Re: Mounting an android device

[Andy Burnelli]

MajorLanGod wrote:

> Can I mount an Android phone to the Windows file system wirelessly, that is
> without a USB connection?

This is the exact same one-line question the OP posted to the Android
newsgroup, (which is fine), but rather than type up a new response given
all the work I put into responding there, I'll just paste what I wrote
there to help him out, and, I'll add them to this thread.

MajorLanGod wrote:

> How can I make my Android phone appear as a device in Windows File Explorer
> without having a USB connection to my PC, aka over Wi-Fi?

I would like to be purposefully helpful to answer your question.

Given there are _many_ potential solutions, there probably isn't enough
information in your one sentence to steer you toward the best solution.

Yet, to keep being purposefully helpful, I would suggest at first the most
_common_ Wi-Fi solution, which works especially well with some phones.

*Together is better with Microsoft and Samsung*
<https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/sync-across-your-devices?r=1>

*How to use Microsoft Your Phone Companion on your Galaxy smartphone*

<https://insights.samsung.com/2022/03/07/how-to-use-microsoft-your-phone-companion-on-your-galaxy-smartphone-3/>

*Set up Link to Windows with your Samsung Galaxy phone*
<https://www.samsung.com/us/support/answer/ANS00083910/>

*Samsung Galaxy Phones and Link to Windows*
*https://www.samsung.com/us/support/answer/ANS00087844/*

That works especially well with Samsung because the app is native on
Samsung phones, but you can also download the app onto other brands.

Windows software:
*Introducing Microsoft Phone Link*
<https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/phone-link>

Android software:
*Link to Windows*
<https://play.google.com/store/search?q=link%20to%20windows&c=apps>

Note Microsoft keeps changing the name of the app on Windows.

In summary, if your phone is a Samsung, then the Android software is
already on there, but even if it's not, it "should" work on most phones.

To be clear, there are _many_ solutions. I don't use the solution above,
for example, but _most_ people will be using that Microsoft Wi-Fi setup.
--
Posted out of the goodness of my heart to help others who ask for advice.

[Andy Burnelli]

Andy Burns wrote:

> MajorLanGod wrote:
>
>> Can I mount an Android phone to the Windows file system wirelessly, that is
>> without a USB connection?
>

> See recent webDAV threads here or in c.m.android.

In the Android newsgroup the same question was asked where Steve responded
first with FTP, and, in response, I outlined _all_ the known methods we've
tested over the years, so rather than repeat all that effort, I'll paste it
here so not only will the OP benefit from those years of effort testing
every known freeware solution, but so will others on the Windows platform.

sms wrote:

> Mount the phone as network storage
>
> Use an Android FTP app, i.e.
> https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.medhaapps.wififtpserver.pro
>
> See <https://www.guidingtech.com/use-ftp-server-file-transfer-android/>

To be purposefully helpful, below is a summary of tested connections.

For the technically competent, Frank Slootweg and I spent a ton of time
analyzing _all_ the possible networking solutions over Wi-Fi years ago.
a. FTP servers
b. HTTP servers/WebDAV servers
c. SMB/Cifs/Samba clients
d. MTPfs/LibMTP tools
e. KDEConnect tools
f. NitroShare tools
g. Kies tools
h. Vysor/Scrcpy
etc.

An FTP server on Android, as Steve suggested, works reasonably well, where
the two I suggest are "primitive FTP" & "FTP Server (free)".

The problem with FTP servers is that they will allow Windows to connect as
a network storage, as Steve mentioned, but not as a Windows drive letter.

The WebDav servers, on the other hand, do allow the Android phone to be
connected to Windows as a drive letter.

The two WebDAV servers I suggest are "The Olive Tree WebDAV server" and
"BestDAV WebDAV server".

[Andy Burnelli]

sticks wrote:

>>> Can I mount an Android phone to the Windows file system wirelessly, that is
>>> without a USB connection?
>>

>> <https://www.howtogeek.com/700733/how-to-link-an-android-phone-to-a-
>> windows-10-pc-with-microsofts-your-phone-app/>
>
> The link above, even though it was bracketed, was broken for me. I'm
> just wondering why?

Try this method of keeping the link in one line (let me know if it worked):
*How to Link an Android Phone to a Windows 10 PC With Microsoft Phone Link*
<https://www.howtogeek.com/700733/how-to-link-an-android-phone-to-a-windows-10-pc-with-microsofts-your-phone-app/>

That method uses two applications, one on Windows and the other on Android
(although for most Samsung phones, the Android app is already installed).
*What Is Microsoft Phone Link on Windows 10 and 11?*
<https://www.howtogeek.com/795474/what-is-microsoft-phone-link/>

Here is the Android app, which has had half a billion installs already!
*Link to Windows* by Microsoft Corporation
Free, ad free, requires gsf, rated 3.9, 500M+ installs
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.microsoft.appmanager>

Interestingly my Samsung isn't listed as having the app by default, but
it's there, or at least an app with the same name is there by default.
<https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/connect-on-a-new-level-with-link-to-windows-bb7a82b6-7bcd-be1d-ccc8-dddb909bc07b>

Ah, I spoke too soon... it's on this longer detailed list, that's why:
<https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/supported-devices-for-phone-link-app-experiences-cb044172-87aa-9e41-d446-c4ac83ce8807>

For Windows, apparently, Microsoft claims it's already installed on both
Windows 10 and Windows 11 (but I didn't see it on my Windows 10 Pro).

I don't use this method but half a billion people do, so it must work.
--
Posted out of the goodness of my heart to help others & to learn from them.

[Andy Burnelli]

Paul wrote:

> On 5/23/2022 8:51 PM, MajorLanGod wrote:
>> Stan Brown <the_sta...@fastmail.fm> wrote in
>> news:MPG.3cf5ab31d...@news.individual.net:
>>
>>> https://www.howtogeek.com/700733/how-to-link-an-android-phone-to-a-
>>> windows-10-pc-with-microsofts-your-phone-app/
>>
>> I have been using this for quite a while, but what I am looking for is the
>> ability to mount the storage on the Android device to the Windows file
>> system so it appears just like another drive.AFAIK that can't be done with
>> link to android.
>>
>> In other words, I want to be able to see my phone in a File Explorer
>> window, right-click on it, and wander around my Android storage as if it
>> was directly connected to my PC
>>
>
> That works best, when someone wants you to have that flavor of access.
>
> https://thesecmaster.com/explore-the-android-file-system-hierarchy-in-depth/
>
> "Android File System Hierarchy Explained:
>
> /boot
> /system
> /recovery
> /data
> /cache
> /misc
> /sdcard
> /sd-ext
>
> How To Access The Root Files In Android?"
>
> I think the ChromeOS I installed using Neverware,
> had more partitions than that. I wasn't particularly
> interested in any of the content, except to note that
> there seemed to be an awful lot of partitions on
> the disk when I looked later.
>
> One reason for slicing it up like that, is to make
> some parts harder to get at, than others.
>
> Paul

No sense repeating what is already in the detailed step by step tutorial
which Andy Burns already spoke about in the first response to the OP.
<https://i.postimg.cc/BvJdKWzt/webdav06.jpg> Both sdcards mounted>

*Tutorial: Mounting smartphone sdcard & external sdcard onto Windows*
*over Wi-Fi as a driver letter using a free/ad-free Android WebDAV server*
<https://groups.google.com/g/comp.mobile.android/c/cAJKyBsOhfo>
<https://groups.google.com/g/alt.comp.microsoft.windows/c/gv1XQQzFx3o>

This command mounts the entire Android filesystem (including root) as a
drive letter over Wi-Fi using only freeware that is readily available.
C:\> net use Z: \\192.168.0.2@8080\DavWWWRoot /user:foobar snafu

Here's a dir command on the system folder (and I'm _not_ rooted).
Z:\>dir
Volume in drive Z has no label.
Volume Serial Number is 0000-0000

Directory of Z:\

12/31/2008 04:00 PM <DIR> .
12/31/2008 04:00 PM <DIR> ..
05/03/2022 09:43 PM <DIR> efs
12/31/2008 04:00 PM <DIR> debug_ramdisk
01/01/1970 01:00 AM 0 publiccert.pem
12/31/2008 04:00 PM <DIR> second_stage_resources
12/31/2008 04:00 PM <DIR> odm_dlkm
12/31/2008 04:00 PM <DIR> vendor
01/01/1970 01:00 AM 0 data_mirror
05/15/2022 08:29 AM <DIR> sdcard
01/01/1970 01:00 AM 0 audit_filter_table
05/21/2022 08:44 PM <DIR> apex
12/31/2008 04:00 PM <DIR> lost+found
12/31/2008 04:00 PM <DIR> etc
01/01/1970 01:00 AM 0 dpolicy
01/01/1970 01:00 AM 0 spu
05/21/2022 08:44 PM <DIR> data
05/24/2022 06:44 AM <DIR> dev
12/31/2008 04:00 PM <DIR> vendor_dlkm
01/01/1970 01:00 AM 0 omr
12/31/2008 04:00 PM <DIR> acct
12/31/2008 04:00 PM <DIR> oem
12/31/2008 04:00 PM <DIR> optics
01/01/1970 01:00 AM 0 linkerconfig
12/31/2008 04:00 PM <DIR> prism
12/31/2008 04:00 PM <DIR> system_ext
01/01/1970 01:00 AM 0 sepolicy_version
12/31/2008 04:00 PM <DIR> bin
01/01/1970 01:00 AM <DIR> proc
05/21/2022 08:44 PM <DIR> sys
05/21/2022 08:44 PM <DIR> storage
05/21/2022 08:44 PM <DIR> mnt
05/03/2022 09:43 PM <DIR> cache
12/31/2008 04:00 PM <DIR> odm
01/01/1970 01:00 AM 0 init.environ.rc
01/01/1970 01:00 AM 0 init.container.rc
12/31/2008 04:00 PM <DIR> product
01/01/1970 01:00 AM <DIR> config
12/31/2008 04:00 PM <DIR> system
01/01/1970 01:00 AM 0 postinstall
01/01/1970 01:00 AM 0 metadata
01/01/1970 01:00 AM 0 carrier
13 File(s) 0 bytes
29 Dir(s) 65,016,954,880 bytes free
Z:\>

I didn't check if anything is missing, but that sure _looks_ like the
entire file system of the Android root (even as I'm not rooted).

Isn't it?

BTW, if someone can explain what's the key difference between an HTTP
server and a WebDAV server, that might be useful to the group at large.
--
Posted out of the goodness of my heart to help others do what I do.

[Andy Burnelli]

sticks wrote:

> The original link was sent with
> User-Agent: MicroPlanet-Gravity/3.0.11 (GRC) using plain text.

I've seen this problem before with others but it never happens with me.
To get a good datapoint, is _this_ URL broken in half for anyone?

<https://www.howtogeek.com/700733/how-to-link-an-android-phone-to-a-windows-10-pc-with-microsofts-your-phone-app/>

Logic:
If not, then it's likely the way Andy Burns posted it, and not the client.
If it is, then it's likely something in the recipient's client (or server).

[Andy Burnelli]

Frank Slootweg wrote:

> MajorLanGod <lonel...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Stan Brown <the_sta...@fastmail.fm> wrote in
>> news:MPG.3cf5ab31d...@news.individual.net:
>>
>>> https://www.howtogeek.com/700733/how-to-link-an-android-phone-to-a-
>>> windows-10-pc-with-microsofts-your-phone-app/
>>
>> I have been using this for quite a while, but what I am looking for is the
>> ability to mount the storage on the Android device to the Windows file
>> system so it appears just like another drive.AFAIK that can't be done with
>> link to android.
>>
>> In other words, I want to be able to see my phone in a File Explorer
>> window, right-click on it, and wander around my Android storage as if it
>> was directly connected to my PC
>

> You can't have that, because Android doesn't allow server ports below
> 1000 and Windows doesn't allow changing the outgoing SMB port (445).
> Catch-22.

I've tested every suggested freeware solution known to these two newsgroups
for over a decade to mount Android over Wi-Fi on Windows as a drive letter.

Frank Slootweg is correct that the catch-22 for _unrooted_ Android when
trying to use SMB, which is what comes naturally to Windows & Linux.

As Frank said, if you're not rooted, your SMB/Cifs/Samba server on Android
can't use any port lower than 1024, while unfortunately, Windows _insists_
on using port 445.

The only workarounds I know of are either to root your Android phone, or to
perhaps figure out a clever port mapping or port forwarding workaround.

Here's my suggestion, copied from the tutorial on Wi-Fi mounting of Android
as a drive letter on Windows using only freeware tools on Android.

---< below is the cut-and-paste from the aforementioned tutorial >---
<https://groups.google.com/g/comp.mobile.android/c/-MQM3UwUu-Q/m/VCjoOzNDAwAJ>
Note the debilitating problem that, while you can install an SMB _server_
on non-rooted Android, it's impossible (so far) to use an SMB _client_ on
non-rooted Android to connect to a typical Windows SMB share over Wi-Fi.

Non-rooted Android SMB client apps can't connect to Windows SMB shares
simply because Windows SMB requires port 445 but non-root Android SMB
clients, much to my chagrin, can't ever access ports lower than 1024.

However, an enterprising experimenter "may" be able to work around
this intractable problem perhaps by the use of "port forwarding"?
C:\> adb forward tcp:local_port tcp:device_port
C:\> adb reverse tcp:device_port tcp:local_port

And be advised that adb can temporarily elevate permissions for a user
where this example below is run completely on the Android device itself.
Termux % adb pair localhost:54321 <add the 6-digit wi-fi pairing code>
Termux % adb connect localhost:54321
Termux % adb shell
Termux # run-as com.termux
Termux $ {permissions are now elevated while inside this prompt}
---< above is the cut-and-paste from the aforementioned tutorial >---

> What you *can* have is 'FtpUse - Map a FTP server as a Local Disk
> Drive' [1] on the Windows side and one of the FTP servers mentioned
> elsewhere on the Android side. I.e. you get a Network Drive, not a
> Network Share in File Explorer.
>
> [1] <https://www.ferrobackup.com/map-ftp-as-disk.html>

Frank Slootweg and I have discussed FTPUse in great detail in the past
where I was easily able to access the Android phone when using a freeware
FTP server on Android, but I could never get a drive letter out of it.

I was able to get a drive letter, as I recall, using FTP payware (trialware
too), but I wasn't able at the time to get a drive letter out of FTPUse.

Having said that I couldn't get a drive letter out of FTPUse years ago,
things may have changed over time, where I may test it again sometimes soon
so that we can have _multiple_ methods of mounting the entire Android file
system (including system, sdcard0, and external sdcard storage) on
Windows over WI-Fi using only freeware.

I've tested every suggested freeware solution known to these two newsgroups
to mount Android over Wi-Fi onto Windows as a drive letter.
--
I will also test iOS but it's always much harder on iOS to do such things.

[Andy Burnelli]

Andy Burns wrote:

> I'll see if I can dig out the batch file, it was a few years ago, Win7 I think.

Four years ago the three of us, you, me, and Frank Slootweg discussed this
topic but the thread just died without any conclusion.
<https://comp.mobile.android.narkive.com/TjFmHwVr/what-s-the-best-way-to-forward-smb-tcp-port-445-to-something-higher-than-1024-on-windows#>

Here is an excerpt from Andy Burns at that time on the topic.
---< Below is one post from Andy Burns on the topic >---
> Do you have experience port forwarding SMB ports on Windows?
Yes, when I needed to map a drive over an SSH tunnel.

netsh interface portproxy add v4tov4 listenport=xxx
listenaddress=192.168.xx.xx connectaddress=192.168.yy.yy connectport=yyy

Because the lanmanserver service starts early and binds to 445 on all
interfaces, you may need to install a virtual kernel NIC driver in order
to get an interface with a "spare" IP address to listen on, it was
available from MS last time I needed it on Win7, not sure about Win10.
---< Above is one post from Andy Burns on the topic >---

And here is an excerpt from Frank Slootweg in response:
---< Below is one post from Frank Slootweg on the topic >---
I re-checked my notes and at the time, I looked at:

'SMB cifs samba file server'
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.imperioustech.www.sambaserver>
"Uses Standard port 445 for rooted devices and automatically
selects a suitable port for non-rooted devices."

I didn't proceed with this, for the very reason you are now
investigating, the need to map port 445 to a port number above 1024.

Perhaps 'SMB cifs samba file server' is a candidate for you to
investigate.

---< Above is one post from Frank Slootweg on the topic >---

It looks like I got the SMB _client_ working at that time,
but I was having trouble finding an SMB server that worked.
--
Note that the thread went to hell when the myriad trolls like Rudy Weiser
showed up, where they _subtract_ value every time they post on any topic.