How do I connect my Android phone to my PC?

"How do I connect my Android phone to my PC? I plug in the USB cable and nothing happens. I want to transfer photos off of my phone to my PC."

There are a couple of possible explanations for why your computer isn't recognizing your Android phone. By default connecting your phone with the USB cable only engages the battery charging feature, but does not provide access to the memory card in your phone. There's an additional on screen step you need to take before your computer can see the contents of the memory on your Android phone.

For Android OS 2.1 and newer, the default behavior of your phone should be to automatically mount the micro SD card in your phone as a storage device. You can then use Windows Explorer to browse the contents of your phone and copy photos, videos and any other files to your computer. You will probably see this listed as a removable drive under your computer in Windows Explorer.

For older versions of Android OS, your phone will let you know it's connected via USB, but it won't automatically connect as a removable drive. You will need to click a button on the screen to be sure you can browse your phone storage after connecting your Android phone to your PC. This can be accomplished easily by viewing the available notifications on your phone, then clicking on the USB icon.

Viewing the USB notification gives you the option to Mount your phone to your computer.