Frank Slootweg wrote:

> MajorLanGod <lonelydad58@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Stan Brown <the_stan_brown@fastmail.fm> wrote in
>> news:MPG.3cf5ab31d73754f798ff42@news.individual.net:
>>
>>> https://www.howtogeek.com/700733/how-to-link-an-android-phone-to-a-
>>> windows-10-pc-with-microsofts-your-phone-app/
>>
>> I have been using this for quite a while, but what I am looking for is the
>> ability to mount the storage on the Android device to the Windows file
>> system so it appears just like another drive.AFAIK that can't be done with
>> link to android.
>>
>> In other words, I want to be able to see my phone in a File Explorer
>> window, right-click on it, and wander around my Android storage as if it
>> was directly connected to my PC
>
> You can't have that, because Android doesn't allow server ports below
> 1000 and Windows doesn't allow changing the outgoing SMB port (445).
> Catch-22.

I've tested every suggested freeware solution known to these two newsgroups
for over a decade to mount Android over Wi-Fi on Windows as a drive letter.

Frank Slootweg is correct that the catch-22 for _unrooted_ Android when
trying to use SMB, which is what comes naturally to Windows & Linux.

As Frank said, if you're not rooted, your SMB/Cifs/Samba server on Android
can't use any port lower than 1024, while unfortunately, Windows _insists_
on using port 445.

The only workarounds I know of are either to root your Android phone, or to
perhaps figure out a clever port mapping or port forwarding workaround.

Here's my suggestion, copied from the tutorial on Wi-Fi mounting of Android
as a drive letter on Windows using only freeware tools on Android.

---< below is the cut-and-paste from the aforementioned tutorial >---
<https://groups.google.com/g/comp.mobile.android/c/-MQM3UwUu-Q/m/VCjoOzNDAwAJ>
Note the debilitating problem that, while you can install an SMB _server_
on non-rooted Android, it's impossible (so far) to use an SMB _client_ on
non-rooted Android to connect to a typical Windows SMB share over Wi-Fi.

Non-rooted Android SMB client apps can't connect to Windows SMB shares
simply because Windows SMB requires port 445 but non-root Android SMB
clients, much to my chagrin, can't ever access ports lower than 1024.

However, an enterprising experimenter "may" be able to work around
this intractable problem perhaps by the use of "port forwarding"?
C:\> adb forward tcp:local_port tcp:device_port
C:\> adb reverse tcp:device_port tcp:local_port

And be advised that adb can temporarily elevate permissions for a user
where this example below is run completely on the Android device itself.
Termux % adb pair localhost:54321 <add the 6-digit wi-fi pairing code>
Termux % adb connect localhost:54321
Termux % adb shell
Termux # run-as com.termux
Termux $ {permissions are now elevated while inside this prompt}
---< above is the cut-and-paste from the aforementioned tutorial >---

> What you *can* have is 'FtpUse - Map a FTP server as a Local Disk
> Drive' [1] on the Windows side and one of the FTP servers mentioned
> elsewhere on the Android side. I.e. you get a Network Drive, not a
> Network Share in File Explorer.
>
> [1] <https://www.ferrobackup.com/map-ftp-as-disk.html>

Frank Slootweg and I have discussed FTPUse in great detail in the past
where I was easily able to access the Android phone when using a freeware
FTP server on Android, but I could never get a drive letter out of it.

I was able to get a drive letter, as I recall, using FTP payware (trialware
too), but I wasn't able at the time to get a drive letter out of FTPUse.

Having said that I couldn't get a drive letter out of FTPUse years ago,
things may have changed over time, where I may test it again sometimes soon
so that we can have _multiple_ methods of mounting the entire Android file
system (including system, sdcard0, and external sdcard storage) on
Windows over WI-Fi using only freeware.

I've tested every suggested freeware solution known to these two newsgroups
to mount Android over Wi-Fi onto Windows as a drive letter.
--
I will also test iOS but it's always much harder on iOS to do such things.