Ed Cryer <ed@somewhere.in.the.uk> wrote

> I took a lengthy video on my phone yesterday, the first day of the Tour
> of Britain cycling race. The minutes prior to the peloton arriving were
> quite spectacular. A host of 20/30 motorcycle cops race up in an almost
> military troop, cut off all traffic left and right, set up blocks
> everywhere. And then the cyclists appear, cheered by all the people
> who've rushed out of their homes to find out what all that brigade of
> motorcycle cops is doing.
>
> Well, to the point.
> I plug the phone by USB cable into my Win10 computer, the phone sings a
> little song, the computer shows no sign of it.
> I plug it into a TV, same little song from the phone, not recognised by
> the TV's media function.
>
> I can't find what app is playing the recognition tune on the phone.
>
> Help please.
>
> Ed

There isn't an Android-to-PC connection method ever suggested on these
newsgroups that I haven't personally tested - so beware of details below.

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
all of which I've personally used - and all of which have been discussed
(ad infintum) on both these Android and the Windows Usenet newsgroups.
<https://groups.google.com/g/comp.mobile.android>
<https://groups.google.com/g/alt.comp.microsoft.windows>
<https://tinyurl.com/alt-comp-os-windows-10>
Offhand, some of the Android/Windows file-sharing solutions discussed have been
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.

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, and my suggestion is NitroShare
because of its simplicity but all of them work 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).

Figure out the name of it.
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 <--- 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 it.
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 it.
C:\> adb shell am force-stop net.osmand.plus

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

Remove it.
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>

Wally J <walterjones@invalid.nospam> wrote

>> I plug the phone by USB cable into my Win10 computer, the phone sings a
>> little song, the computer shows no sign of it.
>
> There isn't an Android-to-PC connection method ever suggested on these
> newsgroups that I haven't personally tested - so beware of details below.

Oooops........

In my zeal to be of help to a fellow Usenet poster asking a question, I had
belatedly realized I was only responding to "the computer shows no sign of it"
where I ended up going into a long-winded VanguardLH-like detail over that topic.

>> I can't find what app is playing the recognition tune on the phone.

I would think your built-in Android app drawer (mine is activated by pressing
the middle button on the bottom of my homescreen) would show you the app playing.

I can get my built-in Android 12 app drawer function by pressing the middle
button (the round circle) on the bottom of my homescreen - which pops up
a. Frequent apps
b. Recent apps
c. New/Updated apps
Where I'd think the app playing the song should show up in the "Recent apps".

Another obvious way to get a list of all the apps your Android phone has
recently run is to go to Settings > Apps > Your apps

On my Android 12 Galaxy, next to "Your apps" is a hamburger with the options
Show system apps = (on/off) <--- off by default
Filter by (o)All (_)Enabled (_)Disabled <--- All by default
Sort by (o)Name (_)Size (_)Last used (_)Last updated <--- Name by default
I would think switching that option to "Last used" should tell you the app.

However, one not entirely foolproof way to find an app that is "doing something"
is to look at your Android notification history (which may tell you the app).
Settings -> Notifications -> Advanced settings -> Notification history

Since that's such a useful command, and since it's buried four steps down
into my Android 12 Settings, I bring it up to the top on the homescreen.

This puts a one-tap shortcut to that location in your dock shortcuts folder.
1. Optionally put a convenient folder for "shortcuts" in your dock
2. Install the free ad-free Shortcut Inspector (which finds activity names)
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cemique.shortcutwidgets>
3. Install the free ad-free Shortcut Maker (which opens public activities)
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=rk.android.app.shortcutmaker>
4. Start Shortcut Inspector & go back to the Settings on your homescreen
5. Settings -> Notifications -> Advanced settings -> Notification history
6. Go back to Shortcut Inspector and note it shows the name of that activity
7. Name=com.android.settings.notification.history.NotificationHistoryActivity
8. Start Shortcut Maker & tap Activities & tap Settings & find that activity
9. Modify the shortcut name & icon (as desired) & press "Create Shortcut"
10. That adds a shorcut on your homescreen direct to your notification history

Be aware there are other free ad-free shortcut-maker apps to do the same things
but they're a bit harder to use. Here's one example where I'll show how to use it.
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.alextern.shortcuthelper>
ShortcutCreator -> Application -> Settings (337 Public Activities)

Notice that you can stop at step 6 to unambiguously find not only the app
that was playing the song - but the EXACT page inside that app running it.

I'm sure if I think about it for another minute I can double the size of
these various suggestions - but one of them should work (I would hope).