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I plugged my Kit-kat android phone up to my Ubuntu 14.04 computer and I enter the terminal and I want to be able to access files on my phone like the media and music folders through the terminal... is this possible?

cmehmen
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2 Answers2

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Android devices usually uses the Media Transfer Protocol (MTP) when connecting via the USB. This protocol works differently than the traditional USB.

Simply put, this is a way to ensure that the phone does not share too much data with the computer. The computer makes a query, and the phone answers it. The phone may decide to share the file or ignore the query. Similarly, when the computer deletes a file, the phone has the ability to decide whether to actually delete the file or not.

Okay, enough introduction. To access a device connected via MTP, you need the information about it's #Bus and #Dev. To do so, you can run the following command.

usb-devices

This will provide you with a list of connected usb-devices. You need to find your device from this list. It can be a bit tiring, so you can search for the device with the available Manufacturer option. Simply use the following command.

usb-devices  | grep "Manufacturer=OnePlus" -B 3

This will provide you with 4 lines of information, where the firs line is as follows.

T:  Bus=02 Lev=01 Prnt=01 Port=00 Cnt=01 Dev#= 13 Spd=480 MxCh= 0

As you can see here, the associated Bus is 02, and Dev is 13.

Now change your directory to /run/user/1000/gvfs/ and see the list of folders there. 

/run/user/1000/gvfs/
ls

You will find the associated MTP device with the #Bus and #Dev in the list. For example, mine was mtp:host=%5Busb%3A002%2C013%5D. Now simply change your directory using the following command.

cd mtp\:host\=%5Busb%3A002%2C013%5D/

Voila! You are inside the file storage!

Muntasir Wahed
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    Awesome! Worked like a charm, thx – Justin Oct 03 '18 at 05:30
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    Worked like a charm, but it wasn't mpt:host, it was gphoto2:host – user1271772 Oct 13 '18 at 00:24
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    What if there is nothing in `/run/user/1000/gvfs/`. My `ls` doesn't show anything. – Nikhil Wagh Oct 22 '18 at 10:17
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    same here. the folder is empty. i set my phone to 'file transfer' mode in case that matters. – roy May 16 '20 at 18:37
  • Note the following command. `usb-devices | grep "Manufacturer=OnePlus" -B 3` I used OnePlus because my phone was manufactured by OnePlus. You will have to put your manufacturer name In it's place. I think this should fix the error. – Muntasir Wahed Oct 13 '20 at 05:47
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    If the folder /run/user/1000/gvfs/ s empty, install gvfs-fuse with "sudo apt-get install gvfs-fuse" and reboot your system. Probably will work after that. =) – R. W. Prado Oct 01 '21 at 05:25
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You can find the mount point under the $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/gvfs directory. The main directory may be something like mtp:host=… with some escaped characters and USB vendor/product IDs, but you should be able to access your files from in there in a terminal.

dobey
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  • I'm uncertain how to follow your instructions. What directory is `$XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/gvfs` in? I can't find it anywhere. Is it hidden? – Sarah Szabo Jan 30 '18 at 00:51
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    The `$XDG_RUNTIME_DIR` defaults to `/run/user/$UID/` I think. There is a `gvfs` sub-directory within it. – dobey Jan 30 '18 at 03:02
  • I've found the `gvfs directory, but I don't see anything in it using the `ls` command. – Sarah Szabo Jan 30 '18 at 21:40
  • OK. This was working when I answered the question in 2015 on 14.04. Maybe something changed/broke in newer Ubuntu in relation to this? – dobey Jan 30 '18 at 23:05
  • Possibly, should I re-ask the question, bu with it related to modern systems? – Sarah Szabo Jan 31 '18 at 02:20
  • Maybe should file a bug report on https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gvfs – dobey Jan 31 '18 at 02:40