How to connect an android phone to Qubes in 4.3?

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I connected my android phone to Qubes 4.3. I allowed file transfer. I got a box saying “Failed to mount. Volume doesn’t implement mount.”

I wanted to attach the phone to an AppVM. I could not find it in the device list.

I would like to copy the photos from the phone to an AppVM. How can I do that?

I am new to Qubes and trying to learn and read this forum posts. Here Who can help me how to connect a notebook / Qubes-OS with the cell phone Samsung Android (Galaxy A72)?
someone wrote: Try to access the files on your phone in the sys-usb qube itself without attaching it to other qube. There is a known issue with attaching android devices to other qubes.

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This is a known feature of Android.
When you choose “File Transfer”, the phone changes its USB “identifier”. For Qubes, this is like you just unplugged the device and (very quickly) plugged another one, unrelated to the removed one. And so the new device is back again into the sys-usb AppVM.

So the easy, simple workaround is to leave the phone connected to sys-usb and open a Files Explorer there. But I don’t remember whether the default packages of the disposable AppVM can handle Android — maybe you must install additional packages.

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I’ve struggled with this one myself. The advice you got was correct.
Accessing files on the phone can only be done through the file browser of sys-usb Qube.

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I was finally able to access my phone on sys-usb by disabling (unchecking) minimal-usbvm option in sys-usb Qubes Settings > Services. Although, depending on threat models, some should not disable this feature or disable and re-enable after disconnecting the phone. Here is a forum discussion related:

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I had the same problem. The combination of disable minimal-usbvm for sys-usb and installing gvfs-backends and mtp-tools in the underling debian template did the trick for me. Now I can open my Android devices via the file manager of sys-usb again. Thanx @parulin and @alannis !

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Just so someone has said it: minimal-usbvm should be reactivated when you’re done. Otherwise, you’ll run into problems the next time you want to pass an external hard drive to another Qube.

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Should probably reboot sys-usb before and after. Its a dispvm.

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Probably another way:

I installed “qTox” in it’s own AppVM on Qubesos.

I installed “aTox” App on Android and interchanged the Tox ID’s to each other.

After connecting to network I can send files to both destinations.

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I actually found a way to do this that is very user friendly.

If you use a Fedora template for your sys-usb you’ll be using much newer drivers for your devices, than the older and more stable Debian template.

You’ll be able to connect to your phone directly to sys-usb, or pass the device to any other qube that runs Fedora (cannot connect when passed to Debian qubes) and connect from there.

I connected my Pixel phone this way with no issues. This was not possible with a Debian template sys-usb.
The strange thing is that my phone comes up in the Qubes USB list as a Camera, but wth…

If you have any concerns about compromising security, which this technically does, I’d suggest using a DVM template based on a Fedora template.
This way even if compromised, on reboot it will revert back to the DVM template.

Also, if you use bluetooth through sys-usb, you’ll be able to have much better connections with modern devices.