Did Verizon hijack my DX USB connection?

[dalemccl]

I connected my Droid X to my PC via USB today for the first time in quite some time so I could transfer some files from the PC to the DX SD card. I have transfered files via USB many times in the past; just haven't done it in the last couple months.

When I connected the DX as mass storage, a Motorola installation window for MotoHelper popped up. I figured it must be an update of the USB drivers so I allowed it to install. But after it installed, Firefox automatically on its own, went to a Verizon site for VCast Media Manager where I could download and install it if I wanted.

The DX shows up in Windows Explorer as a CD drive with 0 bytes available. If I open the "drive" it does not show the contents of my SD card, it shows a file named MotoHelper_2.0.24 Driver_2.7.1.exe, and a setup.exe file. I rebooted the phone to see if that changed things - it didn't.

Whatever I installed when the Motorola installation popped up seems to have hijacked my USB connection and wants me to install Verizon's V Cast Media Manager. They do have a free version that will transfer files, but I prefer the old way where a Motorola driver makes the phone look like a mass storage device to Windows.

I tried uninstalling MotoHelper via the Win 7 control panel and installing a version of Motorola Mobile USB drivers I had kept from last August. Now the DX still shows as a CD drive with 0 bytes available and when I open it, it still shows the MotoHelper installation files, not my SD card files. (I can still see my files on the SD card by browsing to it on the DX itself if I disconnect it from USB. So the card is OK, but Windows is not seeing the contents. It is seeing the MotoHelper installation files.

Anyone know what could have happened here? Should I download and install V Cast Media Manager?

 

[pool_shark]

It should open up 2 drives when you plug it in, this is normal.
To stop it from opening the website right click on the moto connect icon in your task bar and choose do nothing.
I deleted moto connect from my PC.

 

[npike]

My DX on a Mac shows two volumes when connected in file transfer mode.

One volume appears to be a CD with some moto software on it, and the other is the actual contents of my SD card.

Has been this way forever..

I suspect your computer (Windows?) is just autorunning the Moto volume as if it were a CD whenever you connect your DX via USB.

 

[brad92]

It does that on both of my computers. It used to not go to the Verizon website. Ever since I went to Gingerbread and .sbf back to Froyo.

 

[dalemccl]

It should open up 2 drives when you plug it in, this is normal.
To stop it from opening the website right click on the moto connect icon in your task bar and choose do nothing.
I deleted moto connect from my PC.

Thanks. Now that you mention it, I do recall that in the past there were two drives when I connected as USB mass storage. The "CD" drive must be the internal DX storage. The SD card is not showing up as a drive. I don't have a moto connect icon in the task bar (tray). I looked in the hidden icons too. I search my PC for any file name Motorola Connect and found none.

 

[pool_shark]

It should open up 2 drives when you plug it in, this is normal.
To stop it from opening the website right click on the moto connect icon in your task bar and choose do nothing.
I deleted moto connect from my PC.

Thanks. Now that you mention it, I do recall that in the past there were two drives when I connected as USB mass storage. The "CD" drive must be the internal DX storage. The SD card is not showing up as a drive. I don't have a moto connect icon in the task bar (tray). I looked in the hidden icons too. I search my PC for any file name Motorola Connect and found none.

The internal storage doesn't show up, only the SD card. Check in programs for moto connect.

 

[dalemccl]

It should open up 2 drives when you
The internal storage doesn't show up, only the SD card.

Check in programs for moto connect.

I checked and I had a folder C:\Program Files (x86)\Motorola\Motorola Connect, but it was empty. It is possible that I uninstalled it a while back when I was uninstalling programs I don't use. I may have thought it was related to my old Motorola non-smart phone.

I have googled "Motorola Connect" to try to find the installation program again, but every time I find a link with a file to download, it ends up being the USB drivers with "MotoHelper" which is the program that started this problem in the first place when I installed it. I still do not see the SD card in Win Explorer; just the one Motorola drive that is labeled a CD drive. And still, everytime I connect the DX via USB now, it opens the Verizon V Cast Media Manger page in Firefox; it will even launch FireFox if it is not running.

So I thought, alright, I'll just install Verizon's Media Manager like it seems to want me to -- until I saw that it requires QuickTime. I don't particularly want QuickTime on my system.

It's weird that this should happen after 9-10 months of having no problem connecting via USB Mass Storage.

EDIT: I just noticed that I now have the MotoConnect icon in the system tray. Installing the drivers and MotoHelper must have done that. I changed it to launch "nothing" instead of a "web page", so that got rid of the Verizon V Cast web page popping up. But I still cannot see the SD card in Win Explorer.

 

[scf]

Put it in USB Mass Storage mode.

 

[dalemccl]

Put it in USB Mass Storage mode.

Thanks for the reply, but I do put the DX in USB mass storage mode, but the SD card does not show up in Win Explorer. Only the "Motorola CD drive" shows up. Until recently, I would see two DX drives when in USB mass storage mode, one of which was the SD card. Now I only see one drive -- the SD card is not shown as a drive like it was before.