Phone Link Photos change to File Explorer

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Phone Link Photos change to File Explorer

Hazel Robertson 20

I have Phone Link on my laptop and mobile phone. Recently a message has come up saying Photos are moving to File Explorer, and it means I can open my mobile phone via Explorer and view everything. The only problem is, I cannot view everything - only what is on the Internal Storage, and not my SD card. Why is this? My photos are all saved on my SD card, which Photo Link can access, so why not through File Explorer? I might as well cable up which will give me everything.

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Answer 1

Lychee-Ng 11,895 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi Hazel Robertson,

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A!

I completely understand your confusion over this change. Microsoft is moving the Photos section in Phone Link to File Explorer, but still not being able to see pictures from your SD card can make the feature feel somehow incomplete.

Please understand that to access your phone, File Explorer uses MTP (Media Transfer Protocol), which only exposes the internal storage. It often does not have the same authority to secondary storage volumes, including SD cards.

Unfortunately, there is currently no setting within Windows or Phone Link to enable the SD card in this view. For now, if you need to access files specifically from your SD card, your options are:

Using a physical USB cable remains the most reliable method for full access, as you astutely noted. It allows Windows to recognize both the internal and external (SD card) storage volumes directly.
Continue using the Photos tab within the Phone Link app itself. Even though the section is moving, at the moment you can still open Phone Link and view SD card photos if the app supports it.
Consider other cloud syncing methods for easy access on PC. E.g. OneDrive has a specific section for SD card photos syncing, which might be the reason it's not integrated into Phone Link.

Since this feature is not added yet, the best way to advocate for a change is to provide direct requests to the development team. You can submit feedback through Feedback Hub on your Windows laptop by pressing Win + F. This will help the developers understand which features are more demanded and possibly focus on them more.

I hope this explanation clarifies the situation. While not the ideal solution, your setup is functioning as currently designed. Let me know if you have any other questions.

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Hazel Robertson 20 Reputation points

2025-12-18T12:24:10.81+00:00

Thanks for your comprehensive explanation. Do you know how long it will be before Photos are disabled on Phone Link? Its a handy feature, as does not remove the Date Taken unlike all other transfer methods.
Lychee-Ng 11,895 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-12-18T13:13:55.1633333+00:00

Right now, there's no official date yet, so I cannot say anything for sure. But since Microsoft has started rolling out the change gradually, and from my experience, we should expect the full removal to be in early 2026.

But everything can happen though, if there are enough talks about it, Photos might not be removed. Or it can come back later, just like how the calendar clock in Notifications pane did.
Hazel Robertson 20 Reputation points

2025-12-18T13:19:12.12+00:00

OK thanks. Are you able to assist any with the metadata part of my query? At the start of July this year, Date Taken info started to be removed from photos being transferred to my latptop. I am Windows 11 using Office 365 via subscription. I've been through various apps and uploads/downloads including One Drive and Google storage, to no avail. Either the Date Taken or Location are removed when transferred to the laptop where I want my photos. I was presuming it was some sort of security update/incompatibility with my Samsung phone and my laptop.
Lychee-Ng 11,895 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-12-18T13:49:24.7733333+00:00
I can give a quick assessment. However, for deeper and more specific answer, it might be better to create another thread for it. I'm just one person, there are definitely people who are more knowledgeable at that field than me and they might be able to help you.

Anyway, I'm using Android version 16, UI 8.0. So I haven't paid attention to metadata before (auto off) but I turned it on just now to do some tests. I only have Location so bear with me.

With Google Photos:

I see that the automatically backed up picture lost the Location metadata (in both the app and downloaded to PC).

However, if I manually uploaded the photo, the Location was retained in both places (checked by clicking the i icon for details)

With uploading to OneDrive:

On the app/website itself, there's no details, so I thought it was lost

But the downloaded picture still shows Location data when opened

Google Drive stripped the data completely as I can see.

So maybe you can try doing what I did to test if your metadata maintained? Check Windows settings and make sure you turned Location on too. Sorry in case I'm not being that helpful!
Hazel Robertson 20 Reputation points

2025-12-18T13:55:48.8533333+00:00

Thanks, to be honest I'm not really wanting to use either Google or One drive - just transfer my photos from Mobile phone to Laptop, so really uploading then downloading is a bit laborious, and I've tried it all already and didn't get the results I wanted. Can you tell me under which subjects I would create a thread for this? I wasn't sure with the options available. Thank you.
Lychee-Ng 11,895 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-12-18T14:11:08.74+00:00

I'm the same with you. Normally I'd just use cable, then drag and drop photos directly to PC in bulk. I can be a little bit old-school that way sometimes.

For the subjects, in the same tagline with this question (Windows for home | Windows 11), there is an option called "Files, folders, and storage." I think it's suitable. For better visibility, you can also sum up the main topic in the title, like mentioning "Photos' metadata erased when transferring from phone to PC via cloud methods".

However, please note that if it also happens when you transfer with Bluetooth and/or between phone devices, then maybe Windows is not the issue. In that case, you would need to reach out to your phone's community instead.
Hazel Robertson 20 Reputation points

2025-12-18T14:19:46.25+00:00

Thanks very much for that. It happens with ANY method other than individual manual transfer via Phone Link. So yes, it happens with a cable, and via email. This all started happening at the start of July though - so something changed then. I will start a new thread with the instructions you have given me - maybe see you there! Thanks again.
Lychee-Ng 11,895 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-12-18T14:30:08.0766667+00:00

If my memory was correct, Android 16 was officially released around that time too. You should add your phone model and system details, as well as Windows' in your question so everyone who can help will know of that in advance!

Anyway, I'm glad to be of help!
Hazel Robertson 20 Reputation points

2025-12-18T14:34:06.88+00:00

OK it was the 5 July it all started I think. I did get Samsung to investigate for me but I never got an answer :-(

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Phone Link Photos change to File Explorer

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