USB driver without installing Active Sync?
 

Is it possible to install the non-standard USB driver without having to install Active Sync?

Is it possible to tweak the phone so it shows up as a standard USB device that can use a built-in driver on Windows XP?

Main goal here is to transfer files to and from the phone and have the phone show up as a removable drive in Windows XP. Having to install software on every PC I might encounter just to have the phone show up as a drive is not an option.

Automaton,
WM5Storage shares the storage card as a USB drive - seems to be commonly used for the purpose you describe. Problem is I don't think you can see the internal phone files using it. Good luck. tmb
http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/showthread...ght=WM5Storage

Side note. I dont think WM5Storage works out of the box. The way to fix that is to install Cardexport, search there is a CAB posted. Then uninstall it. Then install WM5Storage. Now it will read as a USB mass storage device.

It is complete and utter bullsh1t that Sprint did not include this functionality for free with the phone out of the box. It seems like this would be very simple to implement for even a programmer hobbiest. Is there any good free software out there that allows us to do this? I'm glad this option is available, but I have a problem with paying $15 to do something that the phone should have done for free out of the box.

um... wm5torage is free. Developed by a programmer hobbiest, as you call it.
Its not something built into WM, and this is normal. In fact, there are many USB devices, PDAs and MP3 players alike, that need 3rd party drivers, so I don't understand why you'd be upset that a propietary function such emulating a USB Mass Storage Device wouldn't be included.


By the way, it just so happens that Windows XP (and most any current OS) includes USB Mass Storage device as a standard driver, but it was not so long ago that with older versions of windows, you had to install drivers manually for even using a memory stick keychain!
Vista now has built in support for WinMob devices, so they are actually plug and play, but for the many of us who still use other / older operating systems, its would be a nice feature... but not one that should be expected out of the box.

So, I beg to differ, this is not the proverbial "bullsh1t", as you so elequently put it. Read the previous thread again, and you'll have your answers.

Wow... finally somebody that understands the same thing's that I do!! Cause I feel the same way! Man, do you know how many times I wished Alltel would have included the ability to cook a pizza with my phone!? I mean sheesh! It does everything else! Why not cook a pizza!?

From what I read in this thread, WM5Storage is not compatible with WM6. I have a WM6 phone. The only option I have seen for WM6 is "Card Export" which is $14.95.

As you stated, Windows XP supports USB storage devices natively. That is not the issue. The issue is that the USB storage device inside my phone does not present itself as such to the operating system. There are many USB devices with built in storage that DO present themselves as USB storage devices to the OS. I have a camera, a flash drive, and an MP3 player that do. Imagine having to install full client software (not just a driver) on every computer you wanted to use your USB flash drive on. That would defeat the whole point because you would need to carry an installation CD on you at all times and get permission to install the program on the host computer even though you may only use it one time.

I assumed that something as computer-like and data-centric as a WM6 PDA would present itself as a USB storage device. The solution they provide (ActiveSync) is just as unacceptabe as having to lug around and install a client software CD for your USB flash drive. Actually It's worse because ActiveSync does not truly mount your device as a local drive. You can't even execute programs off of it for example.

Do not let the name WM5Storage fool you! I use it everyday on WM6!!! It's awesome!!!

I think you misunderstand the whole concept here.
You DID IN FACT used to have to install a driver on every computer that you plug your flash drive onto!!
It was a few years ago, when USB ports first became standard, and many people don't know that because flash drives didn't become popular until AFTERWARDS they included it in popular OSs.

Now, you seem to think USB mass storage mode is a "given", than any usb device can work like this.
It doesn't work like that. Your camera, mp3 player, etc... ARE NOT MASS STORAGE DEVICES, HOWEVER
THEY EMULATE THE SAME INTERFACE AS A STORAGE DEVICE SO THAT YOUR COMPUTER CAN READ IT WITHOUT ADDITIONAL SOFTWARE.

This is essentially "tricking" your PC into reading it without new drivers. Really, those things should all have their own drivers.

Older devices could only be accessed using their propietary software suite, which was really a PITA (like the early d-link mp3 players, which I still have in a drawer somewhere)... luckily things have changed and now many support emulation of a device driver that already exists (Mass Storage Device)!

When you put those devices into Mass Storage mode, they generally can't operate properly (camera can't see its own pics, mp3 can't see its own songs) because it is handing the control of its memory over to the PC and pretending its own CPU doesn't exist.
This isn't native of PDAs for obvious reasons. In fact, I dare you to find any PDA that supports this natively (there are a handful, but I doubt anyone's heard of them). Imagine suddenly pulling all the memory away from a PC while its being used... It takes a fancy emulation program like wm5torage or card export to create a fake mass storage device without hurting your device.

(that's why, by the way, it only works with the storage card... if you take away the main memory of your device, it'll go bonkers).

Make more sense now?

anyway, no one said buy card export. Read the post above AGAIN.
SLOWLY.
and mine too, while you're at it. Maybe it'll make more sense then.

How is this thread still going on?

I posted the way to make this work. Do I need to come install it for you, and give a public demonstration? I will only charge you $15.

I will repeat. Install Card Export. There is a CAB file posted someone, if you search. If you keep the CAB on your storage card or even a hyperlink or a ton of other options you can do this all from your phone. After you install Card Export, UNINSTALL it. Now install WM5Storage.

I know you are using WM6. I know you are using a PPC-6800. I am too, trust me it works.

EDIT. Next time search, this was posted in a thread that was closed by a moderator just days ago. He linked to the appropriate thread.