Now the smartphone should appear in the Windows Explorer. If this method doesn't help, try updating the driver automatically. Right-click on the device and select Update Driver. And here, click Automatically. After that, the operating system will look for the most suitable driver for this device. You can also try uninstalling the device. After it's complete, this will make the computer reinstall it again. If the operating system fails to find the driver, open Properties, Details and select Hardware IDs. Now use this data to find a suitable driver on the Internet. The next step is to check how much power the computer's USB ports receive. Open Control Panel, Power Options, Change Plan Settings and choose Change Advanced Power Settings. Look for USB Settings, USB Selective Suspend Settings and choose Disable. This way, you have just forbidden the computer to disconnect power from USB ports. Click Apply. OK. Now let's check if the phone is recognized properly. If you like experimenting with custom firmware on your device, sometimes it can have issues after you added another piece of software. One of them can make your phone invisible for the computer. If that's the case, try Factor Reset. Visit our channel to watch a special video tutorial about it by checking the link below. But still, remember that all data on your phone will be removed when you reset it. So before doing that, save all important information to a safe place. For example, a cloud storage. Otherwise, try rolling back to stock firmware or roll the phone back to a previous condition with a backup. If you have one, of course. In some cases, viruses can cause problems when connecting a smartphone to FSC, so it's a good idea to run an antivirus check. Modern smartphones often feature integrated anti-malware utilities, so if you have one, just run it or download a special app from Google Play. Also, it would be a good idea to check the computer for viruses too. Visit our channel to watch a good video about removing any viruses. And you can check the link below. Windows 10 users may need to install a corresponding update – KB31081, which is in charge of Windows Media Player's proper work, and this player is involved with the normal operation of the MTP, which stands for Media Transfer Protocol Service. So if your computer doesn't have these updates, you will have to download and install them. Another root of the problem could be a faulted build of the operating system installed on your computer. Well, in this case, the only option is to reinstall the operating system using a proper Windows build. As you can see, problems with a smartphone connected to your computer and not displayed in Windows Explorer can be traced back to both hardware and software issues. And these are plenty. Summing up, I'd recommend starting with eliminating possible mechanical damage issues, both for the cable and for the phone, and only then move on to software methods. In many cases, restarting the phone or taking out the battery for a while, if possible, could fix the problem, as well as having a closer look at your phone's USB settings. If none of the methods in today's video helped you and your computer still can't recognize the smartphone connected via USB, though the phone is charging from the USB port, well, you may consider visiting an authorized service center. And that is all for now. I hope this video was useful for you. Hit the Like button and subscribe to our channel. Check the bell button to receive notifications about any future videos. Leave comments to ask questions and share your opinion. Thank you for watching. Good luck.