Sometimes you just get tired of  having to plug your phone into your PC, so why not just eliminate the USB cable altogether and do things over WiFi? Here’s a short tutorial on how it’s done.

What you need: ES File Explorer from Google Play, and ensure your phone is connected to your homes WiFi. I am using Windows 7, so I am unsure where things are located in Windows 8.

First, lets make things easier to read. Tap on ES File Explorer on your phone and open it. Down at the bottom tap on View. Under View I chose Medium Detail and under Sort I chose az with the up arrow.

ES File Explorer

Next, go into the ES File Explorer Settings menu, and then scroll down and tap on Window Settings. Now tap on Set the default windows. The only two items in there to have a check in the box should be Home and Remote Manager (unless you have a specific use for any of the others). Now back completely out of the app and close it so that the new windows settings will take effect. Open it once more to the folder view and swipe your finger to the left to see the Network Status window, which should be showing your homes WiFi. Now tap on the Turn on button and write down the full address you see there. It should be something similar to this (remember, your own IP address will be there, not the one in my example. The last 4 digits are the port number which should be the same as mine): ftp://12.34.56.789:3721

On your PC open up Computer so that it shows a list of all your hard drives and devices. On the left side column right click over Computer and choose Add a Network Location.

Network Location

That will open the Add Network Location Wizard. Click Next. Mouseclick on Choose a custom network location so that it’s highlighted and click Next. Now type in that ftp address that you wrote down a moment ago and click Next. Click Next on the anonymous login window without choosing anything else. Now create a name for the shortcut (I just typed in the name of my phone). Click Finish and you’re all done.

Now when you want to manage files on your Android you can open ES File Explorer on your phone, swipe the screen to the left and enable the Remote Manager. Then open Computer on your PC and click on the new shortcut you just created in there to open your phone.  On that same Remote Manager screen on the bottom are more custom settings where you can enable a password for logging in. Remember to disable Remote Manager when you’re done.

Keep in mind that sometimes your IP address can change, so if the shortcut in My Computer stops working for you you may have to follow all these steps again to reset a new shortcut with a new IP address.

I hope you found this tutorial useful.