Greetings SaeedR_706,
That is a good question, however I would suggest rather then using the USB cable, to transfer files over your WiFi network to a shared folder on your Windows 7 Laptop.
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I have a Toshiba Thrive running Android. I can connect it to my PC with a USB cable and access files on my Thrive on the PC. The PC treats the Thrive as a hard drive. Can I connect my Surface in the same way? I have tried and the PC does not appear to see the Surface.
This is a pain, one of the reasons I bought the Surface was to be able to do this type of hard connection and not have to use "iTunes" or the Cloud.
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Greetings SaeedR_706,
That is a good question, however I would suggest rather then using the USB cable, to transfer files over your WiFi network to a shared folder on your Windows 7 Laptop.
Hello Rrccw,
No, you cannot connect the Surface to the PC via USB. However, you can setup Shared folderson your PC. Once you have that, have the Surface connect to the same network via WiFi and then go into Network from the Desktop app, select your PC and then see the Shared Folders. From there, the Surface should have Read/Write access if you gave the permissions on the PC.
Hi KeefB88 I totally agree with you. Surface RT connectivity to other devices is one **** of a struggle and got us accomplished nothing. Worse, my Surface RT running on Windows 8.1 RT cannot even connect to my laptop and desktop running on Windows 8.1! Hah, is this a case of siblings not talking to each other? So, if they cannot even connect to one another, all the more with other devices: Surface RT cannot connect, BT and WiFi, to other devices, which have no problem connecting with other gadgets (other than Surface RT). Clearly, the issue on connectivity (BT and WiFi) is not an issue with my Windows 8.1 laptop and desktop because all my other gadgets can connect to them. Surface RT only "recognizes" other devices, but cannot connect to either of them. Now, Microsoft people should not limit our options on how to connect and should not tie us up with their cloud service. Why do they always fail to see why Android system is such a success? The Microsoft people (those employed by the company) are very much aware of the issue because it's simply all over the web. Have they taken concrete step to help their customers? NO! Yes, you're right: they took half a step forward and 3 steps backward. To me, they took several steps back down the stairs! The apps on their Store, especially the critical apps are for sale! Yes, Android too have apps for IAP, but the freebies are a **** of a lot and highly functional! There are thousands! Cruise through the Windows app Store and read people's feedback about the freebies and even their IAP apps. The only "saving grace" about the Surface RT is that it's bundled MS Office, useful because Microsoft dominates the desktop and laptop apps (MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint). But they should make their customers enjoy more of their products (for entertainment, etc), so that highly satisfied users will consider upgrading to other Surface variants. We only wish that may Microsoft listen to their customers. Thanks...
Thanks for the reply, I just hope that someone in Microsoft wants to do something about it instead of forgetting/ignoring previous mistakes and the customers who have suffered in there support for the Company.
It isn't "BS". You guys aren't realizing that the Surface *IS* a PC running something really close to regular Windows. It's a USB host, just like regular Windows PCs are, just like a Mac is, and unlike what most phones and tablets are.
You can share files around quite easily, but you do it in the same ways you'd share files between any other two PCs, through Windows networking, or through an external drive, or through Skydrive for that matter.