Tab A9 - How to transfer files From/To a Windows 11 PC?

[Geoff_W]

I'll swear that before the Android 16/One UI 8.0 update, when I connected my A9 tablet via USB to my laptop the tablet showed up immediately in Windows File Explorer (WFE) and I could copy and move files easily between the devices. That is certainly still the case with my A9+ which is still on Android 15/One UI 6.0 and also my Pixel phone (on Android 16). However, now that my A9 has updated I am having a nightmare trying to get the two devices to communicate with one another. In the past, and particularly with Pixel phones, as soon as I connected an Android device to the laptop it appeared in WFE and I went to Connected Devices on the phone/tablet and changed 'USB Charging This Device' to 'File Transfer/Android Auto'. 

My A9 only wants to offer 'Quick Share' as the preferred transfer method but I cannot get this to work. When I select 'Share with non-Galaxy devices' and choose my Google account I don't understand what the next stage is. I have selected 'Who can share with you' as 'Everyone (10 minutes only)' and the 'Show available devices on share panel' is set to On - but where do I find the 'Share Panel'?

I've also tried third-party apps such as SHAREit and Link to Windows but again, nothing seems to work.

Please can anyone help?

[Tourbillon De La Vie]

When you connect to pc do you see a notification on the tablet where different mode can be selected. Is auto blocker enabled

[arianwen27]

It's a new security feature of one ui 8. The default usb mode was changed from file transfer to charge only. You have you open your notifications, press the usb notification then set the mode to allow file transfer.

It stops juice jacking attacks by having you intentionally enable file transfers

[Geoff_W]

@Tourbillon De La Vie & @arianwen27 

Thanks for both your replies. When I connect the A9 to my laptop USB a notification appears on the A9 saying that the tablet is charging. When I select the notification I am taken to the Battery tab in Settings. This merely shows the normal battery status information with the options 'Power Saving', Background Usage Limits', 'Battery Protection', a graph of the charging progress, 'Charging Settings (Fast Charging On/Off)', 'Auto Dim Screen', 'Show Battery Percentage' and 'Battery Information'. There is no option to change 'USB Charging' to 'File Transfer'.

Also, I can't see any reference to an 'Auto Blocker'.

[arianwen27]

It's usually below the one you're talking about

[Geoff_W]

Assuming the photo is of your notification pull-down, then mine does not show the USB Options notification. Perhaps I've got something switched off in the notifications list in Settings? Below is the notification on my A9.

On my Pixel phone, if I tap that notification it takes me to a USB Preferences screen, not the battery settings as happens on the A9.

[Geoff_W]

Update on 28/11/25 @16.46 GMT

I've found a temporary workaround. Because my Tab A9+ still connects properly to my laptop, I can copy files across to it. This is particularly useful as I wanted to copy over 30Gb of audio files onto my new A9. Once on the A9+ I can then use Smart Switch to copy (via USB-C cable) to my A9. I have to make sure not to exceed the capacity of the A9's main storage (only 64Gb less OS and apps). Finally I used Cx File Explorer to move the files over to the 64Gb SD Card.

This will work until Samsung update the A9+ to Android 16 and One UI 8.0, whereupon all bets are off.