How to fix the MTP connection?

Question

How to fix the MTP connection?

thenenson 0

Recently, MTP connectivity with my phones stopped working (they only charge). I tried things like installing mtp.inf, but nothing happened. The phones simply don't show up in the device list, yet my old Sony DSC-W730 connects to the laptop without issues. I would reinstall Windows, but firstly, my laptop doesn't support Windows 11 (and even if it did, I wouldn't install it due to regional restrictions), and secondly, I can't download the Windows 10 ISO image because support has ended. I also want to mention that running DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth didn't help.

Please help.

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Answer 1

nobuko c 125.1K Независимый помощник

Hello,

Please check the Device Manager and follow the steps below depending on how your smartphone appears.

If the smartphone appears normally under “Portable Devices”

Open Device Manager.

Expand Portable Devices and double‑click your phone model.

Open the Driver tab > Uninstall Device > OK.

Shut down the PC while holding Shift (full shutdown).

Disconnect the USB cable.

Power on the PC.

Open Device Manager > Portable Devices > double‑click the phone > Driver tab.

Select Update Driver.

Choose Browse my computer for drivers.

Select Let me pick from a list of available drivers.

Choose MTP USB Device, or uncheck Show compatible hardware and select Standard MTP Device.

If the smartphone appears as “Unknown device” or under “Other devices”

(1) Remove the unknown device

Device Manager.

Other devices / Unknown device > right‑click > Uninstall device.

Disconnect the phone.

Restart the PC.

(2) Reinstall USB Composite Device

Device Manager > Universal Serial Bus controllers.

USB Composite Device > right‑click > Uninstall device.

Restart the PC.

(3) Apply the MTP driver manually

Connect the phone.

Device Manager > right‑click the phone > Update driver.

Browse my computer for drivers.

Let me pick from a list of available drivers.

Select MTP USB Device, or uncheck Show compatible hardware and choose Standard MTP Device.

thenenson 0 Баллы репутации

2026-06-28T11:51:58.7366667+00:00

i said that phones dont show up
nobuko c 125.1K Баллы репутации Независимый помощник

2026-06-28T19:39:01.04+00:00
Hello again,

Yes — please check hidden devices while the phone is connected.

If Windows kept old MTP or USB Composite entries, they can block new phones from appearing at all.

Here is what to do:

Enable hidden devices

Device Manager → View → Show hidden devices

Look for ghost (grey) entries

Check these categories:

Portable Devices

Universal Serial Bus controllers

USB Composite Device

Other devices

Android Device

MTP Device

If you see any grey/faded devices, they are ghost entries left from older phones.

Connect the phone and watch the ghost entries

This part is important:

If the ghost entry turns from grey > black (active) Windows re‑attached the device.

Now you can open Driver > Update driver and select:

MTP USB Device, or uncheck “Show compatible hardware” and choose Standard MTP Device In this case, updating the driver from the ghost entry can fix the problem.

If the ghost entry stays grey Windows is not detecting the phone at all.

Updating the driver from a grey ghost entry will not work.

Please remove all grey ghost entries:

Right‑click > Uninstall device

Then:

Disconnect the phone

Restart the PC

Connect the phone again

Ghost entries can block new devices from appearing, so removing them is necessary.

Tell me whether any hidden device becomes active

If none of the hidden devices become active, then Windows is not receiving any USB descriptor from the phone, and we will check the USB controller layer next.