How to Transfer Files Between Android And Windows Over Wifi Without the Internet

Transferring files from one device to another is a frequent requirement of many people. Someone might want to transfer the files in their PC to their smartphone and vice versa. There are a plethora of apps available on both Playstore and Appstore to make this whole process simplify, but the problem of most of the solutions is to require Internet connectivity for moving files between two devices. Even though this might not be a huge problem in certain regions where high-speed Internet connections are available, this might not be an ideal solution for those who pay for data and have slow Internet connections. For instance, transferring a 1GB file over a 3G connection takes a significant amount of time. This article demonstrates how to transfer files from one device to another without leaving duplicates with ease without requiring Internet connectivity.

Step 1: Remove Duplicate Files

Remove Duplicate Files on Android

The storage capacity in a mobile device is quite limited compared to a personal computer. According to many Internet sources, 64GB is the commonly used storage capacity among Android users. Having such a limited storage capacity prevents the user from storing many files, and therefore it’s vital to weed out duplicate files to save the phone’s precious space. This section demonstrates how to weed out duplicate files with ease on both Windows and Android.  

Go to the Play store, and search for Files by Google to download and install. 

Click on the Clean button on the app, then scroll down to find the Duplicate files section. Click on Select and free up XYZ Space to start cleaning up duplicate files. 

Additionally, the user can select the duplicate files to remove from the list. The list shows all the duplicate files in the entire phone. Selecting the files enables the button to delete the duplicates. 

This process can be executed when moving files from Android to Windows and vice versa. If the files are on the Android phone, follow this process first to remove duplicates and then the subsequent section to move the files to the Windows PC. If the files are on Windows, then move all the files, including duplicates, then remove the duplicate files once they are on the Android phone with these steps.

Remove Duplicate Files on Windows 

Alternatively, this simple batch script can also remove duplicate files with ease on a Windows PC before moving the files to the Android. It’s pretty helpful if the phone doesn’t have enough space. This script is a straightforward one; hence it might not remove duplicate files in subfolders. A third-party software might be required to eliminate all the duplicate files on Windows thoroughly.  

Open the GitHub page where the script is hosted. https://git.io/JRUmu

Copy the whole script

Open the Notepad, and paste the copied script on it

Please give it a name like batch.bat, leave the encoding type to ANSI, change the Save as type as All Files, and finally save the script. 

Move this script to any folder with duplicate files, and double click on it to weed out duplicates. 

Step 2: Transfer Files from PC to Android and Vice Versa. 

Transferring files to either direction is quite easy with the plethora of tools available online. However, most tools make the entire process complicated as they are developed to aim at experienced users. There are, however, user-friendly solutions available online for free of charge. The process involves creating an FTP server on the Android phone. The server lets anyone with the right credentials access the file system of the phone.  An FTP client can be used on the other end, Windows PC, to access the FTP server hosted on the phone to manage the files. Use the following steps carefully for detailed instructions.

Ensure the WiFi connection is enabled, and the phone and the Windows PC are connected to the same router. It’s essential to be connected to the same router as otherwise, this method might not work. 

Download WinSCP FTP Client and install it on Windows, then download WiFi FTP Server and install it on Android. Both the software are free of charge. 

Launch the WiFi FTP Server app on the phone, then Click on the Start button to create an FTP server on the Android Phone. Clicking on the Start button on the app turns the entire phone into an FTP server where the files can be accessed from anywhere in the current network. Please write down the FTP Credentials shown below; it includes server URL, Userid (username), and password. 

On the Windows side, open the WinSCP software, type the credentials of the FTP server in the appropriate text boxes and save the server credentials to log in to the server.

Login to the server grants access to the entire file system of the Android phone. It’s okay for the connection to be insecure as the network is created internally. It means anyone outside the network, such as the Internet, can’t access this FTP server unless the user manually configures the Windows.

Please navigate to the location where the files are stored to transfer them. Files can be transferred to either direction in this elegant tool. Files on Windows PC can be transferred to Android by dragging and dropping them to the body of WinSCP. The files are then instantly moved to the location indicated in the Address on WinSCP. Files on Android can be transferred to Windows by copying the files on the main body of WinSCP to any folder on Windows PC.  

The security can be more improved by customising the settings of the WiFi FTP Server. Some of the settings to be paid attention to for security are port number, anonymous access, userid, password, use FTPS, and root folder. It’s always recommended to use a higher port number as the operating system reserves lower ports. Disabling anonymous access improves security drastically as it blocks anonymous users from accessing the FTP server. The default username and passwords can be customised via user id and password. FTPS encrypts the connection to prevent man in the middle attack in a large intranet. The root folder option restricts the FTP server to a specific folder instead of the entire file system.  Lastly, none of these options provides a significant amount of benefits for an average user at their home.