[Galaxy Note II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] GuccizBud:
Hi all,

(Note from OP: Can't change thread title, but if I could I would change "solved" to "proposed solution", because that's what this is: a kind of workaround.)

First, to the best of my knowledge, the Hardware ID problem when connecting the Note II to a PC via microUSB cable isn't yet solved; my apologies if it was.

I got it to work on my Rogers i317M model (like at&t) but I've no reason to think it won't work on other models.

The solution is Kies, but not in the way one might think: yes, Kies provides the solution, but to do this you won't actually be using the Kies software—just gonna borrow it a little while :).

First, install Kies on your PC if it isn't already; it wasn't for me as I never use it normally. You can download it from the support pages of Samsung's website (look for a "useful software" link I think), but goo.gl/h6fwMI is a direct download link to the one I used. Note that it takes its sweet time installing, about three full minutes (which feel like 30 or so) . . . do not have your device connected to the PC during installation.

The key feature we're exploiting here is that Kies will hook your PC up with whatever it needs to have the Note II communicate via USB properly with it. Before stumbling on this method, I had the Samsung drivers installed alright, and all I was getting when connecting was the Hardware ID message, like I know many others do. Note that I did not remove the old Samsung drivers before installing Kies . . . not saying it has to be done that way, just saying that's how I did it.

Once installation is complete, close Kies completely; for me that meant popping open the Windows Task Manager (right-click the taskbar or [Ctrl] [Shift] [Esc]) and manually killing two (2) Kies processes, on top of closing the Kies app window itself of course.

Now try connecting your device with the cable . . . you will probably get a Windows AutoPlay popup . . . go into Default Programs > Autoplay Settings and you should see the phone at the very bottom of the list (Figure 1. attachment) . . . configure it to Open device to view files using Windows Explorer as in the figure.

Now when you connect your phone to your PC, Windows Explorer will pop open a file window, which is what we were looking for, and there should be no sign of the Hardware ID problem. The window that will open will look like Figure 2.—take a look, you'll see it doesn't assign the device a drive letter as expected. Instead, it will show up under Computer as its own device, bearing two "drives": Card and Phone (if there's no external SD card in your device you'll just see Phone). Click Phone and you're ready to go! (see Figure 3.).

Two further considerations:

I don't suggest uninstalling the Kies software afterward. I set about doing so (using Revo Uninstaller) to see if I would still be able to connect, and the first popup I got said "Uninstall SAMSUNG USB Driver for Mobile Phones?" That didn't sound encouraging, so I aborted it, and for now I suggest leaving Kies installed, at least until and unless someone tries it and reports back with a verdict.

As a followup to the previous point (a consolation prize, you might say :laugh:), you can prevent Kies from starting up every time you boot your computer, so that, even though installed, it will be inactive and out of the way. You need a startup manager of some kind. Windows has its own somewhere—msconfig maybe—but I used the one in the Auslogics® bundle and found no less than four (4) items added by the Kies installer which I had to uncheck (see Figure 4.). I may be keeping Kies installed, but I can at least make sure it's quiet :)

In short:

1. Install Kies

2. Stop all Kies-related activity:

· the app itself (if running)

· two (2) processes

· four (4) lines in Startup

3. Connect phone to PC with USB cable

4. Configure Windows Autoplay to "view files" when you connect

5. Do the dance of joy

The end result is pretty much that any time you connect your device with your PC via USB cable, a window with the file contents of the device will appear, allowing you to cut/copy/paste/move files at will, at the cost of a piece of inactivated software residing on the PC.

I'd be interested to hear how it goes with others... good luck!