Can't open photos stored on Android system from Ubuntu

Question

I can't load photos stored on the card of my Android device (Samsung Note 8).

When I try to open them the file manager freezes. I tried to copy paste but progress stays at 0 percent.

I'm using Ubuntu 18.04.

Possible duplicate of Getting MTP enabled devices to work with Ubuntu? — Ferroao, Dec 22 '18 at 13:50
I had a similar problem with my wife's phone, and eventually out-waited the device. There were simply so many pictures, that building a list of them took an extremely long time. — Charles Green, Dec 26 '18 at 18:08

score 5 · Answer 1 · answered May 01 '18 at 19:38

5

On the Phone side:

Ensure device is unlocked

Try changing usb connection options:

Connect the Samsung Galaxy Note to the computer using the USB cable.
Touch and drag the notification bar down.
Touch Connected as a camera.
Touch the required option (e.g. Media device (MTP)).

On the Ubuntu side:

You may need to install the libmtp packages:

sudo apt install libmtp-common mtp-tools libmtp-dev libmtp-runtime libmtp9

General Troubleshooting

Try a different USB cable

Try a different USB port

Use a powered USB hub

answered May 01 '18 at 19:38

Joshua Besneatte

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After trying many things this worked for a Pixel 3a and Ubuntu 18.04. Thanks! – Whome Dec 10 '19 at 15:28
Does not work completely for Samsung Galaxy Tab A 2019. Only mounts the internal memory. Not the external card. – Keenan Feb 29 '20 at 14:38
Worked on Ubuntu 20.04 and Samsung Note 9, thanks! – fmjrey Apr 28 '20 at 19:46

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 02 '19 at 09:34

Possible and very probable reason is the bug of libmtp.

It seems that it is caused by file with name like 20180915_180351(0).jpg. Samsung phones for example like to create files with such names.

There are several tickets (one, two and etc) and question about it.

So possible workaround is to use different mtp options for such directories or somehow change file naming policy of your phone camera (or switch to another camera app like Open Camera for example).

many thanks! Renaming them solves the problem. You saved me hours and lots of anger! — user2342558, Oct 09 '19 at 18:37

score 2 · Answer 3 · edited Nov 29 '18 at 15:01

2

I use Ubuntu 18.04. I have a Samsung 8, and I have the same problem. I tried all of the above, and it didn't work. I deleted about half of my files from my phone, and that solved the problem.

I believe that the problem was too many files on the phone. The reason I believe this is that, over time, as the number of files on the phone increased, it took longer and longer to find them, and eventually it stopped working.

edited Nov 29 '18 at 15:01

karel

114,770

answered Nov 29 '18 at 14:30

TPM

129

Why do you believe there is too many files on the phone ? as opposed to any thing else ? – abc Jun 14 '19 at 02:30
My problem was having 252 files. See this bug, having 128*i-4 files fails: https://sourceforge.net/p/libmtp/bugs/1808/ – iamanigeeit Mar 04 '20 at 19:14

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Jun 25 '19 at 21:26

My Motorola G5 suddenly became visible on my Ubuntu 18.04 system after I moved the conection from a USB2 PC socket to a USB3 socket. Moving back to the USB2 socket: failure. To the USB3 socket: instant correct connection.

Heaven knows where the issue actually is, but in my case avoiding USB2 ports works around the problem. If you have the option, you may want to try it.

Bottom line: my hang may differ from yours. The PTP and MTP protocols are very finicky.

i tried a different usb port on my thinkpad and success – austin Oct 05 '21 at 02:53 — austin, Oct 05 '21 at 02:53

Can't open photos stored on Android system from Ubuntu

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