How to connect Xiaomi phone to your computer: 5 working methods + error solving

Connecting a Xiaomi smartphone to a computer is a task that every user faces: whether it is transferring photos, installing firmware or debugging through a computer. ADB. But even in 2026, many people are facing problems: the PC can't see the phone, drivers are not installed, and files are not copied. USB-cable to wireless technologies, and also tell how to solve typical errors without contacting the service center.

Xiaomi phones (including Redmi, POCO and Black Shark models) feature MIUI’s own shell, which sometimes blocks the default connection. For example, the default settings may enable Charging Only, and file transfer requires manual switching. In addition, Windows 10/11 does not always automatically recognize Xiaomi devices due to the lack of native drivers. We will show you how to bypass these restrictions and configure the connection in 2-3 minutes.

1. Connection through USB-cable: step-by-step instruction

The most reliable and quick way is to use the original USB Type-C cable (or Micro-USB for older models), but even here there are nuances: not all cables support data transfer, and some USB ports on PCs can only work in charging mode.

To connect Xiaomi to your computer via USB:

• 🔌 Connect the cable to your phone and your PC. Use the back. USB-port on the system unit (front often have insufficient power supply).
• 📱 A notification will appear on the phone screen USB To...Shoot it and select File Transfer (MTP).
• 🖥️ Open This Computer – The phone should appear as a removable disk (e.g. Redmi Note 12 Pro).
• 🔍 If the device does not appear, check the Device Manager (see the Error section).

Important: Xiaomi models with MIUI 14+ may require unlocking the screen and confirming a trusted device when first connected. If you use a charging cable (such as the POCO X5) kit, it may not support data transfer, try another.

Use the original Xiaomi cable

Connect to the back. USB-port

Unlock the phone screen

Select the MTP mode in the notification

Check for drivers (see Section 3)

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2. Wireless connection via Wi-Fi (Mi Drop, FTP, AirDroid)

If the cable is not available, or USB-Port is down, files can be transferred over the air. Xiaomi offers several built-in tools:

• 📤 Mi Drop is a proprietary application for transferring files between Xiaomi devices (available in Settings) → Connection and sharing).
• 🌐 FTP-server - built into MIUI (included in the settings → Additionally. → Wireless. FTP).
• 🤖 AirDroid – a third-party application for remote control and data transfer.

Consider the connection through FTP-server (works without the Internet, only on the local network):

1. On your phone, go to Settings → Additional → Wireless FTP and turn on the switch.
2. Remember the address of the species ftp://192.168.x.x:xxxx login data (username is usually anonymous).
3. On PC, open Explorer, enter the address in the address bar and press Enter.
4. When requesting a login / password, enter data from the phone screen.

Wi-Fi transmission speeds will be lower than USB (average 5-10MB/s vs 40-60MB/s), but this is enough for photos or documents. For large files (video, backups), cable is better.

3. Installation of drivers for Xiaomi on Windows

If the computer can't see the phone even after the cable is connected, the problem is often the lack of drivers. Windows 10/11 automatically installs generic drivers for MTP, but they may not work correctly.

Download drivers from official sources:

After downloading:

1. Connect the phone to the PC.
2. Open Device Manager (Win + X → Device Manager).
3. Find a device with a yellow exclamation point (usually under Other Devices or Portable Devices).
4. Right-click → Update the driver → Search on this computer and specify the path to the downloaded drivers.

⚠️ Warning: If the phone is still undetectable after installing the drivers, try disabling the driver signature in Windows. To do this, reboot the PC with the Shift key clamped, select Diagnostics → Additional parameters → Loading parameters → Reboot, then press. F7 (disable mandatory signature verification).

4. Debugging connection (ADB/Fastboot)

For developers and advanced users, ADB (Android Debug Bridge) mode is available, which allows you to control the phone through the command line. This is necessary for firmware, unlocking the bootloader or installing custom Recovery.

To turn on ADB:

1. On the phone, go to Settings → About phone and tap the MIUI version 7 times to activate the developer mode.
2. Back to Settings → Additionally. → For developers and include: 🔧 Debugging by USB 🔄 Unlocking OEM (firmware)

Connect the phone to the PC and confirm the debugging permission on the smartphone screen.

Command line.

adb devices

If the device appears in the list, the connection is successful.

To work with ADB, you will need Android SDK Platform Tools (you can download here). Unpack the archive and run commands from this folder.

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If the adb device command returns a blank list, try reconnecting the cable or restarting the ADB service with the adb kill-server && adb start-server command.

5.Use Mi Assistant to sync with PC

Mi Assistant is Xiaomi's official app for controlling your phone from your computer.

• 📁 Transfer files in both directions.
• 📞 Manage notifications and SMS.
• 🎮 Duplicate the phone screen on the PC (useful for games or presentations).
• 🔋 View the status of the battery and memory.

To connect with Mi Assistant:

1. Download the application from the official website and install it on PC.
2. On your phone, turn on USB Debugging (see Section 4) and connect via cable.
3. Run Mi Assistant on your computer – the program will automatically determine the device.
4. For wireless connection scan QR-code from the PC screen through the Mi Assistant app on the phone.

The advantage of this method is that you don’t have to manually copy files: you can drag and drop them between your phone and PC, like in a regular Explorer. However, Mi Assistant requires a stable Internet connection (to log in via your Mi Account).

6. Solving common connection errors

Even after you set up correctly, you can have problems, and here are the most common mistakes and solutions.

If none of these methods worked, try:

• 🔄 Restart your phone and computer.
• 🔌 Use the other USB-port.
• 📱 Reset the settings USB on the phone: Settings → Additionally. → For developers → Reset configuration USB.

⚠️ Note: Some Xiaomi models (e.g. Redmi Note 10 Pro) may require an mtp-tools package to be installed when connecting to a Linux PC.

7.Alternative methods: cloud services and third-party applications

If the physical connection is not possible (for example, broken) USB-Ports, you can use cloud services:

• ☁️ Google Drive or Mi Cloud – upload files to the cloud from your phone and download to your PC.
• 📎 Telegram – send files to yourself in Save Messages and download on your computer.
• 🔗 LocalSend - an open application for transferring files over a local network (analogue of AirDrop).

For automatic photo sync, it is convenient to use Mi Cloud (built into MIUI) or Google Photos. For example, in Google Photos you can enable automatic download over Wi-Fi, and all photos will be available on the PC via the web interface.

If you need to control your phone from a PC (for example, for streaming games), consider:

• 🎮 Scrcpy - wireless display of the screen with mouse / keyboard control.
• 🖥️ TeamViewer QuickSupport - Remote access to the phone.

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For maximum file transfer speed, use USB 3.0 (blue port) and the original Xiaomi cable. Wireless methods are convenient, but 5-10 times slower.

FAQ: Frequent questions about Xiaomi's PC connection