Arch Linux

alnexus

Member

Registered: 2022-02-09

Posts: 20

How do I use MTP on Arch Linux?

I'm trying to access my phone's storage on Arch Linux but I haven't been successful. I have installed jmtpfs and mtpfs and I had also installed android-file-transfer. What happens is I try to use "jmtpfs" command and the mount point is ~/mnt/ but every time I try it, it seems to work but when I try to "cd" into the mount point and use "ls" it shows "cannot open directory '.' : Input/output error". In ranger (CLI file manager) it shows as if the mount point, the folder I created, is a file?... I have no idea what's happening. If I try to delete the file/folder it says "cannot remove, is a folder" and only works if I kill jmtpfs. I don't know what to do and I think I'm missing something, but I just don't know what to try...
When I enable file transfer on my phone it disconnects, connects (my phone makes the "charging" and "discharging" sounds). I have udiskie for USB drives running but I don't know if that should affect my phone being connected. "adb devices" works fine so I think I might be missing some drivers because when I enable MTP in my phone it does that thing of disconnecting/connecting (no physical interference).

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d_fajardo

Member

Registered: 2017-07-28

Posts: 1,656

Re: How do I use MTP on Arch Linux?

Have you tried Android File Transfer?

EDIT: Sorry missed that part about you using the android file transfer.

Last edited by d_fajardo (2022-03-10 12:56:08)

jonno2002

Member

Registered: 2016-11-21

Posts: 730

Re: How do I use MTP on Arch Linux?

i gave up on mtp ages ago, and adb is not really practical for browsing and transferring lots of files, so i use sftp now and its great, no cable needed, works over network, just open up the ftp app on my phone and use filezilla on my laptop, transfers are very fast and reliable, and its secure as well using keypairs.

the only downside is android is a terrible OS and you have to soft reboot for the files to show up correctly, but it works well enough for me.

this is the app:
https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.primftpd/

hope this helps, you need all the help you can get fighting with android

[EDIT] aparently the soft reboot only applies when transferring music files so they are actually picked up by the music player, so may not even be an issue for you anyway!

Last edited by jonno2002 (2022-03-10 11:36:39)

seth

Member

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 60,760

Re: How do I use MTP on Arch Linux?

Purely anecdotal, but I found https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/simple-mtpfs to be the only mtpfs implementation that doesn't crash or lose access or leave the client in an undefined state all the time.

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randprit

Member

Registered: 2022-06-20

Posts: 2

Re: How do I use MTP on Arch Linux?

I gave up fighting with *mtpfs* …

Thank you jonno2002, your solution is so far the best, the simplest and the more reliable one!

2ManyDogs

Forum Fellow

Registered: 2012-01-15

Posts: 4,646

Re: How do I use MTP on Arch Linux?

The OP has not been back since April, so I am going to consider this thread abandoned and close it.

alnexus, if you come back and want this thread reopened, use the Report link.