[Greeneyedmonster1969]

I am trying to connect my ZTE smartphone to my PC. When I plug the device into the USB, Windows recognizes it as an optical device. When I try to add the device through the control panel, it doesn't recognize it at all.
What am I missing?

Thanks for your help

[B. Diddy]

An optical device? You mean like a CD-ROM drive?

When you connect via USB, swipe down the notification panel and look for the USB icon. If you see it there, tap it and make sure MTP is selected. On the computer, click the X associated with the prompt about the optical drive, and then open Windows Explorer. Do you see the phone in the device list? If so, open it, and you should see the user-accessible folders there.

Some phones come with part of the internal storage partitioned like a CD-ROM drive, and when you connect it to the PC, it tries to auto-open that partition (usually because there's some kind of Windows program you can install on your computer to help manage the phone -- which is usually completely unnecessary).

[Chuckcell]

I feel for you, OP. Linking my Pixel XL to my PC is always a chore. Especially when I looking to offload some pictures or PDF files.
There outta be a better way!

[B. Diddy]

I find it easiest to upload files to Google Drive. If I want them on my PC, it's a simple 2nd step to download those files on the computer.