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Windows Phone 7 USB mass storage mode discovered

Categories: Windows Phone
By: , IntoMobile
Thursday, November 18th, 2010 at 3:10 PM
wp7-windows-phone-7-usb-mass-storage

Do you want the convenience of using your Windows Phone 7 as a storage device of sorts? Or perhaps you want the simplicity of transferring or loading up on files without dealing with additional or proprietary software. In either case, it seems Windows Phone 7 can be enabled as a USB mass storage device, just like you can with Android or BlackBerry handsets.

The only catch is that you can’t do it with any computer but the one you already sync with. I’ll grant that it’s a huge catch, but it’s better than nothing, right?

Here’s how it’s done:

  1. Open the registry editor on your PC by typing regedit in your Start menu
  2. go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\USB; search for ZuneDriver

Now you will modify three entries (note, if you have multiple WP7 phones, you have to do it for each one)

  • Change ShowInShell from 0 to 1
  • Change PortableDeviceNameSpaceExcludeFromShell from 1 to 0
  • Change EnableLegacySupport from 0 to 1

Seems simple enough, right? Nothing else is required – from here you should be ready to go. It should go without saying, however, that not all the files you’ll stick on the device can be accessed from it (not all file types are supported for viewing/playback, but they can be stored).

[Via: WPCentral]

About The Author

Marc Flores

Marc has been a mobile fanatic for the better part of a decade and has had more devices pass through his hands than he would care to count. Originally from Los Angeles and briefly in San Francisco, Marc now lives in Brooklyn where, unlike Will Park, he longs for simpler times and simpler technology. All the while, he writes about gadgets and wireless technology as he tinkers, hacks and ultimately breaks most of his gadgets in the process. Marc has written about the mobile industry for Boy Genius Report, MobileCrunch, Laptop Magazine and has had his work appear in the Wall Street Journal, Gizmodo, CrunchGear and more.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_GBPCTK2K6Z7YTTEZASQO2EYHBI Emperor

    works, but two Windows phone device are listed. Seems like it is the same one. How do I fix that to only show 1 storage instead of two?

    • Sam

      yeah had the same issue. had two windows phones appear. I originally had it set up for one windows phone but got rid of that, now have established a new wp7 phone to use with zune but unable to see the same modifications as above. I had zune forget that phone but now all i see under zune driver is:

      (Default)
      TransportClassID
      UseWpdPrivateInterface

      • Sam

        now sure what to do next in RegEdit to make the right configuration.

  • Guest

    The only catch is that you can’t do it with any computer but the one you already sync with.

  • Anjen

    Cannot get this to work. I had to create the values myself to begin with…

  • Jobe_en

    THX BRO!

  • Tayler

    i dont know where the zune driver is .. i get to the USB, but then after where is the zune driver

    • Joe Phone

      There is no entry for “zunedriver in my registry, either.

  • mepk

    great stuff :)

  • Jamsalainen

    Nokia 800 is now shown twice in Win Explorer

  • Ferry Aries

    The Storage (free space and used space) is showed up in windows explorer but the content is not… why ?

  • Whoop Whoop!

    Whoo whoo! My only problems are that it is not granting me permission to view device files or create files on the device, even though I am the owneradmin. I am also getting dual-Samsung focus sgh-197s like the rest of you. Uh drrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

  • Amin

    This doesn’t work as expected. It created two icons in my computer. Inside each drive it only shows pictures. I have some audio recordings in form of .WAV files on the phones and I am unable to see that. Any help is much appreciated.

  • anynomous

    thx helped me alot

  • skoch

    this isnt working without zune ,right?

  • LarryN

    Any updates to this since Windows 8 emerged? I’m trying to use a Windows 7.5 phone (HTC Titan II) with Windows 8 on the PC. Regedit doesn’t show the lines indicated above, I tried adding them as Dword Keys but that didn’t help.

  • humayon

    works !!!!!!

  • viabobed

    You are the best

    • viabobed

      Now only thing missing is USB Contact Sync.

  • http://www.facebook.com/Giebell Tom Gijbels

    NICE!

  • BenSkywalker

    Hi,

    First thank you guy!!

    As for now, I got 2 WP icons on my computer windows, but only a single pluged, and for those who are blocked with no folders access; I manage to access on the folders inside my WP :

    you can access to the photo and music repository and some music about folders that I’ll personally don’t touch…

    Now, you will answer me : How did I ? simply by close the Zune windows and wait few seconds to access my WP :)

    have fun