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I'm kind of new at CMD so please go easy on me. I am trying to copy files from my mobile phone via robocopy in CMD as the regular copy/paste doesn't support some of the features of robocopy I'd like to use. Anyway, the problem is that upon inspecting the path to the phone in file explorer I get THIS PC/[Name of phone]. Robocopy does not recognize anything under THIS PC as a valid path. How do I get the real path of the phone through CMD?

DisplayNerd
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    You'd have to start by looking inside Disk Management to see whether the phone is listed there, I'd guess. Phones connect themselves to computers in ways quite different from other storage devices. There are third-party utilities that can be used to transfer files (Android devices can use ADB, not sure what you'd use for iPhone) via the command line. – music2myear Jan 03 '18 at 00:18
  • Like @music said, many phones use their own filesystem drivers and don't expose a traditional filesystem that can be accessed via native tools such as Command Prompt. One thing you can try is switch the phone from MTP to mass-storage device mode and see if that helps. – I say Reinstate Monica Jan 03 '18 at 04:23
  • Tried switching to photo mode and mass storage mode. Didn't work. I read on a programming forum that windows has this really weird path for it but the only way to get it is through programming, using certain commands to access the shell and find the path from there. I couldn't find instructions for CMD, though. – DisplayNerd Jan 04 '18 at 04:39

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THIS PC is not the actual path, it's just a Windows thing. If Windows has mounted your PC as a drive, you can use the path (i.e. F:\your\path).

However, if your phone is connecting via MTP, it will be much more difficult. The short answer is that you can't.

How do I access MTP devices on the command line in Windows?

Aashishkebab
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  • "it's just a Windows thing" - You really should explain, what the "Windows thing" is exactly, your answer seems incomplete without that explanation. If you believe you have made that clarification, you might look at improving your answer, because that statement is confusing. – Ramhound Jan 04 '18 at 17:00
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    I think by "Windows thing" he means that windows puts all of your devices under This PC, regardless if it has a drive letter or not. In this case, my device does not have a drive letter. It has a private path windows uses to access it, which is what I'm trying to find. – DisplayNerd Jan 11 '18 at 03:40
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In cmd, just remove "this pc". Also, if your phone drive has spaces between words, remove them. Example: "phone phone", if it is like this, then rename it to "phonephone" and it will work. The cmd doesn't recognize spaces. You can rename it in file explorer. Right click the phone drive and rename it.

user1676470
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    Your answer could be improved with additional supporting information. Please [edit] to add further details, such as citations or documentation, so that others can confirm that your answer is correct. You can find more information on how to write good answers [in the help center](/help/how-to-answer). – Community Apr 18 '22 at 11:33