How to set MTP mode on phone with broken screen in USB charge-only mode

Question

My phone’s screen broke from a 30 cm drop. The touchpad is dysfunctional while the display itself still works (i.e. I can see everything).

USB mode is charge-only, so connecting to the PC is not working (./adb devices yields empty results)
Developer mode is enabled, USB debugging is enabled
A MicroUSB to USB (OTG USB) cable is available, I can control the phone with a mouse
Phone is a LG G2 with Android 5

Now since the USB mode is charge-only, I cannot set the mode to MTP because I can't control the phone while it is plugged into the computer.

How can I switch to MTP mode or have my computer recognize the phone so I can retrieve data from it?

(I guess I could just move the data I have on there to a cloud storage, but I prefer to do it via computer)

(Honestly, not being able to set the preferred USB mode without a active USB connection is a pretty big design flaw for scenarios like this. It would be so simple.)

As it's still Android 5: Try switching that via OTG with your mouse (while not connected to the computer, obviously): Settings › Storage, tick the menu (3 dots), check if you can switch the USB mode there (screenshot – see Disabling MTP/PTP/all USB stuff except charging). — Izzy, Jul 26 '16 at 19:13
@Izzy That bugged because there is not an additional menu (i.e. the three dots) in the storage screen. Also, it reads Storage Management. — kleinfreund, Jul 27 '16 at 06:36
Unfortunate. Have you already checked with our broken-screen tag-wiki, especially with its data recovery section? — Izzy, Jul 27 '16 at 06:41
I have the exact same problem with a friend's phone, with the addition that it doesn't support OTG, so I can't connect a mouse or keyboard to navigate to switch on MTP... — Leonardo, Sep 04 '16 at 01:48

score 2 · Answer 1 · edited Feb 24 '17 at 10:00

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Probably its too late. I had exactly the same problem and i used a Bluetooth keyboard with a touch pad / a Bluetooth mouse should also work. Use the OTG to connect the Bluetooth device then disconnect the OTG. Connect it to the Computer and you can change the mode with the Bluetooth device.

edited Feb 24 '17 at 10:00

Dan Hulme

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answered Aug 30 '16 at 20:23

Misiek

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score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 12 '17 at 08:00

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this is probably an old question, but if you can still see the screen, download a "Remote control" program, such as Teamviewer. you can use your mouse via OTG cable, turn on TeamViewer App [or whatever], connect via the PC you're going to be using and download/run the remote control program [Teamviewer]. connect to your phone, make sure it's all working, then move your phone from the OTG cable to desktop. use Teamviewer to switch the mode over to MTP and you're good to go.

answered Apr 12 '17 at 08:00

randomguy15

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not to mention you could use a remote desktop such as teamviewer to do the file transfer as is without the phone being connected via cable. – randomguy15 Apr 12 '17 at 08:01
Thank you for documenting that. By the time I got a new phone and managed to reset the one in question. – kleinfreund Apr 12 '17 at 08:01

How to set MTP mode on phone with broken screen in USB charge-only mode

2 Answers2