By far, the most common question I’m asked is: Why isn’t my Fire TV’s USB port working? Hopefully people having this issue will find this post when searching for a solution. The most likely reason for the Fire TV to not recognizing a FAT32 USB drive, mouse, keyboard, or wired USB game controller is having “USB Debugging” enabled. In the Fire TV’s settings menu, if you scroll to the right to “System” and then down to “Developer Options” you’ll find an option called “USB debugging.” If that option is turned on, the USB port cannot be used with USB drives or peripherals. Turn it off and your USB port will start working again. To learn more about the Fire TV’s different developer options, see this post.
@AFTVnews
AFTVnews
Another really odd but true fact is:
the new FTV2 has power management issues if you connected to the internet via ethernet, it seems it can’t provide enough power for the ethernet and USB port at the same time, if this is a hardware or software problem is unknown to me.
It really worked for me, to just disconnected the ethernet cable and connect via WIFI. From the second I did this and restarted the box the USB Gamepad suddenly started to work, without any additional setup. Just because I pulled the ethernet plug.
It’s really absurd, that a product with so many and so hilarious bugs is shipped to customers, but everybody who has this problem: try my solution!
I have an SD Card and USB stick living in their respective ports and connect via Ethernet. I have noticed it sometimes drops the wired connection and switches to WiFi.
Also, if the remote starts playing up pulling out the Ethernet cable will fix it every time. And if you don’t set up a parallel WiFi connection at all, things will go south at some point.
Maybe the Ethernet NIC is a USB device?
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=hu.sztupy.android.usbhostcontroller
Use this too see what is connected to your USB “ports”. Gen 1 Fire TV had “Qualcom Atheros. USBWLAN” connected via the USB interface.
I try this and mine still does not work
do you get it to work?
Nice one mate! Was trying to figure that out for ages; did as you said, usb appeared in seconds after wifi kicked in. WTF?!! Shameful of Amazon. Very poor.
Thats surprising as Amazon themselves have a post on the net advising this very thing!
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201740020
I have no place that say USB on and off
I don not have USB debug but ADB debug. I tried turning it on then off again. TV still does not recognize either of 2 USB sticks I have tried.
Thank you. Same here.
Same thing happening to me….2021 and it’s still happening…
Same here tried many times and still it does not show or see usb what is wrong?
PS: I never activated or changed anything in these developer options, so this was definately never the cause for the USB problem with my box
Just to be sure, you didn’t have the AFTV2 connected to an ATV1 power supply did you?
That’s not possible as the plugs are different. The AFTV2 power plug is smaller.
what if the usb debugging option is not available?
all i have is ABD debugging and third party apps options
I try this and mine still does not work is it possible the usb adapter in the back is not working
Thank you very much for the post. I can stop pulling my hair out and ….. plugging and unplugging my brand new USB drive. I had enabled the USB mode to install Kodi. Turning it off caused my player to immediately see the USB drive. Can’t imagine how much time I could have wasted talking to an Amazon support person.
Thank you, C.E. Griffin. Turning off USB debugging worked for me too. Unbelievable.
How did you get back to that spot ..I remember doing that ..but can’t remember where it is
Just an additional comment on this issue. When I opened the Developer Options panel it said that USB debugging was off (disabled) so I was about to move on to other steps. That when I remembered that part of the instructions for Mouse Toggle is to disable ADB debugging and re-enable it. I thought “What the heck?” and toggled USB debugging enabled then toggled it back to disabled. Surprisingly my USB key now appears and is navigable.
So if your USB isn’t working and debugging is already disabled, try toggling it first before taking more drastic measures.
Doesn’t work for me….tried that …..can’t believe that in 2021 we still can’t get this to work properly.
Thanks a lot. I thought my cheap controller was the reason it didn’t work, but turning off usb debugging solved it. There are not many comments about that solution, at least I did not find any other.
So, i am having a different issue. I am trying to connect a USB ethernet cable to my AFTV2 to get the faster speed, and when i do, it disables the remote. I have tried 3 different cables. all with the same result. Amazon support sent me a new remote thinking that was the issue, but still nothing. anyone else have this issue?
Thank you so much for the post. Our mini keyboard finally work! Had Amazon support on the phone over an hour and they couldn’t figure it out. It was a gift and my husband and friend tried everything for about two weeks, until I decided to investigate the Internet. Never underestimate the power of the Internet or the power of a women!
Rose
This post saved me a bunch of aggravation. Thanks!!!
I have a slightly different problem with the USB port. I have a video on a USB memory stick. I plug it into the FireTV USB port, and play it using VLC media player. The picture breaks up a number of times during the 90 minute video, always at the same points in the film. However, if I plug the same memory stick into a PC, the video plays fine with VLC.
So, I tried using a different memory stick. Same problem: on FireTV, the video breaks up at EXACTLY THE SAME PLACES as using the first memory stick. On a PC it plays fine. What could cause this? Could FireTV be reading the memory sticks incorrectly? Could VLC on FireTV be at fault?
Bob from Buckinghamshire
I had the old AFTV and had a external usb drive of 1TB, full of videos that I played using the VLC app. It worked fine most of the time but some times the AFTV would restart in the middle of a movie. Thought it was the processor, so I bought the new AFTV2, and now it doesn’t recognize the external drive, so when I open the VLC the library is empty. Hoping this will change that.
Ok, all the info has helped me connect my Logitech keyboard. It works for everything except YouTube. Arrow keys work, but no other keys work. Any one else have this issue or a fix?
Thanks for sharing…….thumbs up!
I knew this before and forgot about it.
Thank you for reminding me.
Worked !!
I’m still stuck with this problem… USB logitech k400r not being don’t at all by aftv.spent so much time on ten support with no luck.. Tried everything I read here.. Except maybe the adb debugging? I’m not near it now but will check ASAP. I’ve been so frustrated but do not want to give up.
This definitely worked for me! Thank you
Worked worked worked… thanks
No, there is no usb debug option under developer. Still doesn’t work.
Thanks…you saved me a lot of time…one simple click “turn off USB debugging” and usb storage is recognized immediately…
Firetv 1st Gen. I added a 30gig USB drive and moved my apps to it. The drive worked fine with the apps however the internal memory was still full ( getting message memory too low) I factory reset it but now no apps show on USB. I can see some memory is used on the USB. Anyone have same?
Even though you moved your apps to the USB some needed files remain on the main storage. When you reset your device you lost those files and that’s why your USB apps don’t work. You will have to reinstall those apps.
I turned this on and screwed myself! I thought, per the message Fire TV description (see the author’s pic at the beginning of this article) it was only in effect for “this power cycle.” What the heck?!?
I take it there isn’t anyway to switch it off without having access to the menu? For some reason wifi is down and my remote won’t work anymore. I connected via Ethernet and bridged a wifi network with my phone and Fire TV app. The app see’s the Fire TV when when it tries to connect it fails.
Thank you Elias. Turning off the “USB Debugging” is all it took for me to now store data externally via the USB port. I use a Micro Center 3.1 64GB Flash Drive.
Hi I also do not seem to have a usb debugging switch, just adb debugging (and apps from unknown sources). I’m Firestick Gen 2. I’ve looked everywhere – where is this switch? Thanks Rackel
I am having troubles hooking up my usb. I have tried two different firesticks and two different usbs. When plugged in it shows a rectangle box at the bottom right with a usb but doesn’t say anything. I take the usb out and it says I need to properly take out the usb by going to settings. When I go to setting under my fire tv when usb is connected it doesn’t show usb anywhere. I’ve searched and searched for it when connected. I’ve turned the bugging off and on still doesn’t show up. I’ve even reset my fire stick and still nothing. Someone help please!
Exact same problem for me too but I am able to play the videos on the USB with VLC & MX Player. Any update?
I do not have a USB debugging but I did notice right above developer options is USB drive. My drive has 1 thing on it but nothing else will move to it. I only have 3 apps on my tv, the rest are forced from fire, out of those 3 only 1 has the option to move to the USB drive, I have cleared cache from all apps and data from those I don’t use. They always return right away and there is nothing I can do about it but no matter what I do it keeps telling me my memory is almost full. The 2 apps I have that will not move to the USB drive are Netflix and Hulu.
Thanks problems solved.
Mine just doesn’t work developer option on and try to use the shell and sm list-disks does not show any drives. I’m on os 6.28.1 and have 1.6 to 2 amp output USB plug connected. I tried rebooting and disconnecting power still no success.
I have apps some usb the apps load but they do not seem to find any streams that load ? any thoughts ?
Ok, where are you guys finding the USB debugging option?!?!? Fire tv cube Gen 2. I go to settings, my fire tv, all I have is About, Developer options and bla bla bla. Under development ops there’s only ADB debugging. Whether it’s on or off I go back to About and under that all I get is Fire TV Cube, Storage, Network and check for updates. On the right under external storage it’s No USB Storage Detected. HEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLP
Fire TV doesn’t recognize USB 3.0. It does recognize USB 2.0. I tried playing a media file with 3.0, didn’t work. Tried with 2.0, it worked.