How to find and download albums from Xiaomi to your computer: all ways from Mi Suite to ADB

Are you trying to transfer photos from Xiaomi to your computer, but you don't see the folder with the albums in the explorer? Or maybe the system shows an empty gallery, even though the phone has hundreds of pictures, POCO or Mi - standard methods of connecting by USB Often not working due to the file system MIUI. In this article, we will analyze all the current ways to access albums, including hidden techniques that are not written in the official instructions.

The main difficulty lies in the fact that MIUI It creates virtual albums that don't always match the physical folders on the device, for example, photos from messengers or screenshots can be stored in non-obvious directories, and the gallery itself groups them by tags, not by folders. MIUI 12, Xiaomi tightened its internal memory access policy MTP — protocol used when connecting to USB. But we can get around these limitations and we will show you how.

Why your computer doesn’t see Xiaomi albums: 3 main reasons

Before we get to the bottom of the solution, it’s important to understand why photos don’t show up in Windows Explorer or macOS.

• 🔌 Incorrect connection mode USB. By default, the smartphone can be configured to Charge or File Transfer Only (without media access).
• 📁 Hidden system folders: Photos from some applications (such as WhatsApp or Telegram) are stored in directories that are not displayed without additional settings.
• 🔒 Limitations MIUI. Starting with MIUI 13, Xiaomi blocks access to some folders through MTP, requiring the use of proprietary software or ADB.

Another nuance is gallery caching, and sometimes the smartphone shows photos in the Gallery app, but they're not physically saved on the device (for example, after importing them from the cloud), so you can't copy them to your PC until the synchronization process is complete, and you can check this in the gallery settings: if you see that the Memory section is downloading, wait for it to finish.

Method 1: Standard connection to USB (MTP-regime)

Let’s start with the most obvious method that works in 70% It's gonna take a cable to do that. USB Type-C (preferably original or certified) and Windows PC 10/11 macOS.

1. Connect your smartphone to your PC with a cable.
2. On the screen of the phone will appear a notification Charging via USB – tap it.
3. Select File Transfer Mode (MTP) Photo (PTP) (The second option is suitable if the first one does not work).
4. On your computer, open This computer (Windows) or Finder (macOS) – the device should appear as a removable disk.

If the folder DCIM (Where the photo is usually stored) empty or not, check the following directories:

• 📸 Pictures – screenshots and uploaded images can be found here.
• 🤖 Android/data/com.miui.gallery — hidden gallery folder (you need to enable the display of hidden files in the Explorer settings).
• 💬 WhatsApp/Media or Telegram/Telegram Images - photo from messengers.

What do you do if your computer can't see the device? Try the following steps:

1. Restart your smartphone and computer.
2. Connect the cable to another USB-port (preferably) USB 3.0).
3. On Windows, update the device drivers through Device Manager (Portable Devices section).
4. On macOS, install Android File Transfer (official software from Google).

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If the phone starts charging when you connect, but there is no notification of the choice of mode USB — If you try using another cable, cheap, uncertified wires often only support charging, but not data transmission.

Method 2: Using Mi Suite (Official Xiaomi Software)

Mi Suite is a proprietary utility from Xiaomi that allows you to manage files, install firmware and create backups. It often helps in cases where the standard software is used. MTP-You can download the program from the official website (select the version for your OS).

Instructions for working with Mi Suite:

1. Install and run the program on your computer.
2. Connect your smartphone with a cable (mode) MTP or PTP).
3. In the main window of Mi Suite, select the Files tab.
4. Go to the Internal Memory section → DCIM or Pictures.
5. Select the desired albums and click Export to copy them to PC.

The advantage of this method is that you can access hidden folders that are not visible in the explorer, for example, you can find photos from the Mi Cloud here, even if they are not yet fully synced.

• ⚠️ The program does not always work correctly on macOS (may require additional drivers).
• ⚠️ New versions MIUI (14+) You can block access to some system folders even through Mi Suite.

Method 3: Access via ADB (for power users)

If the previous methods didn’t work, the Android Debug Bridge remains (ADB) — A debugging tool that allows you to access the file system of your smartphone in full, and it requires a little bit of technical skill, but it's guaranteed to work even on the latest versions. MIUI.

What you need:

• 🖥️ Computer with Windows, macOS or Linux.
• 📱 Included Debugging by USB on your smartphone (how to turn on - see below).
• 🔗 Installed drivers ADB Google's Platform Tools utility.

Step 1. Turn on the debugging. USB Xiaomi:

1. Go to Settings. → The phone.
2. Tap 7 times on the MIUI version until you become a developer!
3. Back to Settings → Additionally. → For developers.
4. Activate the USB Debugging and OEM Unlock switches.

Step 2. Connect to the device via ADB:

1. Download Platform Tools and unpack the archive.
2. Connect your smartphone to your PC in File Transfer (MTP) mode.
3. Open the command prompt (cmd on Windows or Terminal on macOS) in the folder with Platform Tools.
4. Enter the command to check the connection: adb devices If the device appears in the list – the connection is successful.
5. Copy photos on a PC team (example for folder) DCIM): adb pull /sdcard/DCIM/ C:\Xiaomi_Photos\ Here. C:\Xiaomi_Photos\ — The path on your computer where the files will be copied.

Important: If you are using macOS or Linux, the path to a folder on your PC should look like /Users/your name/Xiaomi_Photos/ (discless).

Step 3: Alternative method using ADB Shell

If the standard pull does not work (for example, due to limitations) MIUI), launch ADB Shell and Manually Find a Way to Albums:

1. Enter the command to enter the shell: adb shell
2. Go to the root directory of memory: cd /sdcard/
3. View the folder list: ls
4. Find the right albums (for example, DCIM/Camera) Copy them to PC via Adb pull.

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ADB — The only way to access the files is if MIUI block MTP-But it requires the debugging on. USB, What can be unsafe when connecting to untrusted devices.

Method 4: Cloud Services (Mi Cloud, Google Photos)

If the physical connection doesn’t work or you don’t want to mess with cables, you can use cloud services. Xiaomi offers its own cloud – Mi Cloud, and also supports Google Photos and other platforms.

Mi Cloud:

1. On your smartphone, go to Settings → Accounts. → Mi Cloud.
2. Turn on the sync for the Gallery (if it is turned off).
3. Open i.mi.com on your computer and log in to the same account.
4. In the Gallery section, select albums and download them through the Export button.

Google Photos:

1. Install the Google Photos app on your smartphone.
2. Enable automatic photo upload in the application settings.
3. On your computer, open photos.google.com.
4. Select the necessary pictures and click Download (photos will be archived in the ZIP).

The advantages of cloud services:

• ☁️ No cable or special software required.
• 🔄 Automatic synchronization of new photos.
• 📱 Access from any device.

Disadvantages:

• ⚠️ Limited space (free tariff Mi Cloud gives 5 GB, Google Photos – 15 GB per account).
• ⚠️ Photos can be compressed (in Google Photos when selecting the option "High quality").

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If you often transfer photos to your PC, set up automatic download in Google Photos in Original quality (without compression). → Backup and synchronization → Quality of loading.

Method 5: Wi-Fi transmission (FTP local-network)

If you do not have a cable or USB-The port is down, you can wirelessly transfer photos, and you can do that with applications like this. FX File Explorer, Solid Explorer or Built-in FTP-server MIUI.

Instructions for FX File Explorer:

1. Install FX File Explorer from Google Play.
2. Open the application and go to the Network section → FTP.
3. Click Start Server and write down the address (e.g. ftp://192.168.1.100:2221).
4. On the computer, open the conductor and enter this address in the address bar.
5. Log in (login and password from the application) and copy the necessary folders.

Built-in FTP into MIUI (Not available on all models):

1. Go to Settings. → Connection and sharing → File transfer by FTP.
2. Turn on the switch and write down the server address.
3. On PC, connect through any FTP-client (e.g. FileZilla) or Windows Explorer.

The speed of transmission over Wi-Fi will be lower than the speed of USB, But this is a method that's very convenient for periodically transferring a small number of files, and the key is to make sure that the smartphone and the computer are connected to the same network.

What to do if albums are damaged or not opened on PC

Sometimes copied photos don't open on a computer or are displayed with artifacts, and this can happen for several reasons:

• 🖼️ Damage to files during transfer (especially relevant for Wi-Fi).
• 📏 Incompatible formats (e.g, HEIC iPhone-only RAW Xiaomi).
• 🔍 Viruses or File System Errors on Smartphone.

How to Recover Damaged Photos:

1. Try opening files on another device (such as another PC or tablet).
2. Use image recovery software such as Stellar Phoenix Photo Recovery or Recuva.
3. If the photo is in format HEIC, convert them into JPG using CopyTrans HEIC for Windows.
4. Check your smartphone for viruses with Malwarebytes or built-in antivirus MIUI.

Critical information: If photos were deleted from your phone before copying, don't write new files to your device, which will reduce your chances of recovering them. Use programs like DiskDigger or EaseUS MobiSaver to scan your memory.

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If photos don’t only open on a PC, but they’re normally displayed on a smartphone, the problem is with codecs. Install the K-Lite Codec Pack for Windows or use a standard macOS viewer.

FAQ: Frequent questions about moving albums with Xiaomi