File transfer over USB cable option no longer appears after upgrade to MIUI 10 I have a Xiaomi Redmi 4A and I used to often transfer files between it and my Windows 10 laptop PC over USB cable.

When I plugged in the cable the phone it used to prompt me to choose between USB charging and USB file transfer.

I didn't use this feature for months and a couple of weeks ago the phone told me MIUI 10 was available so I upgraded it it seemed very nice.

Today I want to transfer some files from the phone to the PC and now when I plug in the cable, the screen comes on and both devices beep but I am not offered to choose between charging and transfer. The phone does not show up in Windows explorer to browse files.

The phone does show on the computer as a connected USB device. But I can't find any settings or options on the phone or the computer to browse or transfer files on the phone.

Has this feature been removed in MIUI 10 or is it hidden behind non-obvious settings? Or am I missing something very simple?




I have tried two different USB cables. At least one of the cables caused my feature phone to show up as a USB storage device or MTP advice.
I have tried rebooting the phone and the behaviour afterwards is identical.
Though I was pretty sure I'd transferred files with at least one of the USB cables I tried around the time I posted this question, I tried a third cable at work tonight and the file transfer option now appeared!

So unless it was a coincidence, it seems it was due to a USB cable that was designed only for charging and lacked the wiring for file transfers!