Believe it or not, the setup you see in the above picture works. The Amazon Fire TV Stick 2 supports OTG USB cables out of the box without needing to root the device or change any configuration settings. What’s even more astonishing is that USB keyboards, USB mice, USB hubs, USB ethernet adapters, and even USB external storage all work perfectly with no extra effort or configuration whatsoever.
With the 1st generation Fire TV Stick, you had to root the device in order to modify a system file to get USB OTG cables working. That is not the case with the new Fire TV Stick 2 because OTG cables are detected out of the box on the stock 5.2.2.0 software. I connected my generic USB OTG cable to the Stick’s micro USB port, powered it on, and was able to use USB devices via the OTG cable’s full size USB port.
Connecting a FAT32 formatted USB flash drive resulted in the standard “USB Drive Detected” dialogue from the Fire TV box to appear on the screen. The external drive does not appear under the Fire TV Stick 2’s storage readout, nor are you able to move apps to it, but the drive is fully accessible from within apps.
The USB drive is automatically mounted at the directory
Plugging in a USB wired ethernet adapter also worked without any configuration. However, not all USB ethernet adapters are supported. My Monoprice USB 2.0 Ultrabook Ethernet Adapter worked, but my HooToo USB 3.0 Hub w/ Gigabit Ethernet Adapter did not work. Additionally, even though the network settings correctly displayed as “Wired,” opening the network settings resulted in an empty panel with no way to configure the network.
I also connected several different USB mice and keyboards, including the much adored Logitech K400 Keyboard w/ Touchpad, and all of them worked perfectly. Lastly, I connected a simple unpowered USB hub and was able to connect all three peripherals: the keyboard, the flash drive, and the ethernet adapter all at once with all three working perfectly.
Update
If you’re looking to connect your Fire TV Stick to Ethernet, here is the easiest method.
@AFTVnews
AFTVnews
excellent.
Amazon certainly is paying attention to the hobbyist crowd. hopefully their stewardship continues to be benevolent..
You mean by just implementing everything Android TV has one by one? They already use the OS. May as well start allowing users to have some of it.
Exactly. Yawn to this. How about opening up drive format support and making the drives fully accessible?
I bought all this stuff. Still cant do anythinh with card reader memory nor the stick.
theyre called flash drives.
Do you think they will implement this on the 1st gen stick in newer builds?
Why would the make another 1st gen stick
Darren1 is asking if a firmware update might come along and allow OTG support to the first gen KFTV stick Cornelius.
U missed the power supply for the usb hub… :) She Canny take it Captain…..pop.
Hahaha, I’m given’er all she’s got captain!
What cat line do you use for this adapter, will CAT6 work, or do I need CAT5?
Cat 5 should work, but Cat 6 is faster and cheap. 75 feet for 8$.
Wow, catching up to Android TV slowly.
USB tuner support on the way…?
Oooooh! Never even considered that. Great thought!
Amazing news & great find, Elias! I wasn’t expecting this….now it’s more useful with greater flexibility.
Now I’ll definitely be picking up one of these before years end.
I guess this leaves the only big advantages of the fire tv box being greater speed cpu/gpu and greater external storage of apps to sd card/usb storage. That’s not bad at all for an extra side room having streaming access to content.
Can I connect the Fire Stick 2 to my router over my wired network (instead of wirelessly)?
yes
yes of course
use add on otg cable sold on firestick also takes a usb for added storage!
usb mouse doesn’t work,
Revised:usb mouse doesn’t work on amazon home screen, but works on kodi.
Yeah, Amazon removed the cursor from the home screen about a year ago in a software update.
How about NTFS external drives under Kodi? Visible/accessible?
It’ll determine how many I get.
Honestly, I didn’t even bother checking because NTFS drives don’t work (without root) on the Fire TV box. The support is just not present in Android, so there’s really no reason Amazon would add it in out of nowhere.
I’ll test an NTFS drive soon, but assume it didn’t work if I don’t post a reply within a day.
MLUSB Mounter (jp.co.medialogic.usbmounter)
Im Google Play Store erhältlich
Funktioniert
I think, NTFS ext drives are mountable on Android based devices like FTV only with root access using root apps (eg. paragon NTFS)
What about EXT4?
ExFat works!
FAt32 is all that works without root
I saw this post so I gave it a go I hooked it up to my lap top using the supplied USB cable. ADB recognized the device I just uploaded all my apk files and my Kodi restore file in less than 2 minutes. Awesome!!! OH then I connected a first gen stick And I was able to do the exact same thing! Fire OS 5.2.1.1
This is not what the article is about. OTG and USB ADB are 2 different things. You’re doing the latter which has been supported for a long time if not always. First Gen stick still can’t do OTG without root modifications.
Hey, could you tell me how you were able to get it to connect through USB to restore Kodi? I can’t, for the life of me figure out how!
So… I’m a little confused… you say “My Monoprice USB 2.0 Ultrabook Ethernet Adapter worked” but “even though the network settings correctly displayed as “Wired,” opening the network settings resulted in an empty panel with no way to configure the network.” and then you say “Lastly, I connected a simple unpowered USB hub and was able to connect all three peripherals: the keyboard, the flash drive, and the ethernet adapter all at once with all three working perfectly.”
So the Monoprice USB 2.0 Ultrabook Ethernet Adapter works with your WiFi turned off even though you can’t configure the network? Or it just shows up, but doesn’t really work?
simply: the USB Ethernet adaptor works and automatically got a DHCP configuration from the network. if you need a static IP or to modify the DNS/gw/subnet there isn’t any way to achieve that currently.
the wifi is automatically disabled [probably..] while the other connection is in use.
So the ethernet definitely works with FTV2 stick. cool.
….yeah I was also confused by what was meant about ethernet functionality.
I interpreted from that paragraph on USB Network devices that he had no problem with his Monoprice USB 2.0 adapter, however when he tried to use his USB 3.0 adapter it only gave him a blank screen for configuration while showing that it did detect the connection.
Anyone know when the fire stick 2 is coming to the uk?
Is there support to move Kodi files to USB drives?
Yes
How much power is being juiced out of that though? If we’re talking bout a standard 5v config for USB 2.0 split between 4/5 on a hub, you need like a 60w adapter.
Will that be available to the firestick 1 or are they gonna make me buy new firestick?
Frankenstick!
Hi,I just did this with my firestick. I bought a 13 card reader that works fine. The stick detects the card being inserted and everything. Is there a way to use the MicroSD card as additional storage for apps?
Thanks guys!
Please help. I have a new Fire TV Stick 2 running OS 5.2.2.0. I clicked your links and purchased the exact OTG cable and Monoprice ethernet adapter. Hooked it all up to Fire stick and can’t connect to internet through the direct connection to my router. Tried with same hardware setup on my Windows tablet and works fine. Are there extra steps I’m missing, could it be something else? Many thanks.
I don’t know why it’s not working for you. I literally didn’t do anything other than connecting everything up.
OK. Thanks for the reply.
It does not work for me either. I think there is a problem with the DHCP server. netcfg says there is an eth0 interface up but with an IP address 169.254.x.x
what kind of usb hub did you use?
USB Ethernet also not working for me. Also get complaints about power…
Using one of the “supported” OTG and Ethernet Adapters with FireTV Stick 2 on 5.2.1.1
any clues? :(
If you look at the comments on the OTG cable that was linked in the article, people have a pretty mixed back of experience with them. Could be the cables themselves, or the devices they’re being attached to. I found 1 review that specifically mentioned Fire TV and theirs worked, but I’ll have mine soon enough to test (come on China, send my cheap gadget already).
How about a game controller? I’m thinking this might be a way to add a wired PS3 controller or some other USB controller to the system. Anybody tried it?
Do you mind sharing (links) the hardware setup shown in the pic? looking to replicate it with my fire FireStick. I saw the link for the OTG, how about the micro usb splitter & USB hub (since they are known to work.
TIA
Steve
I have tried numerous things to get this to work. I bought the exact hub, otg cable, and K400 keyboard and tried other keyboards and mice. I cannot get any of them to work on my firestick 2 with 5.2.1.1. I even went and soldered/made my own cables with the correct female/male usb and micro usb ends necessary…still nothing. Is there a setting I am missing or a setting I have on that I shouldn’t? I have adb debugging enabled and other than that not much is changed from factory settings. Thanks for your help in advance.
I have to try this.
Does not work for me either, I’m assuming it’s the OTG cable not powering the ethernet adapter as there’s not even any power to the link lights, which power straight up when attached to a laptop. Don’t have a powered USB hub handy, but will try and that plus a standard splitter cable.
can you please give me a list of what is needed for this
I have a gen 2 firestick and i want to connect a flash drive and a wired controller to it so i can play emulated ps1 games because the bluetooth controller lags to much but a wired cobtroller works great. So my issue is i have a usb hub and i connect the 2 devices but it only registers the controller and not the flash stick yet by it self with out the hub it registers the flash stick. So do i need to sideload any app to make it work or just buy a btter usb hub if so what brand and feom where can i get it
Thanks
Hi there. Thanks for posting this. I’m definately going to give it a try. I just had one question. Why is a keyboard and mouse even needed? Can’t you simply navigate inside Amazon stick and Kodi with the stick’s remote control?
Yes of course you can use the provided remote. However, you will find that if you do anything over a small amount of typing on the fire stick, it is time consuming and tedious to type one symbol at a time. I have a keyboard and mouse in one that came with my smart tv. It makes the process of typing and searching quick and easy.
Mine detected keyboard and usb drivr but it says only microsd cards can store apps to expand storage whats the point in having an extrrnal usb if you can t use it to expand storage?
I plan on using my external drives to store about 2 terabytes of NES, SNES, Sega, N64, and PlayStation 1 ROMs. These sticks are great emulation platforms.
I was having issues with the fire stick restating itself using this setup with a thumb drive and a wireless keyboard remote usb single plugged in at the same time. Must have been a power issue. I plugged the fire stick into an outlet instead of the tv usb port and haven’t had it happen again.
Correction
*wireless keyboard remote usb dongle. Not single.
i use a “ebaco” 3 port hub with a built in rj45 port. it was $15. and a “tendak” otg cable which is sold as a 2 pack. $20 and everyting works flawless.
How do I get it to read the sd adapter
With the OS update rolled out to my first gen aftv stick will I be able to connect it to ethernet using methods by the OP now? I’m really hoping so as to not ha e to buy another stick.
I get a blank popup coming up regularly. USB storage doesn’t generally work, sometimes it comes up after say 10 minutes. Tried a USB hub OTG and didn’t work, then a single port one and it does,but as above.
Any ideas? Or the cheapest one that works available to the UK?
Does anybody know if hardwiring the fire stick gen 2 improves upon the frame rate? I believe it’s otherwise 30 fps at 1080 and 60 fps at 720p.
Btw the fps I am hoping to improve is for PS Vue… which I believe is limited to 30/1080 and 60/720. I think the fire stick 2 is capable of 60/1080 but not PS Vue app (over wireless anyway).
My monoprice adapter is not working via OTG cable connection. I checked to see if it was a defective adapter but the adapter and the OTG cable are fine. I checked the network connections and they are fine as well. I’m just not sure what to do at this point. Any ideas?
I have much the same problems duplicating this setup…I used the Amazon Basic 2.0 USB 4 outlet hub and purchased the assorted adapters, a SanDisk 64 gb Flashdrive as well as a Logitech K400 Wireless Keyboard using a dongle…
The Logitech Keyboard pairing software is only good for Windows 8 & 10…The dongle isn’t pairing…The External Storage can’t be seen. .The powering off the Firestick can only be done by running one of the usb cords into my TV’s USB port… I am sorely disappointed!
That’s great. Now I got my air mouse to work on the Fire TV Stick 2nd generation. It doesn’t read my microSD card, though.
Thanks for the info.
Have a Fire stick arriving soon and want to be able to easily clone/backup it after setup (I do this for everything – when something goes wrong it’s so much easier to reload a PC from a clone/backup).
So I have ordered an OTG Y cable and already have a selection of powered and nonpowered USB hubs to try.
Will not need it for keyboard/mouse if I can get my Logitech k830 to work, and I have a strong AC wifi signal on the TV, but storage possibilities should be great.
Will try to remember to write a follow up if I can get anything to work.
Any suggestions on which USB hubs are working? I purchased a powered j5create brand 4-port hub, but nothing is recognized by the Fire TV stick (2nd gen) through the recommended OTG cable. My flash drive was recognized and mounted instantly when plugged directly into the OTG cable. I’d prefer to avoid buying different hubs just to find one that works. I’m on OS version 5.2.4.2. Thanks for any input!
I used the Inateck Multi-in-1 hub. It’s a TF SDHC Card Reader, USB 2.0 Compact OTG Adapter Hub for USB. I was able to read all my media devices (cards and sticks). Has a power cord but it was not needed. However, on the Fire Stick 2 I can only see 1 device at a time for some reason, but that’s all I need anyway. It works great on a pc, it sees all media you have plugged into it at the same time. It has a micro usb connector. Cheap!
Here’s that hub:
https://www.amazon.com/Inateck-Adapter-Compact-Compatible-Smartphones/dp/B00OCBXIY8/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1503344394&sr=1-3&keywords=inateck+hub
Thanks myklj.
Anyone know which hub is shown by the author, in the photo? Does it allow use of all connected devices, simultaneously? I don’t see the point of using a hub if only one device is usable. I want to be able to use storage and mouse/keyboard together.
This configuration worked perfectly for me….wired Ethernet, mouse and USB thumb drive. The standard message about only being able to expand storage with a Micro SD card came up, and therein lies my question. I want to expand app storage. If I connect a Micro SD card using a USB adapter through the USB multiport to which I have the Ethernet, mouse and thumb drive connected, will it be recognized as a card or as USB storage? The fact that the message comes up implies it would work, since as far as I can think, this would be the only way to connect a card.
Adding a comment…I wan to add a micro sd for app storage, not data. Media is on a networked external drive.
Do all devices work at the same time? Which hub do you have?
Is there an adapter that adds a USB port and micro sd slot to the new 3rd generation firetv?
Worked for me using a cheap Amazon adapter and Logitech USB keyboard/trackpad, which is all I need for now. One thing I noticed was that the screen went black for a moment when I plugged in the Logitech dongle which immediately made me think of this thread. To those who haven’t got their setups working. You are establishing a connection between the stick and power source first right?
How to read files or apks from usb flash drive? the device has detected the USB flash drive, and it shows the usb flash drive has been mounted. but why I can not find my files or apk from the USB flash drive.
how many connections we can add to this??
This set up works, I have done it. However, if you really want to go hard core, spring for the Fire Cube. Yes, the Alexa functionality needs work, but you get 16GB storage, a much faster processor and better wifi antenna. Through the micro USB port I used an OTG cable to add a female USB connector, and then to that I added a three-port USB/Ethernet hub. I then added a 750GB USB-powered WD hard drive formatted as FAT32. The Cube (and btw, Kodi) recognize it, and it can be used for both app installation and storage. One downside is that if you format for app installation, you can’t use it again on a PC…it’s specially formatted for the Cube. I also have a Logitech USB keyboard on the hub which works great.
Trying to get this to work on an Amazon fire tablet using this thing. https://www.ebay.com/itm/EP-JF-3Port-Micro-USB-2-0-HUB-to-RJ45-Network-Ethernet-Adapter-for-Android-Tab/223161436314?hash=item33f575489a:m:mV_SrVol5tDXZf4e7kaC5MQ:rk:18:pf:0 The USB ports work enabling usb keyboards and bice combinations and flash drives but there is no action from the ethernet cable when plugged in. How do I load the drivers without ethernet\lan options in the settings? It’s not rooted but I do have google play store, es file explorer on it.
It would be great if the administrator of this page could delete this post. it has been polluted with spam from goobers and hacks who somehow thing we care about whatever it is they are trying to sell us. At least take some English classes so you don’t look like a complete fools.
While coming to this page I have found a cheap USB HUB with ethernet port compatible to Fire 2 and 3 for a cheap price. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002180439863.html 3 USB HUB LAN Ethernet Adapter + OTG USB Cable for Fire Stick 2ND GEN or Fire TV3 TV Stick 1080P (full-hd) Not Included ONLENY