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I connected USB cable from Nexus 7 running Ubuntu to my Ubuntu laptop but there is no new USB device found when I run lsusb. Is this function supported?

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    try sudo apt-get install mtpfs mtp-tools gmtp and then sudo mtp-detect, then launch gmtp. Nov 12, 2012 at 22:00
  • It works half the time, and is too slow. But atleast, it works. Jan 23, 2013 at 8:31

6 Answers 6

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A blog post by Bilal Akhtar has a supposedly more reliable way to connect to Android 4.0+ devices from Ubuntu. The steps are summarized here:

  1. Install the go-mtpfs library, which you'll be using to connect:

    sudo apt-get install golang fuse git-core libmtp-dev libfuse-dev
    sudo adduser $USER fuse
    mkdir /tmp/go 
    GOPATH=/tmp/go go get github.com/hanwen/go-mtpfs
    sudo mv /tmp/go/bin/go-mtpfs /usr/bin/
    mkdir ~/MyAndroid
    

    Note: At some point during installation, a screen may come up in your terminal asking if you want to share information about public Go packages you install with the developers. Feel free to answer this question however you want.

  2. Mount your Nexus 7 or whatever using this command after plugging it into your USB port:

    go-mtpfs ~/MyAndroid &
    
  3. When you are finished, unmount your device by using this command:

    fusermount -u ~/MyAndroid
    

I would also like to thank James Gifford for pointing this article out to me on Google+. ;)

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UPDATE Please take a look below for go-mtpfs example. go-mtpfs is much more reliable, but the instructions remain very similar.


Automatically mounting Nexus 7

Allow non-root users to mount fuse devices:

sudo vim /etc/fuse.conf

Un-comment **user_allow_other**.

Install mtpfs

sudo apt-get install mtp-tools mtpfs

Make mount point

sudo mkdir /mnt/nexus7

chown youruser:youruser /mnt/nexus7

Add udev rules

sudo gedit /etc/udev/rules.d/99-android.rules

#Nexus7 
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", SYSFS{idVendor}=="18d1", MODE="0666"

sudo chmod +x /etc/udev/rules.d/99-android.rules

Add Nexus7 to fstab

sudo vim /etc/fstab

mtpfs /mnt/nexus7 fuse user,noauto,allow_other,defaults 0 0

Restart udev

sudo service udev restart

Access device

mount /mnt/nexus7

umount /mnt/nexus7

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  • As well as manually mounting/unmounting, Nautilus should display your Nexus 7 in your 'Device' list so that you can more easily access it.
    – earthmeLon
    Nov 12, 2012 at 20:40
  • After having various issues on different devices, I have switched to go-mtpfs, with most of these instructions remaining the same.
    – earthmeLon
    Mar 12, 2013 at 22:18
  • I highly doubt this will work if it doesn't even show in lsusb. With the right cable, it works with out-of-the-box 13.10
    – NoBugs
    Dec 26, 2013 at 22:21
  • Glad to know that 13.10 supports this device out-of-the-box. This is mostly for previous versions of Ubuntu, which require special setup. @NoBugs
    – earthmeLon
    Dec 27, 2013 at 20:29
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I found that it doesn't work with cheap cables - if it doesn't even show "Nexus" in lsusb, your cable is bad. Try a better one.

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    Some cables are "power only" for charging. No data lines, so those cables of course will not work.
    – ubfan1
    Dec 26, 2013 at 22:42
  • The one I first tried had 5 connections in the microUSB end, though it doesn't do anything but charge.
    – NoBugs
    Dec 27, 2013 at 0:20
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If the Nexus tablet has the Software Data Cable app available, this program will let you easily transfer files via a wireless link. See:

http://linuxnorth.wordpress.com/2012/04/23/a100-to-ubuntu-file-transfer/

and

http://linuxnorth.wordpress.com/2012/04/24/software-data-cable-addendum/

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In contrast to all the other answers I would still claim that it's not yet possible at all. The question is clearly about "Nexus 7 running Ubuntu" and as far as I understand there is no special service in this first Ubutu port for the Nexus 7 that acts as a USB device. I have a Nexus 7 running Ubuntu here and didn't succeed with any of these solutions mentioned.

I think, all answers so far target Nexus 7 running Android.

Please correct me if I am wrong.

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Install this PPA : https://launchpad.net/~langdalepl/+archive/gvfs-mtp

Update and upgrade.

Hey presto, working MTP support that automounts a Nexus 7 as a browsable folder in Nautilus.

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