SOLVED!
The tribal knowledge of this ng has been improved with this thread:
https://alt.comp.os.windows-10.narkive.com/d40XUB0d/from-windows-how-can-we-open-a-command-line-on-the-android-filesystem
Despite the vermin who infested this potluck Usenet picnic:
o *Ken Blake* [From: Ken Blake ]
o *Wolf K* [From: Wolf K ]
o *Danny DeVito* [From: Danny DeVito ]
o *Char Jackson* [From: Char Jackson ]
o *Rudy Wieser* [From: "R.Wieser" ]
o *Sam Hill* [From: Sam Hill ]
o *joe* [From: joe ]
o *Good Guy* [From: í*½í¸‰ Good Guy í*½í¸‰ ]
We have come to a conclusion, that there is only one solution out there, to
date, for Windows, that will map over USB the Android filesystem as a drive
letter so that all the power of Windows is available to the user:
================================================== ==========================
0. Without MTPDrive, you must copy files from Android to Windows in order
to run DOS commands (like changes, copies & backups) on those Android
files.
http://www.bild.me/bild.php?file=9648761dir.jpg
Without MTPDrive over USB, if you dual boot to Ubuntu 18.04, you _can_
run
commands directly on those Android files over USB:
http://www.bild.me/bild.php?file=6181360dir01.jpg
With MTPDrive over USB, you can run "some" commands directly on those
files:
http://www.bild.me/bild.php?file=1853998dir02.jpg
However there are key limitations of the MTPDrive crippleware, so it's
not
yet a universal solution available to everyone at all times on Windows:
http://www.bild.me/bild.php?file=8315262dir03.jpg
It was _always_ possible to read/write access the Android filesystem on
Windows (or Linux) over Wi-Fi by running a server on Android, e.g.,
WebDav:
http://www.bild.me/bild.php?file=8605173dir05.jpg
And this generally worked also for FTP servers running on Android:
http://www.bild.me/bild.php?file=7687244dir06.jpg
Where, for some reason in my tests, FTPuse v2.2 didn't work on Windows:
http://www.bild.me/bild.php?file=7075400dir07.jpg
But everything else worked with FTP except, of course, mounting the
Android filesystem over USB so that commands could be directly run:
http://www.bild.me/bild.php?file=3316456dir08.jpg
Running an SMB server on Android is out of the question simply because
you need to be root to use the ports that Windows requires, where
perhaps, in the future, we may make use of the "SAF" capabilities
(Android Storage Access Framework):
http://www.bild.me/bild.php?file=3168139ftpd.jpg
Meanwhile, the _only_ solution that worked on Windows to mount my
Android Nougat 7.0 filesystem as a drive letter over USB so that
commands could be directly run on the files, was MTP Drive crippleware.
1. Obtain & install MTP Drive version 2.10 crippleware on Windows
http://mtpdrive.com/download.html
I saved to: C:\software\network\mtpdrive\MTPdrive210.exe (3,495 KB)
It wanted to install into: C:\Program Files\MTPdrive
I installed it into: C:\app\network\mtpdrive
2. I created a shortcut to C:\app\network\mtpdrive\MTPdrive.exe
3. I connected the Android device over USB & ran that MTPdrive.exe shortcut
4. I pressed the "Map" button to map the phone to a named drive
5. This mounted the Android external sdcard as a named drive, e.g., (M
6. I right clicked my desktop to "Open Command Window Here"
7. I ran the desired DOS command on that now-mounted Android filesystem
dir /s/a/l/on/b *.apk
Voila!
http://www.bild.me/bild.php?file=1853998dir02.jpg
For another inventory of _every_ file on the external sdcard:
A. I connected the Android device to the USB port of the Windows PC
B. I ran the MTPDrive GUI at C:\app\network\mtpdrive\MTPdrive.exe
C. I hit the MTPDrive "Settings" button & then I clicked the "Settings" tab
D. I hit the "Dump device data to a file" button C:\tmp\WPD.log
The bottom portion of that log file containd a list of every file found.
\SD card\1data\software\apk\lgapps\Calculator-com.google.android.calculator-75013172-v7.5 (213680574).apk
\SD card\1data\software\apk\lgapps\Chrome-com.android.chrome-349710002-v69.0.3497.100.apk
\SD card\1data\software\apk\lgapps\Cloud Print-com.google.android.apps.cloudprint-140-v1.40.apk
\SD card\1data\software\apk\lgapps\Docs-com.google.android.apps.docs.editors.docs-183920235-v1.18.392.02.35.apk
\SD card\1data\software\apk\lgapps\Drive-com.google.android.apps.docs-183920235-v2.18.392.02.35.apk
\SD card\1data\software\apk\lgapps\Duo-com.google.android.apps.tachyon-2602856-v39.1.213443905.DR39_RC19.apk
\SD card\1data\software\apk\lgapps\Facebook App Manager-com.facebook.appmanager-46985667-v18.4.apk
\SD card\1data\software\apk\lgapps\Facebook-com.facebook.katana-1-vstub.apk
\SD card\1data\software\apk\lgapps\Gmail-com.google.android.gm-60804175-v8.9.23.215020111.release.apk
etc.
The bad news:
o MTPDrive seems to work for the _external_ sdcard only (not internal)
o MTPDrive crippleware is limited to copying 30 files per sesssion
The good news:
o This is the only known solution that maps the Android filesystem
to a drive letter on Windows over USB.
o Since this solution exists, it's likely there are more universal
solutions out there (our job is to find them).
================================================== ==========================
Bear in mind that. since this solution exists, it's almost certain that a
more universal solution also exists that the experienced may know about.
If you do know of a better solution, please do advise us so that your
knowledge increases the overall tribal knowledge of the group as a whole.