Here is a superb method of going straight to a folder in USB drive, but . . .

[Loose rivets]

no matter how I try, I can't get it to work on my phone's camera files. If 'Recent' W10 provides a fairly short method but I'd love a say, S6, on my task bar. One click and into Desktop\This PC\Samsung S6\DCIM\Camera.

I can't even get the phone to act as a drive to allot a fixed drive letter to. A prerequisite, it seems.

https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/2790...ows-7-taskbar/

[G0ULI]

I find the most reliable method of accessing any memory device is to plug it into the USB port and wait for the PC to acknowledge its presence. Then use File Manager to access the files for copying etc.

Not particularly user friendly or effortlessly intuitive, but it normally works and if it doesn't you have a clue as to why not, e.g. driver program not loading, device not recognised for some reason, the files are not in the directory you thought.

[Jhieminga]

I think that phones and cameras use a different protocol and therefore this trick doesn't work. Also I suspect that you'd need to keep it permanently connected as well. From the description on the site I got the impression that this is meant to be used on a USB drive that is kept connected.

[Capn Bloggs]

I can't even get the phone to act as a drive to allot a fixed drive letter to. A prerequisite, it seems.

Correct. Early Android versions appeared in Windows as a drive, with letter, so you could do all those things. But with 4.4 Kitkat (I think), Google made phones "Media Players" or something like that, so they no longer appeared as a drive. This was a nuisance if you wanted to do what you are trying. The good thing is that you no longer have to enable "USB storage" on your phone to get access through Windows; now you just plug it in and do as Gouli says.

If I want to regularly transfer stuff eg photos back to my computer, I use SyncMe (Lime green icon). You can set up wireless transfers: you can do all the types of syncing (one-way, mirror, update both sides).

[The late XV105]

To add to Jhieminga and Capn Bloggs correct replies.

More recent Android versions connect via USB to the computer by employing either Picture Transfer Protocol (PTP, a protocol that is shared with many digital cameras) or Media Transfer Protocol (MTP, an extension of PTP for additional types of media). Neither is recognised by Windows as a storage volume - which it needs to be if a drive letter is to be assigned.

Workarounds exist that involve setting up a server on the Android device but at this point of my own learning (yesterday, as it happens when I was trying to get Windows to assign a drive letter to my Android smarthphone so that my backup utility can automatically transfer new music files found on my NAS) I gave up. Too much hassle for what I wanted.