Fix: Windows 10 Computer Doesn’t Recognize Android phone

Connecting your Android phone to a Windows 10 PC should be as simple as possible. The drivers auto-install as soon as you connect the device and that’s all there is. You select File Transfer and the next thing you see on your PC is the prompt informing you that there’s new storage available. However, many users report state that their Android phone is not recognized on Windows 10.

Table of contents:

1. Try an alternative port and reboot your devices
2. Make sure to use the original USB cable
3. Check Windows 10 drivers
4. Enable USB Debugging

Why is My Phone not Connecting to My Computer?

Solution 1 – Try an alternative port and reboot your devices

The first thing you should try is to switch to a different USB port. There’s a slight possibility that the port you are using is not working as intended. In addition, we highly recommend rebooting both your smartphone/tablet and Windows 10 PC.

If your Android phone is still not recognized on Windows 10 even after switching ports and rebooting both devices, make sure to move to the next step.

Solution 2 – Make sure that to use the original USB cable

This is important. Usually, it shouldn’t matter as long as the fitting cable is used. However, many users reported that the issue was resolved by simply switching cables. So, if you are unable to use the original USB cable, make sure to get a proper replacement.

That should be it when it comes to hardware. In case the issue persists, we can move to drivers.

Solution 3 – Check Windows 10 drivers

Now, the most common reason why Windows 10 won’t recognize an Android phone is faulty drivers. Most smartphones these days use generic MTP drivers which are enough to access both internal storage and SD Cards on Android devices. They might be outdated so we recommend updating them first.

• How to move apps to an SD card

Follow these instructions to update drivers on Windows 10:

1. Plug your phone into USB.
2. Right-click on the Start menu and open Device Manager.
3. Click on View and enable the Show Hidden Devices option.
4. Expand Portable devices.
5. Right-click on the External Storage and Update driver (automatically).
   
6. Now, at the bottom, expand Universal Serial Bus devices.
7. Right-click on your device and Update the driver (automatically).

Now, alternatively, you can also manually install a generic MTP USB Device driver and give it a go if the device is still not recognizable. Here’s what you need to do:

1. Unplug your phone from the USB port.
2. Open Device Manager.
3. Scroll to the bottom and expand the Universal Serial Bus devices.
4. Right-click on your device and select Update driver from the contextual menu.
5. Now, select the Browser My Computer option and then “Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer”.
6. Select Portable Devices.
7. Choose the ADB Device.

Alternatively, you can download and install ADB drivers manually.

In case you are still not seeing your smartphone when connected to your PC, you can uninstall all drivers and wait until they automatically install again. Just uninstall both drivers mentioned above.

Solution 4 – Enable USB Debugging

Finally, we can suggest enabling USB Debugging from Developer Options on your Android phone. This is a long shot but it apparently helps to mitigate the problem. There might be more options related to USB Debugging, but you don’t have to enable them in order to fix this issue.

Here’s how to enable USB Debugging on an Android phone:

1. On your phone, open Settings > About phone (or System).
2. Tap on the Build number seven times.
3. Get back to the Setting where you should see Developer options.
4. Find and enable USB Debugging.
   

That’s a wrap. Thank you for reading, in case you have any questions or alternative solutions, make sure to tell us in the comments section below. We look forward to hearing from you.