I've been battling this issue with my Samsung Galaxy S3 for months. Spent hours on the phone with Samsung support, and they finally concluded it was a "Microsoft Issue". I've tried all the fixes suggested here and then some.
This is ridiculous. I have a doctorate in physics, and I can't figure out how to sync my phone with my laptop.
The constants: every time I plug the phone in via USB, Windows and/or Kies (tried both with and without Kies running) tries to install the MTP USB driver. Have uninstalled almost everything and reinstalled, in various permutations. Have tried different USB
cables and ports. Have chanted strange incantations and done a feverish dance with sprigs of sweet basil.
I was planning to give a phone like this to my 60-something-year-old parents, but if the only way to get pictures off of it is to upload them to some cloud service and then download them to the local machine, then they will never use it, or, at least,
will never see the photos they make.
I remember a time when you could plug a device into your computer, and it would appear as an "external device", or something, on "My Computer". I suppose that was too easy. I will personally buy Bill Gates a bottle of fine single-malt scotch if he can
succeed in connecting a Samsung Galaxy S3 on a Windows 7 machine, and getting anything off of it.
What bullshit...
Adam Trotter