Mapping a folder in a device to a drive

[Andrew]

How could I map "This PC\Nokia 1234\Internal shared storage\" to a drive
(e.g. E:\)?
subst e: "This PC\Nokia 1234\Internal shared storage\"
I tried the subst command but it reported "Path not found"!

I mount the entire Android linux file system to Windows as a drive every
day - but - I don't use the Windows SUBST command to do that linux mount.
Loading Image...

This is what I use every day on Windows 10(via a batch script, of course):
net use I: \\***@8000\DavWWWRoot /USER:foo bar
net use X: \\***@9000\DavWWWRoot
Which is nicely summarized for you in this set of my own screenshots.
<Loading Image...>

I add a few Win10 tricks to make external sd card syspath easier since you
often use the Android linux command line to operate Android over Windows.
<Loading Image...>

And, of course, I set the USB (or Wi-Fi) file transfer for the connection.
<Loading Image...>

Here are just some representative examples of how Android === Windows/Linux
<Loading Image...> Android mounted
<Loading Image...> Starting WebDAV servers
<Loading Image...> Mount Android system filesys
<Loading Image...> Look at /etc/resolv.conf
<Loading Image...> Can use the command line
<Loading Image...> Look at the dnsproxy file
<Loading Image...> Both sdcards mounted
<Loading Image...> Mount the entire filesystem
<Loading Image...> Each sdcard is a drive letter
<Loading Image...> FOSS general purpose solution
<Loading Image...> Free Android WebDAV servers
<Loading Image...> Mount sdcards read & write
<Loading Image...> As Windows drive letters
<Loading Image...> Over Wi-Fi on your home LAN
<Loading Image...> Mirroring Android on Windows
<Loading Image...> A third free WebDAV server

Once set up correctly, the Android file system is just a drive on Windows.
<Loading Image...> Android mnt as drive letter
Such that you can slide APKs from Windows and they auto-install on Android.
<Loading Image...> Drag APK from Windows

The Windows (or Linux) keyboard, mouse, clipboard and sound cards all work
perfectly with Android mirrored onto your PC monitor, using FOSS software.
<Loading Image...> powershell hide-console trick

One question I have of the linux experts is WHY, without being rooted, when
I mount the Android internal sdcard onto Windows, I can read most of the
Android root filesystem, and write to some of the root filesystem, but not
all? <https://i.postimg.cc/2SxM8V16/rootfilesystem.jpg>

What's the difference?

[Paul]

Post by Andrew

How could I map "This PC\Nokia 1234\Internal shared storage\" to a drive (e.g. E:\)?
subst e: "This PC\Nokia 1234\Internal shared storage\"
I tried the subst command but it reported "Path not found"!

I mount the entire Android linux file system to Windows as a drive every
day - but - I don't use the Windows SUBST command to do that linux mount.
https://i.postimg.cc/2SxM8V16/rootfilesystem.jpg
<https://i.postimg.cc/1zrmSmQc/davroot.jpg>
I add a few Win10 tricks to make external sd card syspath easier since you
often use the Android linux command line to operate Android over Windows.
<https://i.postimg.cc/W3V7D7xc/webdav.jpg>
And, of course, I set the USB (or Wi-Fi) file transfer for the connection.
<https://i.postimg.cc/JnDTWH9M/usb01.jpg>
Here are just some representative examples of how Android === Windows/Linux
<https://i.postimg.cc/6371SxNd/mountandroidonwindows.jpg> Android mounted
<https://i.postimg.cc/k5F8sLbc/filesys01.jpg> Starting WebDAV servers
<https://i.postimg.cc/RZtw6WC2/filesys02.jpg> Mount Android system filesys
<https://i.postimg.cc/Zngy0SGT/filesys03.jpg> Look at /etc/resolv.conf
<https://i.postimg.cc/nzFmPTKt/filesys04.jpg> Can use the command line
<https://i.postimg.cc/PJF1ZZwn/filesys05.jpg> Look at the dnsproxy file
<https://i.postimg.cc/BvJdKWzt/webdav06.jpg> Both sdcards mounted
<https://i.postimg.cc/cJLK1wt0/webdav07.jpg> Mount the entire filesystem
<https://i.postimg.cc/qv6HJ7GN/webdav08.jpg> Each sdcard is a drive letter
<https://i.postimg.cc/D0qMxTMB/webdav09.jpg> FOSS general purpose solution <https://i.postimg.cc/wM4Z45pN/webdav10.jpg> Free Android WebDAV servers
<https://i.postimg.cc/BQyRxCN9/webdav11.jpg> Mount sdcards read & write
<https://i.postimg.cc/yYWwgGmy/webdav12.jpg> As Windows drive letters
<https://i.postimg.cc/QtbR1GY0/webdav13.jpg> Over Wi-Fi on your home LAN
<https://i.postimg.cc/JhjpnRgh/webdav14.jpg> Mirroring Android on Windows
<https://i.postimg.cc/gcKXV6F7/webdav16.jpg> A third free WebDAV server
Once set up correctly, the Android file system is just a drive on Windows.
<https://i.postimg.cc/hjkVFyqJ/scrcpy07.jpg> Android mnt as drive letter
Such that you can slide APKs from Windows and they auto-install on Android.
<https://i.postimg.cc/wvsbcNBz/scrcpy05.jpg> Drag APK from Windows
The Windows (or Linux) keyboard, mouse, clipboard and sound cards all work
perfectly with Android mirrored onto your PC monitor, using FOSS software.
<https://i.postimg.cc/5NrK7jtg/scrcpy16.jpg> powershell hide-console trick
One question I have of the linux experts is WHY, without being rooted, when
I mount the Android internal sdcard onto Windows, I can read most of the
Android root filesystem, and write to some of the root filesystem, but not
all? <https://i.postimg.cc/2SxM8V16/rootfilesystem.jpg>
What's the difference?

You're using webdav to allow the file system to be exported like it was a file share.
And that is working over Wifi, which I don't think the OP wants.

Another method is Android ADB (SDK). That is for the USB cable and Developer Mode (not rooted).

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/20834241/how-to-use-adb-command-to-push-a-file-on-device-without-sd-card

It's a good thing Man-wai enjoys complicated solutions. Isn't that what using
a phone is all about ?

*******

I can't explain the details of Android for you, except to say that
Google loves complicated file system mounting schemes. They like
to have a ton of partitions. When other OSes are capable of
putting the entire design in a single partition.

You can put mounts on top of mounts, and apply permissions
to them, such that the mount point is not "readable" by an external
user. Any folder can be used as a mount point.

A file like /etc/mtab , keeps track of the mounts which are currently in place.
(Have been applied in a sense.) But depending on what the designer wants,
you can also make mounts invisible from a logging perspective. The loopback
mounts in Ubuntu, have been made invisible (because they were annoying to
the eye, in certain contexts, and the mounts were caused by the Snap
packaging subsystem).

Paul

[Andrew]

Post by Paul

Post by Andrew
One question I have of the linux experts is WHY, without being rooted, when
I mount the Android internal sdcard onto Windows, I can read most of the
Android root filesystem, and write to some of the root filesystem, but not
all? <https://i.postimg.cc/2SxM8V16/rootfilesystem.jpg>
What's the difference?

You're using webdav to allow the file system to be exported like it was a file share.
And that is working over Wifi, which I don't think the OP wants.

Yes. I read the OP multiple times, and wanted to help Man-Wai, but for the
life of me I couldn't understand why he wanted to use the SUBST command
when all it seems he wants to do is mount "something" to a drive letter.

That "something" I also couldn't figure out for the life of me, but it sure
looked like an old Android phone (i.e., Nokia) so I took the leap to
"assume" it was a phone - in which case, the method I provided should work
(if the "something" is, indeed a phone).

Post by Paul
Another method is Android ADB (SDK). That is for the USB cable and Developer Mode (not rooted).
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/20834241/how-to-use-adb-command-to-push-a-file-on-device-without-sd-card

Yes, adb is wonderful for working with Android from Windows or Linux
such as when they want to edit the HOSTS file on Android from a PC.
<https://www.howtogeek.com/140576/how-to-edit-the-hosts-file-on-android-and-block-web-sites/>

Many people complain they can't "see" the Android HOSTS file without being
rooted; but they can using the "pull" complement to "push" to get it.
<https://xdaforums.com/t/where-is-the-hosts-file-in-android.514698/>

$> adb pull /system/etc/hosts . (as /etc is a symlink on Android)
$> adb push adb push hosts /system/etc/hosts

Here they use Android Linux commands to mount the filesystem.
<https://xdaforums.com/t/editing-host-file.4345167/>
$> adb shell
$> su
$> mount -o rw,remount /system
$> adb push C:\platform-tools\hosts /system/etc/

Post by Paul
It's a good thing Man-wai enjoys complicated solutions.
Isn't that what using a phone is all about ?

What I love is that the phone mounts as a drive on Windows.
Then all the normal Windows commands work on the phone.

Amazingly, you can read more with adb than you can from the phone itself.
Why would a PC be able to see more than the phone? Dunno. But it does.

Post by Paul
I can't explain the details of Android for you, except to say that
Google loves complicated file system mounting schemes. They like
to have a ton of partitions. When other OSes are capable of
putting the entire design in a single partition.
You can put mounts on top of mounts, and apply permissions
to them, such that the mount point is not "readable" by an external
user. Any folder can be used as a mount point.
A file like /etc/mtab , keeps track of the mounts which are currently in place.
(Have been applied in a sense.) But depending on what the designer wants,
you can also make mounts invisible from a logging perspective. The loopback
mounts in Ubuntu, have been made invisible (because they were annoying to
the eye, in certain contexts, and the mounts were caused by the Snap
packaging subsystem).

Apparently TWRP allows non-rooted Android phones to read/write the entire
file system but I, myself, have never installed TWRP so I don't know how.
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=me.twrp.twrpapp>

It allows you to directly access the Linux file system of Android.
*How to access files in the Android root file system without root*
<https://gist.github.com/makenova/dba94f69e8f11d9e0eb4>

Bear in mind that Android concurrently runs almost any Linux distro
even without being rooted - but again - I have not gone there myself.
<https://andronix.app/>

[Mr. Man-wai Chang]

Post by Andrew
Which is nicely summarized for you in this set of my own screenshots.
<https://i.postimg.cc/1zrmSmQc/davroot.jpg>

Thanks. This solution involves the use of networking.

[Andrew]

Post by Mr. Man-wai Chang

Post by Andrew
Which is nicely summarized for you in this set of my own screenshots.
<https://i.postimg.cc/1zrmSmQc/davroot.jpg>

Thanks. This solution involves the use of networking.

Assuming your Nokia "something" is an Android phone... below
are all the methods I know of to "seamlessly connect" it to a PC.

1. You can connect the Android phone to Windows 10 by Bluetooth,
by Wi-Fi (over the LAN or by ad hoc Wi-Fi) or by USB cable.

Most people just plug the phone into Windows (just like any other
USB device) and Windows automatically installs the driver for it.
*Install OEM USB drivers*
<https://developer.android.com/studio/run/oem-usb>

If the correct driver isn't installed, every manufacturer provides it.
Acer -> https://www.acer.com/worldwide/support/
Alcatel -> https://www.alcatelmobile.com/support/
Asus -> https://www.asus.com/support/Download-Center/
Blackberry -> https://swdownloads.blackberry.com/Downloads/entry.do?code=4EE0932F46276313B51570F46266A608
Dell -> https://support.dell.com/support/downloads/index.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&~ck=anavml
FCNT -> https://www.fcnt.com/support/develop/#anc-03
HTC -> https://www.htc.com/support
Huawei -> https://consumer.huawei.com/en/support/index.htm
Intel -> https://www.intel.com/software/android
Kyocera -> https://kyoceramobile.com/support/drivers/
Lenovo -> https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/GlobalProductSelector
LGE -> https://www.lg.com/us/support/software-firmware
Motorola -> https://motorola-global-portal.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/88481/
MTK -> http://online.mediatek.com/Public%20Documents/MTK_Android_USB_Driver.zip
Samsung -> https://developer.samsung.com/galaxy/others/android-usb-driver-for-windows
Sharp -> http://k-tai.sharp.co.jp/support/
Sony -> https://developer.sonymobile.com/downloads/drivers/
Toshiba -> https://support.toshiba.com/sscontent?docId=4001814
Xiaomi -> https://web.vip.miui.com/page/info/mio/mio/detail?postId=18464849&app_version=dev.20051
ZTE -> http://support.zte.com.cn/support/news/NewsDetail.aspx?newsId=1000442

2. Either way (BT, Wi-Fi or USB) there are a multitude of connection tools.
Offhand, some of the Android/Windows file-sharing solutions are
AirDroid <https://www.airdroid.com/personal/>
ADB <https://developer.android.com/tools/adb>
AFT MTP client <https://whoozle.github.io/android-file-transfer-linux/>
DirectNetDrive <http://www.directnet-drive.net/>
FTPUse <https://www.ferrobackup.com/download/FtpUseInst.exe>
Fb-adb Android Linux shell <https://github.com/facebook/fb-adb>
Ftpuse <https://www.ferrobackup.com/map-ftp-as-disk.html>
Go-mtpfs MTP FUSE filesystem <https://github.com/hanwen/go-mtpfs>
Gphotofs Camera Linux mount <http://www.gphoto.org/proj/gphotofs/>
JMTP FS <https://github.com/JasonFerrara/jmtpfs>
KDEconnect <https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.kde.kdeconnect>
Kies Connect <https://www.samsung.com/africa_en/support/kies/>
LibIconv <http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/packages/libiconv.htm>
LibMTP <https://github.com/hanwen/go-mtpfs>
LibMTP <https://sourceforge.net/projects/libmtp/>
LibMTP library MTP implementation <http://libmtp.sourceforge.net>
LibUSB Win32 <http://libusb-win32.sourceforge.net/>
LibUsbK <https://sourceforge.net/projects/libusb-win32/>
LibiConv <http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/packages/libiconv.htm>
MTP support on KDE <https://cgit.kde.org/kio-mtp.git>
MTPDrive <http://mtpdrive.com/download.html>
MTPSync <https://www.adebenham.com/mtpsync/>
MTPdude <http://mtpdude.sourceforge.net>
MTPfs FUSE filesystem <https://www.adebenham.com/mtpfs/>
NetDrive 1.3.2.0 <https://filehippo.com/download_netdrive/12615/>
NetDrive 3.6.571 <http://netdrive.net/ (deprecated)
Nitroshare <https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.nitroshare.android>
PhoneLink <https://www.samsung.com/us/support/answer/ANS00083910/>
SFTP Net Drive <https://www.nsoftware.com/sftp/netdrive/>
SideSync <https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sidesync.freeapp>
SMB Cifs (client) X-Plore <https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lonelycatgames.Xplore>
SMB Cifs (root) <https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.imperioustech.www.sambaserver>
Scrcpy/sndcpy <https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy>
Termux copy <https://github.com/termux>
WebDav <https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.theolivetree.webdavserver>
WebDrive <https://webdrive.com/download/>
XNJB Mac OS X GUI <http://www.wentnet.com/projects/xnjb/>
(this is mostly offhand so I likely missed as many as I listed)

Personally, for myself, I'd mount the entire Android filesystem onto
Windows as a read/write Windows drive letter over Wi-Fi using WebDav.

See also FTPUse above which also creates a Windows networked share.

Or, if I'm running commands from Windows to disable, install or
otherwise manipulate applications, I use adb over Wi-Fi or USB.

If I'm already using adb, then I may as well use screencopy and
soundcopy to do _all_ the Android manipulations from the PC alone.

But most people just plug the Android phone into Windows to drag and
drop any file in the user partition between the devices using that PC.

3. Of those, plenty are ad hoc Wi-Fi & USB file-sharing solutions.
Kies Connect <https://www.samsung.com/africa_en/support/kies/>
Nitroshare <https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.nitroshare.android>
KDEconnect <https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.kde.kdeconnect>
FTPUse <https://www.ferrobackup.com/download/FtpUseInst.exe>

I've used every single one of them, where my suggestion is NitroShare
because of its simplicity (but all work, just in different ways).

4. You can set up Android to act differently whenever you connect to USB
Android12 Settings > Developer options > Default USB configuration
(o) Transferring files <---- AFAIK, this is the default
(_) USB tethering
(_) MIDI
(_) Transferring images
(_) Charging phone only
I wouldn't change this from the default of "Transferring files).

5. Of course, you can do everything using just adb (on Wi-Fi or USB).

First, find the name of the desired package:
C:\> adb shell pm list packages | findStr /i "osmand"
C:\> adb shell pm list packages <--- list all packages on the device
C:\> adb shell pm list packages -f -3 <--- list third-party packages
C:\> adb shell pm list packages -d <--- list only the disabled packages
C:\> adb shell pm list packages -s <--- list only the system packages
C:\> adb shell pm list packages -u <--- list only uninstalled packages
C:\> adb shell dumpsys package packages <--- list package information
C:\> adb shell pm dump net.osmand.plus <--- list info on a package

Find out the full path to the desired package:
C:\> adb shell pm path net.osmand.plus

Copy the installer (which is always saved on Android!) to Windows.
C:\> adb pull /data/app/long-nasty-path-net.osmand.plus/osmand-base.apk

With this method you can copy all the APKs over in one robocopy command.
C:\> adb shell dumpsys package packages | findStr /i ".apk$"
The result is every app ever installed gets a Windows backup of its APK.

Stop the desired package:
C:\> adb shell am force-stop net.osmand.plus

Disable the desired package:
C:\> adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 net.osmand.plus

Remove the desired package:
C:\> adb shell pm uninstall --user 0 net.osmand.plus

Note if adb can see it, then adb can copy it over to Windows.
C:\> adb pull "/data/data/com.pkg.test/files/" .

Even if you're not rooted (most people aren't) you can copy your
Windows HOSTS file to Android if you know a few of the tricks.
<https://superuser.com/questions/938751/i-am-trying-to-push-the-file-using-adb-to-my-android-device>

Note also that "local adb" eliminates the need for the Windows PC.
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.draco.ladb>

5. Most Android phones have an sdslot so another option is to use
Android to put the video onto that sd card and pop it into the PC.

Having tested every single file copy method ever proposed on both
the Windows and Android newsgroups, my recommendation is simple:
a. Connect your Android phone to Windows by USB (for KISS simplicity).
b. If the phone doesn't show up in "My Computer" install OEM drivers.
c. Usually that works

If you can't get the OEM drivers to work, then I'd try the WebDav
servers on Android (unfortunately SMB servers on Android have issues).

If you can't get the WebDav servers to work, then I'd use adb with
scrcpy/sndcpy which completely mirrors the phone onto the PC.

That's mostly what I do all day every day.

One advantage is my phone becomes 20 inches tall by 9 inches wide
on my computer monitor - and I can use the mouse, keyboard & clipboard.

Also, the sound is the one coming out of the computer and not the
phone - so I can loudly watch all the YouTube videos I want using either
NewPipe or PipePipe (which is YouTube but without ever seeing an ad).
<https://newpipe.net>
<https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.schabi.newpipe/>

<https://github.com/InfinityLoop1308/PipePipe>
<https://f-droid.org/en/packages/InfinityLoop1309.NewPipeEnhanced/>

The microphone though, is delayed, for reasons unknown to me,
which I've never been able to resolve so I turn one source off.

[Mr. Man-wai Chang]

Post by Andrew
Assuming your Nokia "something" is an Android phone... below
are all the methods I know of to "seamlessly connect" it to a PC.

Thank you....

[Andrew]

Post by Mr. Man-wai Chang

Post by Andrew
Assuming your Nokia "something" is an Android phone... below
are all the methods I know of to "seamlessly connect" it to a PC.

Thank you....

I'm always here, as is Paul and as are others, to help people out.
I suspect the lack of the "correct" drive "could" be the issue you face.

It's odd that only Nokia doesn't supply its own Android USB drivers.
<https://www.google.com/search?q=nokia+windows+android+driver>

Personally, I long ago forgot that the SUBST command even existed, so
here's a description of how to use SUBST in various circumtances.
<https://winaero.com/create-virtual-drive-from-a-folder-in-windows-10/>

For most of us who forgot about the SUBST command long ago, here are
examples of people mounting drives using SUBST in cmd & powershell.
<https://serverfault.com/questions/24400/in-windows-how-to-mount-folder-as-a-drive>

A search for the OP shows also that there is a "Virtual SUBST" program.
<https://www.ntwind.com/software/visual-subst.html>
"Visual Subst provides you with a clean, simple and distraction-free
user interface where you can manage all your virtual and network drives
at once. It solves four main issues with the built-in 'SUBST' and
'NET USE' commands: it enables editable drive labels, creates UAC drives
for elevated applications, manages Recycle Bin for deleted items
and it restores virtual drives after reboots."

This shows a guy with the opposite problem, in that he has the SUBST drive
and wants to get rid of it for his Android phone working with Windows.
<https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/local-disk-z-appeared-after-building-for-android/397713/8>

And this shows a guy on Android who is told SUBST was worse than Dokany
but that Round-sync was better (although it seems to mount SMB shares).
<https://community.cryptomator.org/t/unable-to-share-vault-on-local-network-when-using-winfsp-local-drive/12398/3>

Here is the Round Sync - Rclone for Android web page for those who care:
<https://github.com/newhinton/Round-Sync>

I downloaded it, to test it for the OP, but I'm going on a trip so I won't
have results until later - but the OP might want to take a look at it.
<https://github.com/newhinton/Round-Sync/releases/tag/v2.5.6>
<https://github.com/newhinton/Round-Sync/releases/download/v2.5.6/roundsync_v2.5.6-oss-universal-release.apk>
Name: roundsync_v2.5.6-oss-universal-release.apk
Size: 116786852 bytes (111 MiB)
SHA256: F6827968A7D234CD5440F5C5CCD37F944D4E96C33180EBECEBBBE96992CDCE2F

It seems naturally intuitive to use SMB with Windows - so it's worth a try.

[Tom Del Rosso]

Post by Andrew
I'm always here, as is Paul and as are others, to help people out.

Where is here for you? I'm posting in alt.msdos.batch.nt.

Post by Andrew
It's odd that only Nokia doesn't supply its own Android USB drivers.

I think it's odd that it needs a special driver when my flip phone of 20
years ago would simply emulate a USB drive, so it didn't need a special
driver. I know MTP works like a client-server database to prevent file
corruption, but I don't see why the Windows version of the MTP protocol
can't include the ability to assign a drive letter, since Windows
depends on letters.

Post by Andrew
Personally, I long ago forgot that the SUBST command even existed, so

In alt.msdos.batch.nt we haven't even forgotten the REPLACE command but
XCOPY /U works better.

I even remember trying RECOVER on floppies but it never worked. Norton
Utilities had an equivalent that did work.

Post by Andrew
A search for the OP shows also that there is a "Virtual SUBST"
program. <https://www.ntwind.com/software/visual-subst.html>
"Visual Subst provides you with a clean, simple and distraction-free
user interface where you can manage all your virtual and network
drives at once. It solves four main issues with the built-in
'SUBST' and 'NET USE' commands: it enables editable drive labels,
creates UAC drives for elevated applications, manages Recycle Bin
for deleted items and it restores virtual drives after reboots."
This shows a guy with the opposite problem, in that he has the SUBST
drive and wants to get rid of it for his Android phone working with
Windows.
<https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/local-disk-z-appeared-after-building-for-android/397713/8>
And this shows a guy on Android who is told SUBST was worse than
Dokany but that Round-sync was better (although it seems to mount SMB
shares).
<https://community.cryptomator.org/t/unable-to-share-vault-on-local-network-when-using-winfsp-local-drive/12398/3>
Here is the Round Sync - Rclone for Android web page for those who
care: <https://github.com/newhinton/Round-Sync>
I downloaded it, to test it for the OP, but I'm going on a trip so I
won't have results until later - but the OP might want to take a look
at it. <https://github.com/newhinton/Round-Sync/releases/tag/v2.5.6>
<https://github.com/newhinton/Round-Sync/releases/download/v2.5.6/roundsync_v2.5.6-oss-universal-release.apk>
Name: roundsync_v2.5.6-oss-universal-release.apk
Size: 116786852 bytes (111 MiB)
F6827968A7D234CD5440F5C5CCD37F944D4E96C33180EBECEBBBE96992CDCE2F
It seems naturally intuitive to use SMB with Windows - so it's worth a try.

[Andrew]

Post by Tom Del Rosso

Post by Andrew
It's odd that only Nokia doesn't supply its own Android USB drivers.

I think it's odd that it needs a special driver when my flip phone of 20
years ago would simply emulate a USB drive, so it didn't need a special
driver. I know MTP works like a client-server database to prevent file
corruption, but I don't see why the Windows version of the MTP protocol
can't include the ability to assign a drive letter, since Windows
depends on letters.

Well, let's clarify that word "needs" since my experience has been that
almost everything I plug into Windows that needs a driver, gets one.

The question here, is when things aren't working, do you have the "right"
driver, and the answer is that Nokia doesn't seem to make that driver.

So the OP is stuck with whatever driver that Windows felt was appropriate.
Obviously, my suggestion is the generic driver suggested by Google for adb.

That's because adb does everything you could want a program to do, although
just plugging an Android phone into Windows pretty much works for everyone.

As far as I recall, we still don't know the OP's Android USB settings.
<https://i.postimg.cc/JnDTWH9M/usb01.jpg> USB default settings

Post by Tom Del Rosso

Post by Andrew
Personally, I long ago forgot that the SUBST command even existed, so

In alt.msdos.batch.nt we haven't even forgotten the REPLACE command but
XCOPY /U works better.

Yeah, I forget about XCOPY & ROBOCOPY myself, and I wrote, oh, way back in
the 90's I guess, entire twenty page tutorials on how to use DEBUG better.

Post by Tom Del Rosso
I even remember trying RECOVER on floppies but it never worked. Norton
Utilities had an equivalent that did work.

I don't even remember RECOVER, but I do remember losing every file and then
gaining them back, minus the first character & minus the long file names.

Someone recently posted this powershell, though, for listing files in the
order they were created, which is useful when datestamps are necessary.
C:\> powershell
PS\> get-childItem | sort-object -prop lastWriteTimeUtc | forEach { "{0} {1}" -f $_.lastWriteTimeUtc.toString("yyyyMMddHHmmssffff"), $_.name } > dated.txt

[Mr. Man-wai Chang]

Post by Andrew
So the OP is stuck with whatever driver that Windows felt was appropriate.
Obviously, my suggestion is the generic driver suggested by Google for adb.
That's because adb does everything you could want a program to do, although
just plugging an Android phone into Windows pretty much works for everyone.
As far as I recall, we still don't know the OP's Android USB settings.
<https://i.postimg.cc/JnDTWH9M/usb01.jpg> USB default settings

Give me some time... too many ideas to try. :)

Thank you all! May the Force and farces be with you!!!!

[Andrew]

Post by Mr. Man-wai Chang

Post by Andrew
As far as I recall, we still don't know the OP's Android USB settings.
<https://i.postimg.cc/JnDTWH9M/usb01.jpg> USB default settings

Give me some time... too many ideas to try. :)

My suggestion is to try only one. WebDav. It's the best, in my experience.

I've tested *every* (free) suggestion (which didn't require making an
account) that was ever suggested (to my knowledge) on the Windows
newsgroup, so my advice below is based on this one question only:
"How could I map "This PC\Nokia 1234\Internal shared storage\"
to a drive (e.g. E:\)?"

By that question, I "assume" you mean:
"How could I map an Android phone filesystem to a Windows drive letter?"

That one question, I've been doing for years, where this newsgroup has
helped me do that, so to give back to the newsgroup, my suggestion is this:

1. Install any free WebDav server on your Android phone, where I recommend:
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.theolivetree.webdavserver>
I notice it says it has ads. I don't see ads. I never see ads.
My version may be older or it could be my DNS server ad blocking.

There are other free WebDAV servers but that's the simplest, AFAIK.

2. Set it up the simplest way possible - use all the defaults as one
mistake in a path will screw you. Don't set up login/password either.
Wait until it's working fine before adding those complexities.

Note that nowhere does it say anywhere in any of these program
notes that they all default to "DavWWWRoot" meaning the home share.

3. Mount that default home share onto Windows, where I suggest you
set up Android Wi-Fi to your home LAN to be a static IP address.
C:\> net use P: \\***@8080\DavWWWRoot

Now your internal sd card is mounted as drive "P:" on Windows.
From there, you can get as fancy as you want to get.

For example, I've found I need a second WebDAV server to mount the external
sdcard, and then you need to know the Android linux path to that card,
which is why I format all my sdcards with the same volume label.

One of the accidentally amazing things about mounting Android file systems
onto Windows as a drive letter is, for some reason, even though you're not
rooted, you can read (and write to) most of the file system, even parts
which you can't even see directly from the phone itself.

If someone can explain that magic to me, I'd love to know why that happens.

[Andrew]

Post by Andrew
Note that nowhere does it say anywhere in any of these program
notes that they all default to "DavWWWRoot" meaning the home share.

To the OP, I can't stress how IMPORTANT that sentence is above, as not
knowing that sentence cost me probably days (elapsed time) in getting the
solution to work because you're at the mercy of file specifications and how
they may differ between Android and Windows when you mount your sd card.

It's actually surprisingly shocking that not only is "DavWWWRoot"
universally used by all WebDav servers (AFAIK), but NONE of them seem to
tell you that. WTF?

I don't get it - but it cost me a lot of time NOT knowing that keyword.

It shows up nowhere in the settings. Nowhere in the help. Nowhere.
You are supposed to magically know it.

Now you know this is the *simplest* connection you can perform:
net use E: \\***@8080\DavWWWRoot

But there's a lot more you can do once you get that simple setup going.
net use /?
The syntax of this command is:

NET USE
[devicename | *] [\\computername\sharename[\volume] [password | *]]
[/USER:[domainname\]username]
[/USER:[dotted domain name\]username]
[/USER:[***@dotted domain name]
[/SMARTCARD]
[/SAVECRED]
[/REQUIREINTEGRITY]
[/REQUIREPRIVACY]
[/WRITETHROUGH]
[[/DELETE] | [/PERSISTENT:{YES | NO}]]

NET USE {devicename | *} [password | *] /HOME

NET USE [/PERSISTENT:{YES | NO}]

[Bill Powell]

Post by Andrew
It's actually surprisingly shocking that not only is "DavWWWRoot"
universally used by all WebDav servers (AFAIK), but NONE of them seem to
tell you that. WTF?

The reason is that DavWWWRoot has absolutely nothing to do with Android.

Nor does DavWWWRoot have anything to do with the Android Webdav server APK.
You could grep Android Webdave server source code & you'd never find it.

Nobody on Android knows about it but those on Windows use it all the time.

It's a Windows-only keyword so only people who know Windows know of it.
https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Desktop/What-exactly-is-DavWWWRoot/td-p/1827535

Everyone who knows Windows well has been using it for years though.
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/sharepoint-explorer-mapping-folders-via-davwwwroot/7e121644-d3df-4001-a624-c5b7d6541013

It's just not something Android users have come across before.
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/21706142/what-is-davwwwroot

DavWWWRoot is a special keyword recognized by Windows Shell. There is no
such folder on your WebDAV server and you should not create it. You also
will not find any DavWWWRoot name in requests to your server. The
DavWWWRoot keyword tells the Windows Mini-Redirector driver, which handles
WebDAV requests, that you are connecting to the root of WebDAV server.

So if you knew Windows like everyone else does, you'd have known that the
reason it's not mentioned anywhere in your Android documentation is that
it's a common Windows variable (much like %Path% & %Comspec% are).

[Mr. Man-wai Chang]

Post by Bill Powell

Post by Andrew
It's actually surprisingly shocking that not only is "DavWWWRoot"
universally used by all WebDav servers (AFAIK), but NONE of them seem to
tell you that. WTF?

The reason is that DavWWWRoot has absolutely nothing to do with Android.
Nor does DavWWWRoot have anything to do with the Android Webdav server APK.
You could grep Android Webdave server source code & you'd never find it.
....
So if you knew Windows like everyone else does, you'd have known that the
reason it's not mentioned anywhere in your Android documentation is that
it's a common Windows variable (much like %Path% & %Comspec% are).

Well... I just don't understand why the Command Prompt cannot do
whatever File Explorer is doing, including merely a drive letter for a
folder visible to File Explorer via a command. Maybe Powershell is the
new hope? I dunno....

It's unrelated to Android nor iOS. :)

[Bill Powell]

Post by Mr. Man-wai Chang
Well... I just don't understand why the Command Prompt cannot do
whatever File Explorer is doing, including merely a drive letter for a
folder visible to File Explorer via a command. Maybe Powershell is the
new hope? I dunno....
It's unrelated to Android nor iOS. :)

DavWWWRoot is a special keyword recognized by Windows Shell so you should
be able to do what you want, if you run a webdav server on Windows.

Have I done that? No. But why shouldn't you be able to run a Windows webdav
server & set DavWWWRoot to the desired nokia device on the command line?

Maybe you can install & test a Windows webdav server from this listing.
https://medevel.com/15-os-webdav-servers/

After the Windows webdav server is running, I see batch mount scripts here.
https://help.nextcloud.com/t/2023-which-is-the-best-free-webdav-client-with-drive-letter-assignation-windows/157294/3

This says you need to set the registry BasicAuthLevel Value data to 2.
https://www.thewindowsclub.com/how-to-map-webdav-in-windows

Let us know how it works, as I see no reason (yet) why it shouldn't work to
mount anything you can see in the Windows file explorer as a drive letter.

[Mr. Man-wai Chang]

Post by Bill Powell
...
Let us know how it works, as I see no reason (yet) why it shouldn't work to
mount anything you can see in the Windows file explorer as a drive letter.

Thank you all again!