Windows doesn’t recognize Android phone? 16 best fixes

You must have tried to connect your Android device to your computer or PC for file transfer or other purposes. But sometimes you may encounter a problem like Windows does not recognize Android phone.

Although there can be various reasons for this problem, the most common ones are incompatible USB, outdated Android drivers/missing required drivers, incorrect connection mode, and so on.

But whatever the reason, there are suitable fixes you can do to fix the problem quickly. And this is exactly what we will discuss in the future.

So, let’s get down to business without any posts.

What to do if Windows does not recognize Android phone?

The best fixes you can try is if Windows doesn’t recognize your Android phone.

Reboot/reboot your Android device
Restart your computer
Update the version of Windows on your PC
Connect your Android phone directly to your computer
Delete cache and data for external storage and media storage apps
Check the USB cable
Check USB connection settings to computer or connect phone to computer as file transfer/MTP
Enable USB debugging on your phone
Update your Android phone drivers
Connect your Android phone as a USB storage device
Turn on Airplane Mode
Reboot your phone to ODIN mode
Install KIES software / Use USB 2.0 ports
Reinstall ADB Composite Interface
Run the Windows Device Troubleshooter
Try another computer

Let’s discuss each of these solutions below.

1. Reboot/reboot your Android device

If your Windows does not recognize your Android device, it may be due to software glitches causing the corruption error. You need to restart/reboot your phone to destroy it.

Follow the steps below to restart your Android phone.

Press the power menu for a few seconds.
Click on the “Restart/Restart”option in the power menu.

2. Restart your computer

There are several ways to restart your computer. You can choose the one that is more suitable for your PC as there is no guarantee that each one will work.

The most common ways to restart a PC are:

1. Using the on-screen button “Start”

This is the standard way to restart your PC when you turn your computer off and on again. You will also close all running files with this method. Follow the instructions below.

In the lower left corner of the screen, click the “Start”button. Or press the Windows key to open the Start menu.
Press the power button.
After you press the button, options will appear: put the computer to sleep, turn it off and restart.
Click Reload.

2. Using Ctrl + Alt + Delete

This is the best method if your computer is stuck in an application or if your computer speed is slow. This method is handy since you need a keyboard to complete the reboot process. Follow these steps.

Press the Control (ctrl), Alternate (Alt), and Delete (Del) keys at the same time.
Wait a few seconds until the menu appears on the screen.
Click on the power button at the bottom of the screen.
Click on the option to shut down or restart.

3. Power button

This method is best when the PC is frozen and nothing is working on the screen. This isn’t always considered the best way to reboot, but if the methods above don’t work, this will definitely work. To restart your computer using the power button, follow these steps:

Find the power button on your PC.
Press and hold the power button on your PC until the computer turns off.
You must wait until the screen turns black or the system fan stops working.
Once it’s done, wait a few seconds before turning it on.

3. Update the version of Windows on your PC

If you are running an outdated version of Windows on your PC, this will open the door for bugs and bugs. This may be the reason why Windows does not recognize Android phone errors.

So try updating your Windows version and check if the problem is fixed. To do this, follow these steps.

Click the Start button in the lower left corner of the screen.
Select the “Settings”option.
Click on the Update & Security option.

Click on the Windows Update tab on the left side of the screen.

Click the Check for Updates button. Any available updates will start downloading later.

After the update is complete, you must restart your computer.

You can also schedule an update. To do this, follow these steps.

Click on the start button in the lower left corner of the screen.
Select the “Settings”option.
Click the Update & Security button.
Click on the Windows Update tab on the left side of the screen.
Click “Schedule Restart”and it will be next to the “Restart Now”button.
Turn on the schedule.
You can choose the time and date when you want to restart your computer.

4. Connect your Android phone directly to your computer

One of the most common problems when connecting your phone to a computer via USB is the USB hub.

Users have noticed that when they connect their phone through a USB hub, Windows doesn’t recognize Android phones.

This might be a problem; disconnect your phone using a USB hub and connect your android phone directly to your computer.

5. Delete cache and data for external storage and media storage apps.

A problematic cache can cause several problems and errors on your PC and Android phone. Therefore, check if the device has a cache.

And if so, remove it. You can also free up space by deleting data so that your Android phone can easily connect.

Follow these steps.

Open your phone’s settings.

Click on the Apps option.

Click on the three vertical dots at the top of the screen.
Click “Show system apps”.
Tap on the “External storage and media storage”app.
Delete cache and data.

Restart your phone and reconnect it. Make sure Windows does not recognize the problem with the Android phone.

6. Check the USB cable

This is another fix if you are constantly getting the error that Windows does not recognize the Android phone. Always check the USB cable you are using to connect.

Several USB cables are designed exclusively for charging; therefore, you cannot transfer files using these cables. You can check if the one you are using supports file transfer or not. This can be checked by connecting the USB to a different port on the computer.

If that doesn’t work, try using a different USB cable to connect your phone to the PC.

7. Check your USB connection to PC settings or connect your phone to PC as file transfer/MTP.

The PC will not recognize your phone if you set the USB configuration to anything other than Media Transfer Protocol or MTP. This setting can be changed by following these steps.

Open your device’s Settings.

Click Developer Options.

Click Default USB Configuration by scrolling down.

Select the Media Transfer Protocol option.
Close settings and check again if Windows now recognizes the phone.

8. Enable USB debugging on your phone

Sometimes you need to enable USB debugging on your phone in order to share media between your PC and phone. However, the main use of USB debugging is executing commands, communicating with developers, and doing likes from a PC on a phone.

But still, it was noticed that enabling USB debugging helped them establish a connection between the phone and the computer. And it might work for you too. The first thing you need to do is enable developers. After that, follow these steps.

Open your device’s Settings.

Select developer options.

Find USB Debugging by scrolling down.

Enable the “USB Debugging”option.

Try connecting your phone to PC again.

9. Update your Android phone drivers

The lack of a driver may be the reason why Windows does not recognize Android phone errors. This can be solved by reinstalling or updating the phone drivers. To do this, follow these steps.

Using a compatible USB port, connect your phone to your PC.
Press the Windows key + X on your computer.
Click on Device Manager.
Select portable device
Right click on phone.
Click Update Driver Software.
Select “Browse my computer for driver software”.
Click “Let me choose from a list of device drivers on my computer”.
Select the MTP USB device option.

After that, Windows should recognize Android phones.

10. Connect your Android phone as a USB drive

You can try connecting your phone to a USB drive to fix this issue. To do this, follow these steps.

Open Settings on your phone.

Click on the “Advanced Settings”option.
Click USB Utilities.
Select Connect Storage to PC.
You may need to reconnect your phone to complete the driver installation. Or you may have to disable USB debugging. The system will ask you to do whatever is necessary.

After completing the steps, check if your error is resolved. If not, the following solutions are recommended.

11. Turn on Airplane Mode

Users noticed that turning on Airplane Mode helped them when they faced the issue of Windows not recognizing an Android phone.

They can easily connect their phone to the computer after turning on Airplane Mode.

You can also try this fix and see if it works for you. Airplane mode can be turned OFF after you finish using your phone and PC. And since no complicated steps are required, you can easily do it.

12. Reboot your phone to ODIN mode

You can only access ODIN mode if you have a Samsung device. Therefore, this fix has a limitation. But for Samsung users, it can solve the problem very well.

Follow the steps below to reboot your phone in ODIN mode.

Hold home + volume down + power button to turn on the phone.
Press the volume up button.
Then connect your phone to PC to download the drivers.
Remove the battery from the phone.
Start your phone.
Make sure windows recognizes it.

But you have to be especially careful when trying this fix, and a small mistake can permanently damage your phone.

13. Install KIES software / use USB 2.0 ports

Try to install the KIES software on your device, as this software may solve the problem that Windows does not recognize your Android phone. But again, this option is only available for Samsung devices.

Alternatively, you can try using a USB 2.0 port instead of a USB 3.0 port. This has been seen to work for many users. There is a possibility that the USB 3.0 port is slow or causing this error on your PC.

14. Reinstall ADB Composite Interface

Problems with the Android Composite ADB interface can be the reason why Windows doesn’t recognize your phone. Therefore, you need to reinstall it. To do this, follow these steps:

Open Device Manager.
Find ADB Composite Interface for Android or ACER Composite Interface for ADB.
Right-click it and select the Delete option.
Restart your computer and check if the error is resolved. If not, go to the next step.
Extract the USB driver to your computer after installing it from Google.
Remember the place of extraction.
Open Device Manager.
Click “Scan for hardware changes”.
Right-click the Composite ADB Interface option.
Click on the “Update Driver”option.
Click “Browse my computer for driver software”.
Find the location where you extracted the Google USB driver from.
Click on the “Include subfolder”option to check it out.
Click “Next”.
Open command prompt as administrator. Find cmd and select the “Run as administrator”option on the command prompt.
Enter the following lines as soon as the command prompt opens. Press enter after each line.
- adb kill server
- Starter ADB Server
- ADB devices

This works with almost all versions of Android, both new and old. Also, you may not need to download the USB driver from Google at all. As with most cases, this issue is fixed after the previous steps.

15. Run the Windows Device Troubleshooter.

There are several troubleshooters on your Windows device to help you through this tricky situation. Among them, there is one that works for Android phone troubleshooting.

Follow these steps to run the Windows Device Troubleshooter:

Press the Windows + X keys together.
Select Windows PowerShell Administrator or Command Prompt (Admin) from the options.
Enter a command such as msdt.exe -id DeviceDiagnostic.
The Hardware and Devices troubleshooter will appear on the screen.
Click Next.

Then it will take a few minutes to check the problem and suggest ways to fix it.

If you have an older version of Windows, follow these steps.

Open Settings on your PC.
Click Update & Security.

On the left sidebar, click Troubleshoot.

Click “Hardware and Devices”in the list.

The steps for newer and older version of Windows are different. Microsoft has removed the Hardware and Device option from the latest version. There is also no guarantee that this method will always work, but it doesn’t hurt to try.

16. Try another computer

This is the last fix you can try after doing all the fixes above. It would be better if you tried another computer. This will help you recognize the problem device here.

Connect your Android phone to another computer and select file transfer mode. If the new Windows PC recognizes the phone, the problem was with your previous PC. And you have to take it in for repairs.

And otherwise, if this window does not recognize the Android phone, then your phone has some problems that need to be taken care of.

Conclusion

So here you go. These are all the possible fixes you can try on Windows not recognizing Android phone issue. And of the above fixes, at least one should work for you.

But if not, then nothing can be done at home. Should be taken to the professionals. And check it out if there is some major technical problem. Due to a technical problem or if your device is broken, it cannot be fixed at home.

We hope we have successfully resolved the issue that Windows does not recognize Android phones on your computer or PC.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Why doesn’t Windows recognize my Android phone?

There can be several reasons why Windows does not recognize an Android phone. But the most common ones are USB incompatibility, outdated drivers, incorrect connection mode, etc., and you can try the above fixes to solve this problem.

What is ODIN mode in Android?

ODIN mode is a program that can be used to interact with Samsung devices. You can install multiple files on your phone in ODIN mode. Samsung designed it; therefore, it can only be used on Samsung devices.

Why won’t my Samsung phone connect to PC via USB cable?

This may be due to USB incompatibility, outdated drivers, or incorrect connection resulting in your Samsung phone not connecting to PC via USB cables.

Posted on July 10, 2022July 13, 2023

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