Windows 7: Why can't I open pictures DIRECTLY for a camera?

When opening pictures from a camera, I get that blasted viewer thing - it is impossible to make it use a photo program, until I copy the picture to the hard disk. Surely the camera is simply a USB memory stick when plugged in?

The usb memory stick (your camera) is listed in my computer. Just rightcklick on that drive and "explore" it. Doubleclick act the same as on a normal disk

Often cameras have two modes of USB connection, with varying nomenclature for what those two modes are called depending on camera manufacturer.

But this corresponds to the MSC vs. MTP mode of connection for a portable music player, which also typically has the same two options.

In MSC mode (or whatever your camera calls it) the flash card storage gets a drive letter assigned by Windows when you plug the camera into the PC. Then you can just use your favorite image viewer program to browse/view that drive letter (i.e. the flash card in the camers), as if it were a local drive or if the card were removed from the camera and placed into a USB card reader (internal reader slot on your PC or external USB card reader device).

In MTP mode you have to use Windows Explorer or other software that understands how to get to the flash card in the camera, because there are no drive letters assigned in MTP mode.


If you get a drive letter assigned by Windows when you plug the camera into the PC, then you can use 100% of any Windows or 3rd-party program to just browse that drive letter's contents, i.e. your picture folders on the flash card in the camera. And that USB connection mode is conceptually MSC.

If you don't get a drive letter assigned when you plug the camera in, then it's set to connect in MTP mode. In this case the number of usable Windows and 3rd-party programs to get to the pictures folders on the flash card in the camera is very limited.

If your camera is currently in MTP mode, if you can change it to MSC mode you will then get a Windows drive letter assigned for its flash card storage, and you will have full capability to access it just like any other removable USB device with all of your Windows and 3rd-party programs. Just remember you also need to "safely remove hardware" when dealing with MSC-connected devices that get Windows drive letters assigned, and wait for the "it is now safe to remove hardware" message. Now you can pull the USB cable from the PC.

As you can see below, mine seems to be set to "PTP"?

I've tried the two highlighted settings (browse, and open device), but both act the same way - no drive letter. How do I go about changing it? I have not installed any software for the camera, it's whatever Windows Seven did itself when I first plugged it in.

It's not in disk management either - I thought I could perhaps add a drive letter there.

I've not done that since windows 2000 - the default nowadays is to turn off write behind cacheing for removable drives, which was a silly idea anyway.

If your camera is in PTP mode (i.e. same as MTP in my earlier story), then there's no drive letter. If you open Windows Explorer you will NOT see a drive letter, but rather the camera's name will probably be down at the bottom on the list of drives.

For example, my Cowon J3 shows up as "Cowon J3" in Explorer (rather than as a drive letter).when it's configured to be in MTP mode, with a "+" next to it. The J3 has internal storage and an external microSDHC card slot, and if you have an external card inserted then when you click on the "+" it will expand to show "internal storage" and "external storage" under the main "Cowon J3". If the J3 is set to MSC mode, then two Windows drive letters are assigned to its internal and external storage.

That's MTP mode, and that's also your camera's PTP mode. And that's why only Windows Explorer is show as available to open it, because Windows Explorer is one of the few programs in the universe truly able to understand MTP/PTP mode connectivity.


It's a setting in your camera.

Check the documentation for your camera, to see if setting the USB connection mode is an option. Certainly Nikon cameras support both modes of connection, with MSC mode (or its equivalent name for Nikon) or MTP available in its setup menu. It's described as either (a) "MTP/PTP" or (b) "mass storage" (i.e. MSC) in the Nikon documentation.

To each his own. I will never remove an external USB hard drive without first "safely remove hardware". Call me crazy and old-fashioned.

Why, then, does the "safely remove hardware" icon appear in the System Tray with the removable devices shown there when you plug in an MSC-connected USB device (including external USB drives), if it was unnecessary?

Certainly doesn't seem to be OFF by default. Rather it seems to be ON, if the "safely remove hardware" is any indicator.

GRRRRR, mine does not appear to have this option.

If I copy loads of files to a USB stick etc, the copying dialog stays on the screen until it's written all of it. Confirmed by the light on the stick stopping flashing. No need to tell the computer you're removing it. You can check in the properties for the device anyway if you're paranoid. Anyway, if you do remove it too soon, you will get a very nasty message saying unable to write data.

I don't get an icon, I probably switched it off, I've turned off most of the icons as I had TWENTY and now I have five/

You only get that "safely remove hardware" icon for devices that connect in MSC mode and which get Windows drive letters assigned.

Since your camera appears to only support MTP/PTP mode, there are no Windows drive letters involved and there is no "safely remove hardware" icon associated with the USB connection or removal of that device.