When Phone Link will not send a file
Phone Link is built into Windows, so it is the first thing many people try for moving a photo from the phone to the PC. When it refuses with "file failed to send", the quickest fix is often not to fix it at all: open a web page on both devices and send the file directly.
What Phone Link needs for file sharing
From Microsoft's help pages, Seamlessly transfer content between your devices and File drag & drop in Link to Windows (checked 2026-10-29):
- A Windows 11 PC, or Windows 10 with the May 2019 update or later, and an "Android device running Android 10 or later".
- Link to Windows 1.24032.518.0 or later on the phone, and Phone Link 1.24032.156.0 or later on the PC.
- "Only locally saved files can be shared between devices." Files in the cloud are sent as links.
- Received files go to
Downloads\Phone Link. - Drag and drop "requires a Samsung device", the "same Wi-Fi network", up to 100 files at a time, and "no single file can be larger than 512MB".
- "Minimizing the Phone Link during drag & drop will cancel the transfer process and you'll have to start over."
If one of those does not hold (an older phone, a file over 512 MB, a non-Samsung phone, a photo that is only in Google Photos), the transfer fails.
Send it from the browser instead
- Open toss2.me on the phone and on the PC.
- On the same Wi-Fi, each device appears in the other's Nearby list. On different networks, press Create a code on one and type the code on the other.
- On the phone, tap the PC and pick the files.
- On the PC, press Accept, then Save.
Nothing is installed and nothing is uploaded to storage. It works the same with an iPhone. For files you send every day, an inbox on the PC saves them straight to a folder.
Where Phone Link is still the better tool
Phone Link is built to connect your phone to Windows for much more than files, and tosstome does not try to replace that. It only moves files and text, and it is the thing to reach for when a file will not go through.
Questions
Why does Phone Link say the file failed to send?
Microsoft's help pages list several conditions: the phone and PC must meet the minimum Android and app versions, only files stored on the phone can be shared (cloud files go as links), drag and drop needs a Samsung phone, the same Wi-Fi, files under 512 MB and at most 100 at a time, and minimizing Phone Link cancels a drag and drop transfer.
Can I use tosstome and Phone Link together?
Yes. They do not interfere. Keep Phone Link for notifications and messages, and use tosstome when a file will not go through.
Does this work with an iPhone?
Yes. tosstome runs in Safari on the iPhone and any browser on the PC.
Related
- Send files from Android to a PC without USB
- Transfer files from iPhone to a Windows PC
- Send files from your phone to your computer
- Send large files without uploading them
Last checked 2026-10-28.