[Nexus 7 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] TToTT:
Ok peeps... I've flustered myself over this issue for a while, and noticed in a couple other threads that others are having this issue as well, so I'm posting what I hope to be a "cure all" for devices not reading in Windows as MTP devices. This should work in any and every Google Nexus devices, with the one exception being the actual Galaxy Nexus (model SCH-I515) because it's driver is distributed by solely by Samsung.

A little background:

For a long while, I had my device all nice and set up, ready to use and work with as I so pleased, and then it seemed like there was a driver update, and from then on out, I couldn't get my device (in this case, the Nexus 7 Grouper) to be read by Windows as anything other than a PTP (camera) device... I looked high and low over the internet (including this site) for a fix to my problem, a number of offerings to look over, and seemingly only one of them worked. So... Here I am to share it with you all, so hopefully you don't have to fight with it (anymore) like I did...

Just a quick FYI, this worked for me using BOTH Windows Vista (64 bit) and Windows 7 (64 bit), and really should be pretty much universal for all versions of Windows (but don't quote me on that, I'm not saying it with 100% confidence)

Now, a lot of the pages that I came across in my search suggested that you have to uninstall this or that, reboot a half dozen times, and really, more work than it actually took, so I'm going to offer up the way that worked for me, and did so simply. I'm not saying that pages like TheByteSmasher's or sfhub's version for the 2013 N7 model didn't work, simply that they took more steps than what actually worked for me with less hassle. That all being said, let's get to fixing the issue at hand...

I suggest that on your computer that you have a display of your computer's drives (start menu, then selecting/entering the "computer" option) in the background while you're doing all of this. Visually, it serves as an aid for what you may or may not have to do. If at any time your device shows up in your computer's devices in MTP mode, you should already be fine. If not, please continue.

On your device:

Begin by plugging your device into your computer using a data-compatible USB cord (most stock cords that come with your device are).

If your computer starts trying to install device drivers, let it take it's course, and see if your device is working "as is" with USB Debugging.

Note that every time you switch debugging on or off, or switching between MTP and PTP, your computer could/might install drivers for each mode. Let this finish before making another selection.

Open the Settings app.

Choose Storage.

Touch the Menu icon button, and then choose the command USB Computer Connection. (Might be up in the corner somewhere, in a pulldown menu... Mine had 3 dots set up like a colon if that helps ya get the image)

There should be two options; MTP and PTP.

Ensure that there’s a check mark by the Media Device (MTP) option.

Back out of the Storage tab, and go into Developer Options.

If Developer options is not available to you, go to "About phone/tablet/device", and where your build number is listed, tap that section 7 times. After about the 4th time of you tapping it, it'll toast you a little notification that just says "continue tapping for developer mode"​

Once you're in Developers Options, go to the Debugging area, and select enabling of USB Debugging.

On your computer:

Get into your device manager. This can be done a number of ways, some of which depend on which version of Windows you're on... I personally use the WindowsIcon+PauseButton shortcut feature, but if you need directions on this;

Clicking the Start button > click Control Panel > System and Security > under System, clicking Device Manager.* Administrator permission might be required depending on settings and your user account of your computer. Another way to do this, again depending on which version of Windows you have, could be done by opening the Start button, and in the search feature typing in "device manager"

Once in device manager, it'll display all devices connected to your computer. If you're unsure as to which connects to your device, simply pay attention to the device manager while you unplug your device (it'll refresh) and then plug your device back in (another refresh will happen). Chances are, it'll be either a collapsable tab called "Android device/phone/tablet" or it'll be in your "Portable Devices" collapsable tab. (It could also be in USB controller/devices, for whatever reason) Whichever one it is for you, expand that tab and it'll show something like "Android Composite ADB Bootloader Interface" or some variation of those words. This is good, we know that your computer is reading that your device is connected, even if it's not (presently) allowing MTP.

Double-click the Android Composite ADB Bootloader Interface submenu item, and it'll pull up the properties of it, giving you 3 tabs to select from. Go to the "Driver" tab, and read what version of driver it says you have installed.

Taking a step away from that for a minute, download the latest Google USB Driver zip and save it into a directory where you can easily find it... Download folder or desktop work fine, whichever you're more comfortable with.

BTW, if for whatever reason the link above doesn't work, you can go directly to the Google USB driver page and download it from there, but the first link takes you directly to the latest download zip file itself...

Once you have the file downloaded, extract it into a folder using a program like WinRAR or other zip file utilities.

NOTE: The next step is not mandatory, but I suggest it for users who are knowledgeable enough to know that there are files, folders, and other such things on your computer are not meant to be messed with, and if you do so, you could mess up your computer. What I'm doing will not mess up your computer AT ALL, but if you decide to mess with other things in folders we're going to access, then YOU can mess it up. You've been notified, I'm not going to take responsability for your actions, because if all you do is follow my directions, NOTHING bad will happen.

If you're uncomfortable with messing with system folders/files, just skip to the step beyond this... This one is done purely for cosmetic and easily accessible reference reasons only.... That being said, go into your computer's driver's folder, which will usually be found at C:\Windows\System32\drivers. From there, create a new folder and call it "Android", and then go into it. Take the files that you extracted in the previous step, and move them all to here. After moving them all into the android folder, remember the location you're at in Windows, you'll be using it in the next step...

Whether or not you did the previous step, it's important that you know where the files you extracted are now placed. Going back to the device manager program, in the tab "driver", you'll see where it says "Update Driver". Click that.

A prompt will come up asking if you want to "search (online) automaticly for updated driver software" or to "browse your computer for driver software". You have already downloaded the latest driver, and honestly the automatic search often finds a driver that's useless or doesn't work right, so you'd select to browse your computer... If you moved the files into the drivers folder done a couple steps back, provided you haven't named your computer or placed the files on another drive than your C:/ drive, your location for what you're looking for should be C:\Windows\System32\drivers\Android\latest_usb_driver_windows\usb_driver. Feel free to copy and paste that upon your need, and place it directly into the "search for driver software in this location" box.. Hitting "Next" should bring you to the next step (below). If you didn't move the files (or they're in a different directory, or for whatever reason the above didn't work for you), then you're going to have to point your computer to where you placed the extracted files... And this kinda gets "iffy", as in "if the computer sees what you've done" or you actually have to "hold it's hand" to recognize what you've done. In other words, at this state of implementing the files, you computer really hasn't recognized them (the driver files) existing on your computer. So, chances are, you're going to have to do some hand-holding, which is fine, because atleast this way, we know we're all doing it in a way that both you and your computer aren't having to guess....

From here what you'll need to do is select "Let me pick from a list of drivers on my computer" and upon doing so, UN-ticking the "show compatible hardware" check-box. You should see now a couple of selection boxes listed as Manufacturer and Model. Do NEITHER of these. Instead, click the "Have Disk" option, and a "Install from disk" menu will pop up. From there, go into "Browse..." and point your computer to wherever you placed the extracted files, opening all the folders until you come to a file called android_winusb.inf, and selecting it. This will guarantee that your computer is grabbing and using the exact file you're wanting it to, the correct driver update installation.​

After selecting the "android_winusb.inf" file and hitting Open/OK, it'll bring you back to where you un-ticked the "show compatible hardware" option earlier, with it now being re-ticked (which is fine). There might be a few listings as to which you can choose from there under the "model" tab, and any of those should work for you. You have to CLICK which one you want until a popup appears. I just chose the one with the longest name, figured it served the most purposes... :laugh:

Anyways, your driver will start installing... You'll likely hit a warning message that says something to the extent of "this driver cannot be verified"... Shoot right through that and allow it, and your device will finish installing the driver... If your sound is on, you'll notice a new device connection sound... Check back in the contents of your computer connections, and you should see your "new" device listed there. If not, sometimes a restart might be required.

Congrats, your device is now seen by Windows:

If this helped you, I'd love a thanks! ;) :cool: