Can't see phones folders when connected to PC

[miseryguts]

Recently bought a Moto G5 but for some reason I can't access it's internal folders when I connect it to my PC.. it shows up under Windows Explorer (Windows 10) but it's completely empty/no folders with a 'This folder is empty' message I've tried multiple different micro USB cables in all of my PC's ports but nothing works. I've a couple of other Android devices which both connect without any issue.


Any help would be greatly appreciated as I've been trying to solve for several days now.

 

[kblanco]

Sorry for the delayed response and I would imagine that you've already found a solution. But A make sure you've downloaded the Moto driver to your PC. It's something that should come from the phone when you first connect it to your PC if it fails to find the driver. But you can also hunt around on any number of places and find it yourself.

And B, when you do connect make sure to pull down the Notification shade on your device. It defaults to charging only and the second selection will allow you to transfer files.

Otherwise look for USB Debugging although I haven't had to use USB Debugging in quite some time so I don't know where you'd find it or if it would make a difference.

Consider powering down and removing the SD card, it might be damaged, corrupted or otherwise incompatible. If it's fine then invest in an SD card reader/writer if your PC doesn't have one built in. Just transfer your files directly.

OR do what I and I'm sure others have, use something like Google Drive or Drop Box as a middleman. I rarely if ever physically connect me G5 Plus and my PC to each other anymore, since getting into Google Drive. I use Drive to move files, pics and music between my device and PC. If you have a Gmail account, and because you have an Android you do, then you also have a Google Drive account...

 

[nei1]

How many times over the years have I tried to access the files on my MotoG5Plus with my windoze computer, but failed. I only got as far as the phone appearing in Explorer, but the files were never displayed; zero.

Thanks KBlanco for your instruction. I needed to go into Notifications on the phone. Who you gonna call. Thanks again.

I have a lot of old google accounts that I created before creating accounts required giving birth certificate, bank account numbers, etc. Some confusion with Google deciding which account it will open with which application, so I always tended to avoid Drive. Only recently started experimenting with it. I also need to google "archiving" to see what the phone is offering, but I haven't archived anything yet.

But I just noticed the phone is down to 5 GB free out of 26 GB total. So I better offload some folders before there's too much trouble. I'm on a WhatsApp group that includes a couple of new parents that create GB's of photos and movies of their baby every week. Just emptying the WhatsApp folder from the phone should free up most of the space.