can't upload maps to Fenix 7. Seems MTP is set to read only mode. Anyone else struggling with that?

Recently received a replacement fenix 7 watch. I used to have topographic maps on the watch for hiking, etc. In the past I just copied maps over to GARMIN folder. But either with that watch replacement unit or with recent firmware I'm unable to copy anything to the watch. Garmin support wasn't helpful here - they mentioned that if it doesn't work it's just like that. Garmin Express works fine but only allows to copy over predefined Garmin maps and not user maps. 

Anyone else struggling with MTP write to the watch? 

Thanks,

Matthias

  • I'm unable to copy anything to the watch.

    Can you describe in more detail what is not working?

  • I use custom maps myself. Copy problems happened to me twice, filebrowser kept to calculate time for a very long time, then I got a write error.

    Resetting by "long press light until shutdown" fixed this. 

    Whether or not a map - or a file for that matter - is compatible to your system should not affect, whether you are able to copy it to the file system. In case of trouble I just copied an empty txt-File to see if MTP works. Of course you should delete it after positive outcome. But it is just smaller then a map and you have your result immediately.

    Btw.: Lucky me is still on 15.77, can't tell whether MTP works on 16.22 at all.

  • yep, tried to cp any file. Doesn't work. Even after Garmin reboot. And yes, I'm on 16.22. Read access works fine as well as read/write access via Garmin Express (which means that one could probably hack write access - but not yet ...)

  • read access to Garmin works fine as well as read/write via Garmin Express. But no write access from Windows (haven't tried via Linux MTP yet though).

  • I gave that a little more consideration.

    While general r/o access to the file system would be a show stopper for me I don't think that this is a bug/feature introduced with 16.22 b/o I know for sure that at least 3 devices - 1x 7S, 1x 7X (both nonpro) and 1x Tactix 7 - got files copied onto their filesystem while on 16.22 . Those files were no maps but that shouldn't matter at this point when you are unable to copy any files to the file system.

    That leads me to the conclusion that a problem exists in your combination of device and host system. A point to start from not the solution of course. 

    What I know too is that there are filesystems and even storage devices (e.g. SD cards) which block write access when their file systems or hardware is corrupted for the sole reason to avoid more problems. E.g. faulty SDs disable write access but leave read access to enable you to copy the remaining data. If the problem should be in the filesystem not the hardware a filesystem check might help. A mean I would not suggest to try with your Garmin b/o there is no fscheck tool on the device at least not to my knowledge and those tools have to match the filesystem they are used on.

    So probably either your device has a problem with storage/filesystem or your host system has a problem to properly connect the device. That could be a driver issue too. Keep in mind that the driver for the Garmin is installed with Garmin Express. I can tell you after a little asking around that two of the devices with 16.22 and r/w access still had GE 7.19.00 installed, a version I use too but on 15.77.

    This answer 

    they mentioned that if it doesn't work it's just like that

    imho would be neither correct nor helpful. 

    I would try with another host system first and maybe with a factory reset on the device which might help in case a file - most likely a recent activity - causes a file system problem. Also that is what support will demand you to do anyway when you push that further with support which I would suggest when nothing else helps. Again: I can confirm that 3 devices had data copied onto their system while on 16.22.

    Also I just confirmed that it is not mandatory to stop GE to have r/w access. While it is recommended for obvious reasons. 

    Hth

  • it is not mandatory to stop GE to have r/w access

    It is if using a Mac. Android File Transfer will result in a warning if GE opened at the same time but neither Commander One or OpenMTP will. 

  • Sorry, I was talking about Windows which is what the TO uses. I couldn't say a thing about Mac either. The message was: GE shouldn't be the reason to block r/w access with WINDOWS. There is no need to explain why it would be strongly recommended to avoid two instances to have write access to a file system at the same time of course.

  • thanks for your thorough feedback. My take: it's not a generic issue that Garmin switched off easy write access but it's an issue only on my side. Which is good and bad. It certainly would be great to have private maps back again. 

    In this context: MapInstall doesn't work either. Garmin support told me that it's no longer supported for Fenix 7 but not sure whether that's right. Does it work for you? This would have been an alternative way to upload ...