What do you use to copy text files from Windows XP to Android over WiFi?

On Wed, 22 Mar 2017 19:40:16 +0000 (UTC), Jonas Schneider wrote:

I'm very close to giving up on finding the best solution,

What? Giving up? Didn't you always tell us only Apple dweebs give up :-) ?

[ v.b.g. ] Cheers, -- tlvp

Avant de repondre, jeter la poubelle, SVP.

On 2017-03-22 21:04, Jonas Schneider wrote:
Anyway, I have installed Netscape and Apache web servers many times and set
them up many times and built web pages many times, and it's just not the
right protocol for me.

Forget all that! Not needed at all, not the same thing.

--
Cheers,
Carlos E.R.

On 2017-03-22 15:07, Jonas Schneider wrote:
On Wed, 22 Mar 2017 02:19:31 +0100, "Carlos E. R."
wrote:

I understand what you're saying so thank you for clarifying.
What that means is that a web server on Android is out of the question.

But you do not have to create any page. You just need to install some
specific app on Android that works that way, transparently to you.
Airdroid is one that does it that way, but it is not the only one. I
think that MyPhoneExplorer is another, but I'm unsure.

Thanks Carlos for making sure I understood that a web server on Android can
work bidirectionally (somehow) where most of my bidirectional experience
with web servers has been using ftp to put the data onto the web server (or
telnet) and not using http bidirectionally.

It has been a long time since I have telnetted into an http server on port
80 and issued commands (get, head, etc) so I'm sure it's possible but
really, a web server is a terrible way to transfer arbitrary files
bidirectionally.

That has nothing to do with it.

Telnet or ssh is used to upload page changes to your own web server
rented somewhere. This is totally unrelated to uploading files to your
phone using an app such as mentioned previously.

Have you never used a web page on internet to which you upload files?
Google photos, perhaps? Google drive? Click upload, displays some
minimal file browser inside the page, select on the file or files, click
"upload", and be done?

It does not matter how they do it. Probably some javascript code, dunno.
Just forget that these apps work by creating some type of web page.
Forget the internals. You only have to consider that in windows you see
a web page created by the phone. Consider that page as "an application".
That's all.

Then evaluate if you like that interface or not.

This type of app is often good to transfer few files with little hassle.


Look, I try "AirDroid" again for you.

It asks for registration, but just tap "continue without registration"
or similar words. The first item then suggests an URL such as
http://192.168.1.5:8888/

Type that on your computer browser. The tablet beeps. Hit accept, done.
No registration!

I can access messages, photos, sms, contacts, ringtones... many
"gadgets". Plus a toolbox for files. Drag and drop works. Not difficult
at all!




The best way is to use CIFS, but apparently I need to be root to add both
CIFS and a File Manager to Android so that it can "talk" directly to
Windows.
http://reviewlagoon.com/nexus-7-tuto...re-as-a-drive/

Sounds strange to me, but I have never used cifs on android.

On the other direction, yes: for instance with ES file explorer you can
access a share in Windows. Notice that you can also initiate the
transfer from Android instead than from the computer.

--
Cheers,
Carlos E.R.

On 2017-03-22 16:50, Jonas Schneider wrote:
On Wed, 22 Mar 2017 02:30:07 +0100, "Carlos E. R."
wrote:

http://forum.airdroid.com/discussion...out-an-account
Apparently registration is not an absolute requirement.

Thanks Carlos for explaining that there are ways to get around the AirDroid
request for an account in the three of three options it gives you.

I noticed that I had AirDroid installed on my tablet, and tried it, not
reading any howto. It does not need any registration to work. it is
trivial to use and connect - at least if your computer and tablet are
connected to the same WiFi router.

Just try it with an open mind - no registration! :-)

--
Cheers,
Carlos E.R.

On 2017-03-22 20:40, Jonas Schneider wrote:
On Wed, 22 Mar 2017 02:49:47 +0100, "Carlos E. R."
wrote:

Well, it is a good and simple way to transfer a few files quickly. You
did not say how many files you needed to transfer :-p

Actually, at first, I just wanted to move one small text file, but then I
got to trying to figure out the best way to transfer files.

1. HTTP is fine, mostly because it's easy on Windows
2. FTP is better, mostly because it's bidirectional & powerful
3. CIFS is best, mostly because it's native on Windows

The killer on HTTP is it's too restricted.
The kill on CIFS/SMB is that the syntax is (seemingly) impossible.

So, for now, it's going to have to be FTP for me.

I use SCP, but it is terribly slow. However, traffic is encrypted, so it
is best for use over internet.

I also use the WinSCP graphical FTP client on Windows, but I find the
native "Map Network Drive" feature of Windows working over FTP URIs is
semingly faster and easier:
Map Network Drive = ftp://192.168.1.10:2121

Notice that you are using FTP protocol, whereas I was talking of SCP,
Secure File Copy. It uses SSH for transport, totally different from FTP,
even if in Windows you can use WinSCP for both.



My preferred method is USB cable, seems to work the fastest of any other
for big files. No need to install anything anywhere.

USB cable is fine but I trip over the extensions because I do this from
floor to floor.

Oh. Long distance.

No, USB should be for a metre or two.


MyPhoneExplorer is another method, very powerful. It needs a client app
in Android, and an application in Windows. I personally do not like it
because I don't use Windows.

I tested a few of the suggested proprietary solutions, where
MyPhoneExplorer was one of them. They're too much for file transfer but
they at least worked for the most part.

....

Overall it looks like a decent app, but since it seems to be a proprietary
server on Windows, it doesn't meet the requirements of the "best", but if
someone wants to control their phone, their contacts, their calls, their
files, it does seem to at least work for that so it's a nice app, but a bit
of overkill for what I'm seeking.

I used it once, when I needed to edit the phone book. I was using W10.

--
Cheers,
Carlos E.R.

In article , tlvp
wrote:


I'm very close to giving up on finding the best solution,

What? Giving up? Didn't you always tell us only Apple dweebs give up :-) ?

he always contradicts what he says.

On Wed, 22 Mar 2017 19:26:31 -0400, tlvp wrote:

I'm very close to giving up on finding the best solution,

What? Giving up? Didn't you always tell us only Apple dweebs give up :-) ?

I'm not sure what you mean as I don't know anything about Apple stuff.

I think lew is correct in that I will never be able to share c:\tmp\abc or
even C:\abc but that I have to share a separate partition (which I don't
have).

Maybe it will work with USB where I can share E:\abc so I'll try that next
but I'm so frustrated that I already gave up until lew suggested that.

In article , Jonas Schneider
wrote:


I'm very close to giving up on finding the best solution,

What? Giving up? Didn't you always tell us only Apple dweebs give up :-) ?

I'm not sure what you mean as I don't know anything about Apple stuff.

understatement of the year

On Thu, 23 Mar 2017 04:04:03 +0100, "Carlos E. R."
wrote:

Notice that you are using FTP protocol, whereas I was talking of SCP,
Secure File Copy. It uses SSH for transport, totally different from FTP,
even if in Windows you can use WinSCP for both.

You are correct that I was talking about a program named "WinSCP".
It's an SFTP, FTP, WebDAV and SCP client.
https://winscp.net/eng/docs/ui_login_environment

I only use the FTP settings though.

Oh. Long distance.

No, USB should be for a metre or two.

What I love about WiFi file transfer is I can do it from my phone in the
bedroom to a computer in the office, where they are on different floors.

MyPhoneExplorer is another method, very powerful. It needs a client app
in Android, and an application in Windows. I personally do not like it
because I don't use Windows.

I used it once, when I needed to edit the phone book. I was using W10.

If I wanted to "manage" my phone, its calendar, alarms, messages, phone
calls, contacts, etc from the computer, then My Phone Explorer would be a
great tool.

Here's a picture of me using it today in my tests.
https://s3.postimg.org/j3ajqn9gz/myp...orerserver.jpg

I just don't think having to put a proprietary server on the computer and
adding a proprietary client on the phone is a "good" solution when we can
add just one client to the phone (eg smb or CIFS) or one server on the
phone (eg ftp or http) and then use Windows native tools to manage it.

This has the huge advantage that it works for all Windows machines, and not
just machines that have proprietary software installed on them.

In summary, many bidirectional Wifi file transfer methods worked and a few
were failures.

Here are the methods, ordered in best-to-worst order.
1. CIFS = wasn't tested but requires root, I think, on the phone
2. SMB = was tested and failed every single time for unknown reasons
3. FTP = worked via many methods the best being "map network drive"
4. HTTP = worked via many methods but always substandard to FTP
5. Proprietary protocols = multiple ones worked but they are overkill

The good news is that out of those 5 methods, I tested about 15 solutions,
where all but the SMB and CIFS ones worked just fine.

My recommendation is to install nothing on Windows and to install any FTP
server on Android, the simpler and least complex the better (where I opted
for "primitive FTP" as the simplest FTP Server that I could find).
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...d=org.primftpd

To open the entire Android phone in the native Windows File Explorer, all
you do is press the "Tools Map Network Drive" and follow the wizard using
the protocol ftp://192.168.1.5:2121 as your address.
https://s14.postimg.org/xffw8fpmp/ft...s_explorer.jpg

On Thu, 23 Mar 2017 03:53:41 +0100, "Carlos E. R."
wrote:

Just try it with an open mind - no registration! :-)

I did try it, and I ranked it where I thought it belongs.
If you rank it differently, that's fine.

Here's my summary of my rankings of the best-to-worst methods.
1. Native CIFS file sharing on Windows & CIFS client on Android
2. Native CIFS/SMB file sharing on Windows & SMB client on Android
3. Native Map Network Drive (or FTP client) on Windows & FTP server on
Android
4. HTTP client on Windows & HTTP server on Android
5. Proprietary server on Windows & proprietary client on Android

All those methods were suggested in this thread, where I simply tested each
and ranked the results as shown above.

How would you rank them differently, and why?

On Thu, 23 Mar 2017 03:48:54 +0100, "Carlos E. R."
wrote:

It does not matter how they do it.
Then evaluate if you like that interface or not.

How would you rank these possible WiFi file-transfer solutions?

1. CIFS client on Android + native CIFS file sharing on Windows.
2. SMB client on Android + native CIFS/SMB file sharing on Windows.
3. FTP server on Android + native Map Network Drive (or FTP client) on
Windows.
4. HTTP server on Android + HTTP client on Windows.
5. Proprietary client on Android + proprietary server on Windows.

On Thu, 23 Mar 2017 03:37:50 +0100, "Carlos E. R."
wrote:

Forget all that! Not needed at all, not the same thing.

It's ok to forget that HTTP is not FTP but what can you say is better about
http over ftp for transferring files between Android and Windows XP?

On 2017-03-23 06:13, Jonas Schneider wrote:
On Thu, 23 Mar 2017 03:37:50 +0100, "Carlos E. R."
wrote:

Forget all that! Not needed at all, not the same thing.

It's ok to forget that HTTP is not FTP but what can you say is better about
http over ftp for transferring files between Android and Windows XP?

FTP is harder to setup on firewalls because it uses two ports (one
control, one data), and the data port varies, it is negotiated. Plus,
the connection can be active or passive, depending if it is the server
or the client which opens the port.

I keep a strict control of the firewalls of my computers, so to use FTP
I have to punch holes in it.

http uses only port 80, it is far easier to control. On occasion I have
used it to transfer a file or two to some device that only had a
browser, or where I did not want to open the firewall.

However, if you have ftp working, no doubt it is better for file
transfer in any direction. It is designed for that.


Generally speaking, I prefer SCP. In Linux, which is what I mainly use,
both server and clients are installed since day 0. Using it is trivial;
setting up the firewall is trivial; all the exchange is encrypted; using
it over Internet is safe.


--
Cheers,
Carlos E.R.

On 2017-03-23 06:13, Jonas Schneider wrote:
On Thu, 23 Mar 2017 03:48:54 +0100, "Carlos E. R."
wrote:

It does not matter how they do it.
Then evaluate if you like that interface or not.

How would you rank these possible WiFi file-transfer solutions?

Depends on each situation :-)

1. CIFS client on Android + native CIFS file sharing on Windows.
2. SMB client on Android + native CIFS/SMB file sharing on Windows.
3. FTP server on Android + native Map Network Drive (or FTP client) on
Windows.
4. HTTP server on Android + HTTP client on Windows.
5. Proprietary client on Android + proprietary server on Windows.


#4 is the one I'm more familiar in Android, so assuming it is just a few
files I would use that. Otherwise, probably #2. The #5 would go last
resource simply because very seldom I use Windows, I prefer
multiplatform solutions.

--
Cheers,
Carlos E.R.

On 3/21/2017 1:06 AM, Jonas Schneider wrote:
On Mon, 20 Mar 2017 23:01:56 +0000 (UTC), Jonas Schneider
wrote:

Thanks for that advice as I do have ES File Explorer,
When I googled, this article seems to explain how to use ES File Explorer
to connect to network shares (whatever that means in English).
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/fiv...twork-storage/
Five Android apps to help you connect to network storage

Even though that article "says" ES File Explorer can connect to SMB
networks shares, it's not obvious how to do that.

On Windows, which is on the same network as my Android phone, I created
C:\tmp\smb and then shared that directory as "smb" which was easy enough to
do.

Then on Android I started ES File Explorer and then hit the top left
hamburger menu and then expanded "Network" which had a "network"
subheading.

In that Network subheading were four options:
a. LAN
b. FTP
c. Android TV
d. Search Result

You can't click on any of those lines so I hit the big blue "Scan" button
on the bottom. It says "Loading" and "scanning" for a really long time
(minutes) with only a "Cancel" and "Hide" button.

After a super long time for something so simple, up popped under "Search
Results" 3 different folders saying "SFTP" on them and an IP address below
them, for just three of my many Access Points, which is pretty much
useless.

So if there is a way for ES File Explorer to attach to a SMB share on a
WinXP computer on the same network, it's not obvious how to do that, and
even so, it's slow as can possibly be which makes what was already useless
even more so.

I don't know what is not obvious. You open 'LAN' touch 'ADD' and then enter
the requested information. Searching for anything is not required. You
either know what the IP address of the target machine is or you don't.