Question How to Use FAT32 on USB External Storage With Android Tablet

[pone]

On Android 15 running on an A9+ tablet, I format a 256GB SD card as FAT32 under Windows. I mount that on Android via the USB-C port. The "My Files" folder manager sees the file system and has no problems accessing anything on it. My problem is that I cannot get any application to work with external storage. When I go to many applications, they have an "Included Folders" option, and when I navigate to "USB Device," the screen blinks, and I continue to see Internal Device as my selection. Android appears to be blocking application access to the USB.

I don't find any Apps permissions to grant access to external storage. I searched for "USB" under storage, and this only finds tethering. I don't see any global settings regarding external storage access. At the very least, the way Android handles this is extremely unfriendly. There are no clear error messages. If there are policy prohibitions, Android is doing a horrible job of revealing them.

How do I give applications access to external storage?

 

[spARTacus]

I think this was an issue earlier (native file manager app as the only one that could access a connected USB stick), but I thought it got sorted out. Maybe it never was and is by design. For example, I'm not sure if I've ever successfully had Ghost Commander (an alternate file manager) access a connected USB drive. Others will probably chime in before I will get the chance to double check, but have you checked what you might be able to set via the Permission Manager settings?