You have to get your computers to recoginze the player as a USB Mass Storage device rather than an MTP (Media Transfer Protocol) device. To do this, follow these steps:
(1) Right-click on My Computer then select Properties.
(2) In the Hardware tab, click the Device Manager button.
(3) Find the Sansa Express device. (It should be in the Portable Devices category)
(4) Right click on the device then select Update Driver.
(5) Choose “No…”, “Install from a list…”, and then “Don’t search…”.
(6) Check the “Show Compatible Hardware” checkbox if it is unchecked.
(7) Select “USB Mass Storage Device”, click Next, and then click Finish.
Hello I bought my express the other day and am very happy, so far. I had a similar problem to the guy above and after reading the posts I sorted it out on my home computer and can drag and drop files to the express to a separate data folder I’ve created.
My problem/question/challenge is that when I want to use my sansa express in university to save my work, I plug it into the USB port and xp automatically sees it as an MTP device and installs the software for it. Now I can see my files and read from the drive but cannot write to it with any type of file other than .mp3 as it “does not recognize” the file type.
The problem is there is no USB option on my sansa express to configure how I want it to connect and I don’t have admin rights to access device manager to install it as a mass storage device. Also I don’t believe the admin people in the uni have upgraded to media player 11 yet.
I hope someone can help with this issue or has a way around it. At the moment im zipping my work and changing the extension to .mp3 so it sees it as an mp3 file and thus allows me to save it to the drive. But this is a pain and is not very practical.
Any help will be greatly appreciated
Cheers
Message Edited by monkeyman15 on 02-06-2008 12:49 AM
At the moment, your only options are to force MSC through device manager (if possible) or wait for your uni to upgrade to WMP 11.
In all honesty, if you want something to use as a USB flash drive, you’re better off just getting one - the right tool for the job, and all that. They’re more durable (no screen,) smaller, lighter, they start up faster, are more reliable than MP3 players, have longer warranties, and best of all they can be safely carried on a keychain so you’re a lot less likely to misplace one. As an added bonus, a flash drive will free up that much space on the Express for actual music. They’re also MUCH cheaper - you can often find them at around $10/gig, sometimes even less. I routinely see drives under $20 in local stores at 1-2GB capacities. Given that you really want something reliable to store your data if your education depends on it (remember, Murphy’s Law loves to go after college students,) I think it’s well worth the $10-$20 investment.
Thanks for your reply kenny, i appriecated what your saying, an i’ll probably just go and buy a flash drive, i was just hoping to combine the two devices into my express
Thanks for the solution of deleting files by changing how Windows XP sees the Sansa Express. I am able to delete the pdf file.
Now, how do I change it back to a MTP (Media Transfer Protocol) device from a USB Mass Storage device?
I tried the earlier post in reverse. However, the drive now shows as a disk drive. I cannot find the option to change it to a MTP.
The step-by-step instructions to change it to a mass storage device were great. Uninstalling and reinstalling it make it a storage device again. Thanks in advance.
Message Edited by JimDaugherty on 06-04-2008 07:59 PM
Look in the “Universal Serial Bus controllers” category in Device Manager. While in MSC mode, the player has two listings in the “Disk Drives” category (one for internal memory and one for the memory card slot) and one listing in the “Universal Serial Bus controllers” category. The listings in the “Disk Drives” category are like devices within a device, and these cannot be changed to MTP mode. The one in the “Universal Serial Bus controllers” category is for the player itself (the master/host device of the other two) and can be changed to MTP mode.
i just read your message and followed the steps you have written in order to put my sansdisk in MSC mode, but the wizard couldn’t install the hardware so the device cannot start as a Mass storage device.
I just bought sandisk yesterday and i’m trying to make it works.I need some help.
Hi, thank u a lot for the reply. i’m using windows xp i just tried it again and in the final step when the wizard was searching for the driver it showed the message that it couldn’t find it, so the device can’t start.but actually when i opened the device manager it appeared at universal serial bus controllers but was with a yellow question -mark.then i disconnected it from my computer,turn it off(when i was trying all the steps above it was on) and i connect it to my computer again.there appeared the message found new hardware, so the computer rrecognized it and i was able to use it as usb.its everything ok only if i connect it while it is off ,because if i connect it while it is on the computer doesn’t recognize it. it was ok this way until this morning because something else went wrong. (sorry i write so long to u but i want to be clear) while i was working at my computer i formated it by mistake and now i can’t open it anymore because it needs its drivers and i dont know where to get them. in fact my cousin bought it in new york for me (i’m albanian and i live in albania) i would be very grateful &thankful to u if u could help me in some way. maybe my message is too long but it was necessary to explain the problem. thank u for your first reply i’m waiting for your reply hoping that u will be helpful. sincerely, denada
Hi, thanks a lot for your availibility to help me, i really appreciate it. i had sansadisc connected to my computer and also another usb.instead of formating the usb i formated sansadisk. I right-clicked sansa view disk and chose format ,so the formating process erased all the information that was there,all the folders. you wrote that the drivers are in my computer, but i don’t know where they are since i updated sansa’s drivers while it was connected to my computer and i dont have them copied somewhere in my computer. now it doesn’t work at all.my computer doesn’t recognize it as usb, i can’t use it iether as sansa player,when i turn it off there appear only a blue light and there is nothing on the screen. i dont know noone else that use sansa in order to help me, so i hope only in your help.so can you write me and tell where i can find the drivers? by, denada
Hi, thanks a lot for your availibility to help me, i really appreciate it. i had sansadisc connected to my computer and also another usb.instead of formating the usb i formated sansadisk. I right-clicked sansa view disk and chose format ,so the formating process erased all the information that was there,all the folders. you wrote that the drivers are in my computer, but i don’t know where they are since i updated sansa’s drivers while it was connected to my computer and i dont have them copied somewhere in my computer. now it doesn’t work at all.my computer doesn’t recognize it as usb, i can’t use it iether as sansa player,when i turn it off there appear only a blue light and there is nothing on the screen. i dont know noone else that use sansa in order to help me, so i hope only in your help.so can you write me and tell where i can find the drivers? by, denada
This isn’t a driver issue. This is a problem with the player itself. Because the firmware is poorly written, the player sometimes gets disabled when you do something such as update the firmware, format the file system, or load tracks onto the device.
You may be able to fix your player by reflashing the firmware. To do this, perform the following procedure:
(1) While holding down the Volume Down (-) button, connect the device to your computer.
(2) If a “Found New Hardware” window appears for an STMP3600, let Windows connect to the Internet to find the “Player Recovery Class” driver automatically.
(3) Run the firmware update utility for the Sansa Express.
