Why is my phone not showing up on my computer?
Connecting the mobile phone to the computer is necessary and practical on many occasions: to download photos or videos, update its software, and copy new files. Although many of these actions can indeed be done in another way (by Bluetooth or without that connection), it is often more comfortable to have them together. But when you connect the computer to the mobile you find an unpleasant surprise: it does not recognize it. In this article, we tell you why is my phone not showing up on my computer?
One of the most common reasons is usually on the ports or the USB cable. Check that everything works, testing different cables and different ports on the computer, and making sure that the ports are configured correctly.
Why is my phone not showing up on my computer?
As is the case with many Samsung models, some smartphones require you to install drivers on the computer for the connection between the two to work. Many times these will be downloaded when you connect the smartphone, but maybe something goes wrong and this does not happen. Visit the website of the manufacturer of your smartphone and find if there are specific drivers that you should install for your model.
Computer and phone are not compatible
At this point phone not showing up on pc rarely happens, but it could be a reason why your computer does not recognize your phone: look at the characteristics of the model with which operating systems it is compatible. It could be that both don’t work together.
Disconnect, restart and try again
Computer problems are often solved like this: unplugging, restarting the equipment (computer and smartphone) and trying again. Maybe this time you will be lucky!
Take a look at the hardware
Everything can be in this life. It is not very normal, but some cases have occurred in which an error in the synchronization between devices is due to an old component or in bad condition.
A quick way to find out is to see if the mobile receives power when it is connected to our PC. If this is the case, the cable is most likely damaged, or even the USB port is faulty. In both cases, the solution is very simple. Try different cables, or connect to another USB port if the one you are connecting to gives you problems.
Beware of duplicate software
Some synchronization programs between the phone and the PC already install the mobile drivers on the computer without the need to run additional drivers. If so, we suggest you uninstall them immediately to avoid possible synchronization errors between both devices. Thus, the PC will be able to recognize our mobile without problems.
Check that you are in the correct mode
Another possibility is that, depending on the configuration established in the mobile, our PC recognizes it in one way or another. Or that he does not directly recognize it. Several options can be configured when connecting our mobile to the computer.
The option “Charge this device” allows us to charge the mobile battery, without transferring data between both devices. If we select “Transfer files,” we can access the files on our smartphone directly from the computer. Finally, we have the Transfer photos (PTP) mode that only serves to manage our photos.
Factory reset
If you don’t know what to do anymore, this may be the most drastic measure of all, so we advise you to try the options described above first. As a last resort, a hard-reset is a handy option for those devices that no longer work correctly. Of course, keep in mind that if you reset to the factory settings, all the data on your device will be erased. So, we insist, think twice.
Once we have sufficiently warned you, we now tell you how to proceed with this method. The first thing will be to open the device’s “Settings” application. Then press “System”> “Advanced”> “Recovery Options.” However, we must bear in mind that the access path to this section is not the same on all devices.
Next, you must enter “Erase all data”> “Reset phone.” At this last point, you may ask us for the PIN, pattern or password, if we have one.
Restore windows
Windows also has the possibility of returning the computer to a previous state. If it turns out that the PC recognized the mobile until recently, this solution can help you restore the computer to that specific moment.
This option of System Restore allows us to configure the system files as they were at a specific moment in particular, which we will have previously preset. Just keep in mind that this option will uninstall all the programs and restore the settings you have from that moment until now. That said, it is very likely that some of these changes are the cause of our PC not recognizing the mobile when you connect it.
And so far, our advice. Hopefully, they have helped you solve your synchronization problems. And remember that sometimes the simplest option is the most effective of all. By following these steps, you can fix phone not showing up on pc.
