MTP Device Driver Installation on Windows XP

Support for Media Transfer Protocol (MTP) is built into Microsoft Windows Vista and newere (including Win 7 and 8.) It is not native to Windows XP. Since many devices now use MTP for PC connection and file transfer, including some smart phones, music players, and flash memory devices, Windows XP users are feeling left out. Such tasks used to be accomplished by using USB Mass Storage mode.

USB Mass Storage made it easy to connect your portable device to a PC and transfer files. It was not necessary to install any special drives on the PC. The PC would detect the device, and you could simply cancel the driver search dialog, and then wait a few seconds for the new drive letter to appear in Explorer/My Computer. Files could be transferred both ways.

Due to some limitations in how USB Mass Storage mode works, developers have pushed to replace the old standard with the new MTP mode, which is an extension of the very limited Picture Transfer Protocol (PTP). MTP mode allows access to portable device memory without mount issues and file lock problems. MTP displays the device in My Computer, not as a drive letter, but by the device name itself, and offering access to read and write files to it directly.

No Native Support for MTP Under Windows XP

When a modern MTP device is connected to Windows XP, it will momentarily appear as a USB Mass Storage Device (where a small partition is reserved with an autorun.inf files and a driver.) The appearance of the USB Mass Storage device is brief, and does not represent the actual read/write space on the device flash memory. Windows XP will then prompt the user for driver installation.

For MTP to work on Windows XP, a key component of Windows Media Player 11 is needed. Windows XP will also require Service Pack 3 to be installed.

• SP3 + WMP11

Although technically, not all of Windows Media Player 11 is needed. What is needed is a part called the UMDF (User Mode Driver Framework). This part is contained within a file:

• umdf.exe

A Quick Fix

Install Microsoft Media Player 11. You can install MMP11 without going to Windows License Validation if you use Winzip to open the installer file "wmp11-windowsxp-x86-enu.exe" and extract the contents into a temp directory. Then, within all those files, you only need to run 2 specifically to install WMP11. Run them in the following order:

1. wmfdist11.exe
2. wmp11.exe

mtp "cannot install this hardware"

This error is also part of the complete error message:

mtp filename directory name or volume incorrect

Sometimes there are errors during the installation of WMP11 due to the very buggy nature of Microsoft software. Lets face it, Microsoft software is buggy garbage. But here we are using it.

A working resolution was posted by anythingbutipod.com forum member "denis_mc_auliffe_ie". It has been mirrored here for preservation and your convenience.

The solution, I finally discovered was to do with the UMDF (User Mode Driver 
Framework) service. It comes with WMP11, and installs during the setup.

Looking at the UDMF installation logs (c:\windows\Wudf01000Inst.log) - I found 
that there were errors during installation - I figured that re-installing UMDF 
might fix the problem. (and it did!) Unfortunatly, as it is not in add/remove 
programs, I ran into problems trying to remove it. If you un-install WMP11, it 
does not remove the UMDF dll's. If the dll's exist, then the UMDF installer will 
skip during the re-install of WMP11.

I managed to manually re-install UMDF using the method below.

To find the installer files for UMDF, you need to get them out of the WMP11 Installer.

Code:

How to find the installer for UMDF

1) Run the WMP11 Setup file "wmp11-windowsxp-x86-enu"
(It will extract the installer files into your %TEMP% folder)
 
2) Click Start -> Run -> %temp%
3) Press F3 and search for "umdf.exe"
4) Copy this file to your Desktop 
5) Cancel the WMP11 Setup.

Now, you need to fool windows into thinking that UMDF is not installed on your 
computer, by renaming some files. Copy & Paste the following into a Command Prompt.

Code:

rename C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\wudfrd.sys den_wudfrd.sys
rename C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\wudfpf.sys den_wudfpf.sys
rename C:\WINDOWS\system32\wudfhost.exe den_wudfhost.exe
rename C:\WINDOWS\system32\wudfsvc.dll den_wudfsvc.dll
rename C:\WINDOWS\system32\wudfx.dll den_wudfx.dll
rename C:\WINDOWS\system32\wudfplatform.dll den_wudfplatform.dll
rename C:\WINDOWS\system32\wudfcoinstaller.dll den_wudfcoinstaller.dll

Now run the umdf.exe and re-install.

Resolutions for other MTP Driver Installation issues

It has been suggested to install .Net Framework 4.0. Although I don't believe this is necessary, it is something you can try. Obtain and install the following from Microsoft.com

dotNetFx40_Client_x86_x64.exe

Vendors like Samsung and LG offer universal MTP compatibility drivers. The one from LG is available from their web site, and is called:

LG_VZW_United_WHQL_v2.18.0.exe

I think the LG driver is a piece of crap, and is also not the answer.

Microsoft wants you to try installing this:

mtppk12.exe

It is really not necessary. They swear it is though.