How to Transfer Photos from Android Phone or Tablet to PC

Transferring your photos and videos over USB is still a great option to transfer your files when you don't have an internet or Bluetooth connection. In this video we show you how to transfer your files from your Android tablet or smartphone over to your Microsoft Windows computer with a USB cable.
► Our favorite multi USB cable on Amazon: amzn.to/2Fnend6
► Our favorite USB 2.0 micro B: amzn.to/2FlsdN5
► Our favorite affordable USB 3.0 A to A cable on Amazon: amzn.to/2M6Lgk7
(Disclaimer: the above links are Amazon Associate links and we will earn a small commission if you click on these links and purchase the product on Amazon.)
► HelpCloud Store: shop.helpcloud...
► Check out our filming, unbox, and gaming PC build equipment here: kit.co/HelpCloud
► HelpCloud is your Go-To Tech Resolution Hub. Our search engine offers answers with resolution and if our search doesn’t find your tech resolution then our supplemental tech support or inquiry services can: www.helpcloud.com
► For immediate support, fill out form here: ask.helpcloud....
► Or call: 1-800-774-2740

[@donnaokoniewski3761]

Much, Much Better!! You have to remember that people who seek out "How To" videos don't know ANYTHING about how to do what they are hoping to find out how to do. When you start rattling on and click this, this, and this, you've lost your audience. This was SOOOOOOOOOO much better and understandable. THANK YOU so much! xo

[@HelpCloud]

Appreciate the feedback!

[@Mandy-nt2cs]

​HelpCloud I second the comment.. at the beginning when you said "If the window doesn't open, just click this computer"... and I was already panicked, bc IDK where "this computer" is lol Or how to make a folder. I really appreciate the effort, I shall see if I understand enough now to practice. I lost my husband to cancer 2 years ago & got a laptop & a big harddrive for Christmas so i could make backups of all my memory cards. I still have not done it, bc I dont know how & I'm afraid I'll lose all my pictures whils trying to prevent losing all my pictures. If you also have a video on how to copy pics from your laptop to a hard-drive, I desperately need that as well! I looked but didn't see one.. I'm sure I'm not the only one lol Thanks so much.

[@ValerieLorna1]

​@@Mandy-nt2cs You are not the only one........ I'm another one 😳✔️😋

[@addison6384]

He lost me very quickly.

[@HBN53]

I'm offended(sarcasm)

[@hadassahsoddsandends]

The old lady who needs everything slow and plain thanks you very much! I clicked off of three other videos before I found yours and watched all of it--pausing to follow each direction step by step. Victory is mine (and yours, too)! God Bless You!

[@simonlaverty]

This channel is probably the most helpful tech channel on KZbin ngl

[@HelpCloud]

Appreciate it!

[@uk1kykid666]

I was really confused until i seen your video, it is a lot easier to understand, Thanks. Never thought the usb cord would make a difference.

[@HelpCloud]

Glad I could help!!

[@RennertKnack]

Thank you for a slower video without background music. Greatly appreciated.

[@pattiwayne7]

Great video. What I do with the "how to" videos I slow down the entire video instead of "normal speed", slow it down to .75 speed. Works great. The one tip I found so valuable to me was the "copy" feature and the "cut" and learning the difference between the actions of the two. Thanks again!

[@yaelchavah5354]

Wow I didn't think it was possible since I tried so many things that didn't work! With your helpful video, it was a success! Thanks so much!!!

[@HelpCloud]

Awesome!

[@anweranwer8096]

I NEEDED that. my brother is supposed to be taking his tab tomorrow to school. the screen-shots were over 5000? so yea thanks soo much..

[@HelpCloud]

You bet!

[@danihawkinspreissler8017]

I only had to watch the first minute. I didn't realize that some cables only charge and some will also do file transfer. Just switched my cable and voila! works again. thanks!!

[@jazzdrummer2000]

I'm new to cell phones and long into Desk tops (1970's to now, over 50 yrs), Your video helped a lot! Thanks.

[@crmadhavi5292]

Thanks for going slowly and explaining each step.

[@johncollins5501]

This was the best explained how to video out there great job..

[@HelpCloud]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@trishferrer8209]

Thank You for this info! I just watched the whole video. Now I will do what you instructed, and report back as to how easy it was and if I was successful. I don't mind it being "lengthy". I am thankful you speak my native language; for me, it makes it less stressful, which tech-stuff can be at times! My phone is so FULL of photos, it is losing the ability to perform some tasks, so here goes! Btw, my phone is a Verizon LG V60 ThinQ 5G UW. To me it's more camera than phone.

[@HelpCloud]

Glad it was helpful!

[@shays.2576]

I subscribed literally because this video saved my sanity today, thank you so much and I genuinely mean that. For two days I have been struggling over my phone not downloading all of my photos and only some. Then I found this, and I feel so very more informed, it's almost hilarious.

[@Dave-nm8uk]

Can't you use a CTRL/CMD-A to select all the images in a folder on the phone to copy over to the PC or computer? Also, isn't it possible to just copy the DCIM folder without opening it? Otherwise - very helpful video. I just have to hope it all works now! I didn't realise that the images are [most likely] stored on the phone or the extra memory cards, but not on the SIM card. I believe that the SIM cards never hold photo or other user data, other than contact details etc. Possibly not everyone realises this - and it's useful to know if you lose your phone and subsequently find it again. Another thing is that this method of backing up photos is great to know if you don't want to rely on Google or Apple or other providers to back up images and data "automatically". So if you are going to go on holiday and want to make sure that all the photos are backed up in case your phone goes AWOL [mislaid or stolen] while you're away, this approach can be very helpful to avoid loss of wanted data. It probably makes sense to do a complete back up to another device at least once a year. Trying to recover data if the phone is mislaid is not the time to discover this - much better to anticipate this before any such disaster happens. Also, it is not completely unknown for a phone to suffer a memory or other failure, which will result in the phone being discarded and replaced - but it there are images which might be worth keeping, again it's worth knowing about the backup procedures.

[@maxarana7320]

You did a good job showing all the steps👌

[@melodyofpsalm9468]

Thank you.... Gonna try this tomorrow!

[@HelpCloud]

Did it work?

[@ro3356]

Thank you. Very helpful. God Bless!

[@aleeza3001]

I am using samsung A72 and when I connect my phone to my laptop it doesn't show up. Help

[@Seojunie3114]

Thank you soooo much it helped me alot my phone literally froze so much before now it's better thank you so much

[@marionginbey7399]

Thank you so much! Great info! Helped so much.

[@HelpCloud]

Glad it was helpful!!

[@Nobleflex101]

Appreciate straight forward tutorial thank you.

[@Ann-Vorol]

Can this be done without USB cable?

[@georgesmith4509]

this video is much better, but I still don't see how I keep it in the computer when I tried all over that it copied it back to the phone. I think there is too much info maybe you could just transfer one image into a file without all the options. Use the K.I.S.S system.Keep It Stupid Simple. I must confess I am something of a techo dunce and this computer can smell fear.

[@HelpCloud]

When you use the copy/paste method either direction. It will make a copy instead of moving the from file from one location to the other.

[@cindyhillman5682]

Excellent video....thank you!!

[@HelpCloud]

You are welcome!

[@rataturner]

Thank you, I was pulling my hair out. Then I changed my cable and it worked much better. I can't find the USB settings on my phone however. (there is no helping some people 😆)

[@ronzoot602]

Accidentally . It works the same here in the Netherlands :) Thank you for your nice films, Usually I know, but always nice to see if I can learn something. Greetings and keep going.

[@HelpCloud]

Awesome! I am glad it worked for you!

[@MikeHaduck]

Changing to the original cord that came with the phone was the trick, great tip

[@domingodeanda6113]

What about loading all videos and pictures?

[@rain73ful]

How about an older Android phone from a couple of years ago? Can I transfer my files to my PC from an outdated phone?

[@HelpCloud]

Yup! Works the same way.

[@geekplayer228]

Does it work with videos? And on windows 11?

[@tiffanyperry9624]

what if u dont have dcim? i have new gaming laptop

[@rogerarmstrong9416]

on my Windows 10 PC, with File Explorer, when I click on "Lenovo smart tab M8" it comes up "this folder is empty". I know the tablet has lots of files, documents, pictures, etc on it. What's up??

[@HelpCloud]

Does the tablet have a memory card?

[@johnrojas9616]

Great video

[@miyukinikimia4222]

Dude you rock!! Thanks for the up date! I just purchased an HP- Pavillion 24" Touch Screen All in one Intel Core i5-12GB Memory - 1 TB SSD- I wasn't sure if it would work, but it did. It would be sweet if you did a video on the HP- Pavillion 24" Touch Screen.

[@HelpCloud]

Glad I could help!!

[@LaMigraYTu]

This is a wonderful video. Thanks so much. My problem is that I can't find the DCIM. Is that because my phone is still transferring? It's been over an hour since I started the transfer. How long should that take? I have a OnePlus Nord N200 5G and my computer is pretty old, too.

[@leebuck4860]

Great video,for absolute beginners though you may have wanted to add at the end the proper way to disconnect a phone/tablet before unplugging from the USB so the files don’t risk any sort of corruption.

[@justinbieber12373]

And how is that done ?

[@michelleraum2167]

Thank you so much for this!!!

[@evelynrodriguez2246]

What is the name of the cable I have to buy that transfers files and charges, how do I identify it when searching? This is exactly what I need to do, I have pictures and videos and my google photo says I have no more storage and wants me to clean up storage and I have erased a lot but don't want to.

[@sparkly1]

I stored loads of photos on my Moto into folders (to be organized) but when it opens it on the laptop (W10) it doesn't show them in the folders it just throws the whole dam lot of mixed up pics & won't let me transfer them to a new folder on my laptop, it only shows me older folders inside another big folder on my laptop :( what am I doing wrong?

[@MrG0vii]

Many Thanks for that. You are a Top Man.

[@bobraynor1659]

never seen someone go fast if you say this slow I have to move on

[@casedinlight]

Does KZbin pay you extra if you say "What is going on" or "What is up"? It's every KZbinr now. Also, this didn't help me at all. Nothing that I have on my computer has ever looked like that, or had those titles.

[@HelpCloud]

Yes a sh** load more if I say those things. Also, try to provide a bit more info if you want help. Being vague just hurts you in the long run.

[@livenow0619]

I'm using Oppo F7 phone and after I transferred the files, I couldn't see the icon in Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media button for me to safely remove the usb port. Will my phone get corrupted if I just pull the usb port from the computer? Thanks for answering!

[@HelpCloud]

On a PC, you can remove the USB without ejecting. Over 20 years, I have never had anything like that corrupt.

[@livenow0619]

@@HelpCloud thanks for the reply!

[@johncole4882]

screenshots were showing up but none of my actual photos that were taken with the phone... pretty annoying

[@khalidshabbir3024]

Great Work Bro

[@rosierae511]

How do you open the pictures once you've transferred them to a file. What if you want to open just one, or like ten,how is that done? Thank you for the information!!

[@HelpCloud]

Head over to where you transferred them to and double click one.

[@woodcarvr]

My problem is moving my photos from a samung tablet to my new computer. Can you help!!!!

[@HelpCloud]

Should be the same process!

[@chudobnyvojakjezisakrista7465]

Thanks a lot!

[@hamannss3550]

It did work but after I transfered 23 pictures, It wouldn't let me click the ''paste'' option anymore. Please help!

[@bcontextox1058]

Negative when I plug my samsung S7 to pc, it don't recognize the phone , I try to see in My computer right click manage and NO it doesn't appear , means something I have to open or unlock in my phone so my PC , sees my phone and another thing the cable it's important to as well !!! pls. can you elaborate that , we are a bunch of ppl with this situation ! will be appreciated regards

[@HelpCloud]

Try a new cable. The one you have could be charge or power only and may not be able to support data transfer.

[@southernexposure123]

Thank you very much. I'm in no way a computer guru so I highly appreciate the vocal explanations and picture details. The screen shots you included are a must for me. Nearly 100% of the time I skip videos only showing a cursor going all over the place with no detailed vocal explanations.

[@elscarface1]

Thanks. It was the cable I was using 😅

[@luckycharmer7779]

Great work. Excellent work taking your time and explaining. This was a little frustrating trying to follow on other videos. Thanks.

[@WeeklyLafter]

Good advice, but I just hooked up Motorola pure (android 11) to windows 11 pc via usb, then drop down list on phone- pick usb file transfer, then open up (Microsoft) Photos on pc, on the right is 5 icons, the third icon from left is import pictures, (small download arrow pic) click it- then click import from connected devices and it goes right to your pics on moto phone. 😉

[@theresarodriguez3284]

you young people speak very fast :)...thanks for slowing things down. Great video!

[@xxvesoxx7840]

Hello, I wanted to ask is Dcmi/camera saving all photos like tiktoks downloaded pictures, messenger downloaded pictures etc.

[@dougfriendly7676]

Nothing happened (other than a light showing connecting success) after I put a perfectly good USB cable into a perfectly good port. I did see an indicator on the phone's photo page to "Sign in" but I'm not sure what that meant. (My phone is not connected to the internet, and I don't want it to be). So do I need an "account" before I can do any of this, or do I have to have the phone connected to the internet? My PC is network connected.

[@user-hu4gr1bo5g]

THANKS SO MUCH !!!!!!!!!!!! 󾓦

[@HelpCloud]

You're welcome!

[@paulaneary7877]

Thank you for your help. I truly appreciate it.

[@carolinerider1735]

It works for the SD card in my phone, but when I click on the Internal Storage, DCIM, Camera, it only shows me ONE file! There are actually hundreds of photos in there.... ideas?

[@HelpCloud]

Typically your camera app will save images on the SD card first.

[@ashethewolf7329]

How do i know if the charger is a data share or an charge only?

[@foreverautumn7731]

It does not work on my phone. The phone needs to be in a developer mode then the pc will display the phone content. To invoke the developer mode, I need the phone PIN number which I do not have since I bought it as a second hand phone.

[@HelpCloud]

The pin code is a lock that someone put on it, this is required in order access it. Are you able to reset the phone or remove the pin?

[@deniseballard6803]

Thank you!

[@trycss2599]

What mikrofone do you use?

[@evelynj.lennon5465]

Talks to fast, you can't write down steps. I thought they show you a tablet, transfer to computer.

[@eialavaeu]

he said phone or tablet

[@happykt]

This is not working for me. Nothing is coming up. He had all these pre-sets because he's an expert. I can't find or download my photos. This video is not for the beginner.

[@Vas12-x6y]

Great content❤

[@MariaGonzalez-mb5tv]

Was helpful, need a closer view of what your clicking on, so the words match what you seeing. You should do a quick but slow beginner video on how to transfer photos. Speed keys, was a little to understand was it Ctrl V or B , etc.

[@kathyjett2862]

yes your right hes going too fast.

[@johnb.7596]

Awesome video!!! My question is , when you clicked on the camera folder and the files were in the VLC format than change to the original photos how did you do that? All my photos when I transfer them to my PC they stay in the file format instead of converting to the screenshot. I have to click on each file to open it to see what it is. I notice you have 2 VLC apps on your desktop.

[@jacksfavorite4808]

For years I have been amazed at how many tech tutorials do not do the job. I will quickly add that it is not the fault of the person doing the tutorials. I think it is mostly due to older and/or newer tech changes or things simply not being compatible. I have plugged my android into my PC many times and I have always gotten the little pop-up. It is for downloading photos. This time I got nothing but a phone that is recharging on my PC. I find no other way to transfer the photos from my android to my PC other than send them by email and download them on my PC. I'm not going to do that, but that appears to be my only option.

[@liyaliy3557]

Thank you ,this just have helped me a lot so thank you very much

[@brendabush2082]

Thank you

[@Challenge_World_]

you realy like trains

[@maxfriedenberger8043]

excelllent video.......

[@bettyloforese4206]

Excellent! Directions are simple to follow and your voice is easy to listen too. Thank you.

[@ericwaynes8515]

Ok well what if the screen on my phone doesn't work . What do I do now

[@HelpCloud]

Do you have a memory card?

[@thegardner1494]

How about how to properly unplug your phone from the computer.

[@rickcain6815]

Great video with your guidance even I could do it. Thank you so much.

[@ladyg6549]

my friend down loaded some photos to my phone,but i cant get the photos of my phone onto my p.c,the usb cable works ok,ive taken a photo on my wife and i got that photo off the phone,onto my pc,but i still cant get the photos off my friend put on there ? does this mean they might be on another format >

[@jody7399]

It works (at first it said no files found) but eventually it worked. Thank you for the clear instructions and demo!

[@HelpCloud]

You're welcome!!

[@sharonfurey3796]

This video is so clear, however, I still have problems. I get to DCMI on my laptop and there is no camera option to click on. I have an Android Note 8 and windows 10 showing: This PC- Samsung- Phone - DCMI then there is no folder showing for Camera only du_gdt_download or Message Contents Share I hope you can help. Thank you UPDATE: OMG Unplugged and re-plugged everything back in, followed your video again, and it works. I am so happy, you have no idea how many different help videos I have watched to no avail. Thank you so much for this video.

[@HelpCloud]

Glad it started to work!

[@georgesmith4509]

thanks much easier to follow

[@HelpCloud]

Glad it helped!!

[@georgesmith4509]

thanks

[@HelpCloud]

Welcome!

[@KASSLERSCLACKE]

i just have a new poh and can not lode up my pics it is a samson

[@HelpCloud]

What is the issue?

[@jwelshwalker]

thank you so much

[@Tricia_JoElle]

Ahhhh! Two different types of USB cables! Who knew? Used to have no issue w/old phone. Having major issue with Moto G Power. BTW- My phone says "empty" but I never locked my phone. Too tech challenged for that! LOL!

[@patconnors6188]

This method isn't working for me. My phone is unlocked and I'm using a USB cable that transfer data. Double clicking on phone shows " The folder is empty"

[@microice1510]

very helpful

[@aqi9688]

Thank you, that was very well-explained.

[@HelpCloud]

You are welcome!

[@gailgrossi3331]

Thank you

[@gerrygrabinski7042]

As you know when one has a photo on their phone you can zoom in/out and move left/right. Is there any way I can transfer photos to a PC where they can perform the same action, e.g., zoom in/out as on the phone? Or, are they merely fixed? Thanks. Gerry

[@goratgo1970]

My Moto G PURE has no menu or file option when plugged into laptop (with it's original cable), ONLY gives chime and shows charging, the laptop file explorer therefore shows nothing since there is no access.

[@ArleeStarr]

Thanks for the lesson. I wanted to transfer pictures to my desktop, but it was easier to put them in OneDrive. I can still access them. I'm a newby with cell phone. I didn't learn how to answer it for a month, until a nurse during doctor's visit showed me how. "Don't press the green phone button, swipe up on the screen when it rings." Duh.🤭

[@SuperBadbri]

Well shit didn't do anything you said.makes a noise when plug in.but nothing shows.my computer used to just popp up a box on the left side view, download, no that everything up grades when you don't need it's all gone..

[@leslieviner]

I notice the copied photos are not labelled in a meaningful way. Is there some way of taking the image and labelling it?

[@xskyerx6741]

Mine doesnt work.. Its an old tablet from 2016-2017 and doesnt appear on my pc It just charges

[@suzannecooke2055]

Thanks for trying but nothing you have said corresponds to my Samsung Galaxy A01 or my (very old) pc. Very frustrating.

[@GreenOilBike]

Anyone else have trouble finding the photos and videos in the phone??? in the right folder

[@napoledsl]

For Mac you need an app android file transfer