Galaxy S8 Plus Won’t Connect To PC

Whether you want to copy photos and videos from your Galaxy S8 Plus to your computer or you really need to do a more general backup, there are many instances when you might want to connect the smartphone to a computer and see it as an MTP device. In theory, the process is simple: you plug in a USB cable and the PC should automatically recognize your device.

Nevertheless, it doesn’t always work like that. What can you do if your Galaxy S8 Plus won’t connect to a PC? You start to investigate and that’s what this article is all about.

The top 3 reasons why the smartphone won’t connect to the computer:

A faulty cable;
A malfunctioning USB port;
The wrong or the corrupt software.

If it’s the USB cable that needs to be replaced, it is one of the easiest problems you could deal with. Just grab any other USB cable you can find and try to see if this one will allow the connection.

When you suspect the USB port, suffices to unplug the cable and plug it into another port. That should do it.

Last but not least, if you’re dealing with a software problem, you might have to check whether you have downloaded the right drivers. Not sure what drivers you should be using? Head to the official Samsung Support website where you can look up for your device and find all the tech details regarding the drivers it works with.

Like mentioned, you should find specific details for your exact Galaxy phone version. Just bear in mind that if you’re trying to connect your Galaxy smartphone to a Mac, you will need to download and install the Android File Transfer software and the two of them should connect without problems.

After you have identified the necessary software, just to be sure that you won’t have any other surprises, uninstall the device in Windows before you retake the connectivity attempts:

Hold the Windows key and, at the same time, tap on the R key;
This should bring up the special Run dialog box, where you should type msc;
Tap the Enter key to run the command;
In the newly opened window, tap on the section Other Devices and expand it;
In there, select Portable Devices;
Look for anything listed with a (!) yellow symbol next to it – it’s usually the Unknown Device or the Samsung Android entry that shows up like that;
Right-click on it and tap on Uninstall;
Right-click anywhere within the Device Manager and click on “Scan for hardware changes”;
Wait for it to scan and detect the device.

After all these steps, you should be able to connect your Galaxy S8 Plus to a PC without any other problems.