So I had seen this feature on the G2 when going through the settings, and pretty much disregarded it as something silly or not useful. Boy was I wrong. It turns out you can use this to access the files on your phone via a PC or Mac on your wifi network via a file sharing function called SMB (Server Message Block). No need to plug in a cable and none of those slow and terrible web interfaces. It's essentially wireless USB storage and the transfer speed is very good depending on your wifi network. Yes there are Apps out there that do this, but this is native in the LG software on the G2 which is always a plus. Here's what you do ...
There's a toggle for it on the notification window. If you don't have the toggle selected, hit edit at the very end, select it, and move it to where you want it on your toggle bar. You can also turn it on by going to Settings > Share & connect > Wireless storage.
If you used the toggle, a notification will pop up in the window that includes your phone's IP address and the username and password.
Option 1: Direct search
Double Click on Computer on your PC to open your Explorer. Click the search bar at the top and type in the following:
\\192.168.x.xx (the IP address listed on your Wireless storage screen)
You will be prompted to enter your username and password and once done a network folder labeled "g2" will pop up and you will have wireless access to your phone.
Option 2: Map a network drive
Double Click on Computer on your PC to open your Explorer, then choose "Map network drive" from the top menu, choose a drive letter then for the folder type in the following:
\\192.168.x.xx\G2
Like in the direct search method, the IP address you'll want to enter is the IP listed on your Wireless storage screen. Make sure you also include all the forward slashes and the \G2 at the end.
You will be prompted to enter your username and password and once done a mapped network drive labeled "G2" will pop up on your explorer screen. Double click that drive and you will have wireless access to your phone.
*NOTE*: The \G2 at the end seems to be required in order to map a network drive, but it is not required when doing a direct search in the explorer search bar. This is probably because the "g2" folder is what is shared, and you can only map to a shared folder. Interestingly, the \G2 is also required if you prefer to access your phone via a web browser, as is listed in LG's instructions on the Wireless storage screen itself, but fails to include this information. I tried many different ways and simply entering the IP address or \\G2 in a browser window simply doesn't work. I'm sure there are some technical reasons for this, but I'm just a tech enthusiast not a professional.
Mac Users
Open your Finder, hit Command K then enter smb://192.168.x.xx/ for the server address. No /G2 is required at the end of the IP address since you are not mapping a network drive.
* Note for Mac users: There appears to be an issue with SMB file sharing on at least the current version of OS X, but probably older versions as well. While you will be able to connect to your phone using the above method, you will only be able to move files from your phone to your computer. Trying to move files from your computer to the phone results in the equivalent of a "disk full" error message. If anyone comes up with a workaround please post in this thread and I'll update the instructions.
Very easy and pretty amazing. Just one more hidden gem in the LG software that nobody talks about in reviews (edit - okay Jerry did mention it in his review. Gold star Jerry!).
There's a toggle for it on the notification window. If you don't have the toggle selected, hit edit at the very end, select it, and move it to where you want it on your toggle bar. You can also turn it on by going to Settings > Share & connect > Wireless storage.
If you used the toggle, a notification will pop up in the window that includes your phone's IP address and the username and password.
Option 1: Direct search
Double Click on Computer on your PC to open your Explorer. Click the search bar at the top and type in the following:
\\192.168.x.xx (the IP address listed on your Wireless storage screen)
You will be prompted to enter your username and password and once done a network folder labeled "g2" will pop up and you will have wireless access to your phone.
Option 2: Map a network drive
Double Click on Computer on your PC to open your Explorer, then choose "Map network drive" from the top menu, choose a drive letter then for the folder type in the following:
\\192.168.x.xx\G2
Like in the direct search method, the IP address you'll want to enter is the IP listed on your Wireless storage screen. Make sure you also include all the forward slashes and the \G2 at the end.
You will be prompted to enter your username and password and once done a mapped network drive labeled "G2" will pop up on your explorer screen. Double click that drive and you will have wireless access to your phone.
*NOTE*: The \G2 at the end seems to be required in order to map a network drive, but it is not required when doing a direct search in the explorer search bar. This is probably because the "g2" folder is what is shared, and you can only map to a shared folder. Interestingly, the \G2 is also required if you prefer to access your phone via a web browser, as is listed in LG's instructions on the Wireless storage screen itself, but fails to include this information. I tried many different ways and simply entering the IP address or \\G2 in a browser window simply doesn't work. I'm sure there are some technical reasons for this, but I'm just a tech enthusiast not a professional.
Mac Users
Open your Finder, hit Command K then enter smb://192.168.x.xx/ for the server address. No /G2 is required at the end of the IP address since you are not mapping a network drive.
* Note for Mac users: There appears to be an issue with SMB file sharing on at least the current version of OS X, but probably older versions as well. While you will be able to connect to your phone using the above method, you will only be able to move files from your phone to your computer. Trying to move files from your computer to the phone results in the equivalent of a "disk full" error message. If anyone comes up with a workaround please post in this thread and I'll update the instructions.
Very easy and pretty amazing. Just one more hidden gem in the LG software that nobody talks about in reviews (edit - okay Jerry did mention it in his review. Gold star Jerry!).
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