USB file transferring issue (PC cannot detect)

khelben

I just gotten the Phone 3 few days ago and today I wanted to transfer files via USB cable.

First of all, there is a workaround here using “Link to Windows”: https://nothing.community/d/3132-usb-device-file-transfer-problems

That said, I’m unable to just connect my phone to my PC using the USB cable like I would a regular USB memory stick.

I’ve never had this issue with Android phones before. My past phones were HTC One X, HTC 10 and OnePlus 7.

I looked around the forum and noticed there are many people who are facing this issue too.

Is there an official word/fix on this?

Mr Steel

khelben This is most likely a driver issue on your PC. Normally your PC would handle this on it’s own, but there’s no guarantee (depends on you make/model/versions/conflicting devices), so sometimes you have to help it a little bit.

When looking in the Device Manager you might already see some hints it’s not recognized properly

VitragBhatge

khelben It started working after the 4.0 update and again stopped working after security patch update

khelben

Hi @Mr Steel thanks for your reply.

I tried going through those steps but it did not work. After clicking on the “A024” in Device Manager and right clicking “Update Driver”, I selected browse my PC for folder, selected the downloaded driver from the link, and Windows said I’m already on the best driver for this device.

For some reason this made the A024 icon appear in “My Computer” but it’s just an empty folder. But often times the icon won’t even appear in My Computer.

Mr Steel

khelben Hi, good that you tried this!

This is giving already a bit more information, the fact that it shows A024 confirms it’s being recognized. But this makes me wonder if you’re forgetting about another part: I tried it out myself, and as you can see I can reproduce the same on my PC:

A059P is Phone 3a Pro and indeed it can also show as an empty folder:

But this is only because every time you connect your Phone to your PC, it will connect in Charging Only mode. In the Notification Panel there should be an entry visible informing you about this with a ‘Tap for more options’.

In here you can select ‘File Transfer’ and only then it will open the File transfer connection

khelben

Mr Steel A059P is Phone 3a Pro and indeed it can also show as an empty folder

Ok so this part is kinda inconsistent for me. 1 out of 10 times it’ll show up as an empty folder under My Computer. The other times there’s nothing at all.

And about the “File Transfer” option, well I’ve already set the default to “File Transfer” under Development Options:

Mr Steel

khelben Hmm strange, in that case I would try to uninstall all the devices you have listed here and start over:

When an ‘unknown’ device is connected, it will install it again automatically.

khelben

Mr Steel yup! Was thinking of doing that.

I think it’s a driver problem since I can connect to my friend’s laptop without issues.

Thanks!

Update:

Mr Steel When an ‘unknown’ device is connected, it will install it again automatically.

Strangely though after uninstalling the others, and letting W11 detect and install automatically again, it still doesn’t work.

My PC case front I/O has 2x USB 2.0 and 2x USB 3.0, none of them work. I’ve tried with 3 different cables too one of which came with the Phone 3.

I was also told that unchecking “Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power” under USB Root Hub (USB 3.0) would help, do you think this make sense?

xCoNDex

Im getting the exact same problems, cant interact with the phone folder with my new NP 3, i just been using it yesterday with a NP 3a and works perfectly, this need urgent fixes, it´s not a usb or cable bug, the problem is the phone.

_sagarkulkx_

I also got NP 3 few days back and this is the same problem I am facing. Tried all these methods

Android SDK installation
Platform tools
Install legacy hardware

Not working.

another way?

xCoNDex

_sagarkulkx_ Just dont change anything, or you are going to broke other stuff, its a problem with the phone firmware not with your pc or cable, just report it using the official feedback tool in the phone.

_sagarkulkx_

Not sure it’s with phone.

My PC is Ryzen 5 2400G processor. I just tried on My office laptop which has intel core ultra 5 135u and it worked flowlessly, though I couldn’t transfer files but that is due to work profile retrictions. However I could see phone getting detected and storage can be seen.

So if someone knows fix for AMD processors if we need any specific drivers etc.

Gunboy122

Yep, I’m also having nothing but grief trying to get my NP3 to play ball with my PC.
It was a bitch to get going when I first got the phone in late November of ’25 but swapping through USB ports managed to get it going, but now after downloading the security update the phone and my PC’s USB drivers dont want to play ball with each other.

Either Nothing’s OS update shat the bed, or Google is being stupid with Android again. Would like to see a fix for what I see as a pretty damn serious oversight on both parties sides.

This seems to be a common theme with Nothing phones from what troubleshooting and google searches I’ve been doing.