If you own a GoPro camera, you know how critical it is to know how to connect it to your computer so you can access your files and transfer or edit them, right?
Well, in this post you’ll learn the three ways you can connect your GoPro to your Windows PC, including using a micro USB cable, microSD card, Bluetooth or the GoPro mobile app. Plus, we’ll show you how to transfer GoPro videos directly to the Internet using the mobile app.
Note: Keep in mind that the steps in this article are for the latest GoPro 10 currently available on the market. If your GoPro is older, some of the steps may vary. Also, the following will work with Mac, but instead of using file explorer, you’ll need to use Finder to see mapped drives.
Connect GoPro to Computer Using a Micro USB Cable
This is certainly the easiest way to connect your GoPro to your computer. This cable usually comes bundled with the camera and while it may be the most convenient method, remember that it is not necessarily the most efficient.
In fact, you won’t have to remove the microSD card from your camera to insert it into your PC, but using a USB cable to transfer video is a bit slower than using the microSD card. However, you may have no choice if your computer doesn’t have an SD card slot or doesn’t have a microSD to SD card adapter.
Without further to add, here are the steps to follow:
- First, open the battery door of your GoPro and connect the small end of the micro SD cable to the micro SD port near the battery.
- Next, press the power button on the side of the GoPro and hold it down until the GoPro turns on.
- Now, plug the other end of the GoPro’s USB cable into the USB port of the Windows computer.
- Lastly, open File Explorer on your Windows PC to see a new drive mapped to the left identified as your GoPro camera.
And that’s it, you can now browse through the directories on the microSD card in your GoPro to find your videos and transfer them to your computer. You can find all the videos inside the DCIM folder.
GoPro Will Not Connect Via USB Cable
In some cases, the above steps do not work correctly and as a result, you will not see the mapped GoPro drive in Windows File Explorer. If this is the case, try the following troubleshooting tips to fix it.
First, disconnect the USB cable from your computer and try plugging it into a different USB port, this sometimes causes Windows to recognize the device and create the mapped GoPro drive in File Explorer. Additionally, plugging the cable back in may also help GoPro automatically enable USB mode.
If once you have done this, you do not see any system changes, try the following steps to enable autoplay in Windows 11 for your GoPro device:
- To begin, open Windows settings and type “autoplay” in the search bar on the left. Then select the AutoPlay settings.
- On the AutoPlay settings page, make sure that Use AutoPlay for all media and devices is enabled. Next, for Choose AutoPlay Defaults, select the drop-down menu under your listed GoPro device.
- Then, select Open device to view files (File Explorer) from the drop-down list.
After this, you may need to restart your computer for the change to take effect. In addition, make sure your GoPro is powered on and connected to your PC via the USB cable and check to see if it now appears in Windows File Explorer.
Connect a GoPro to a Computer Using a microSD Card
To directly transfer your files from your GoPro to your computer using the microSD card, you will need to attach the sd card from the GoPro camera to the PC. Nevertheless, there are a couple of things you will need to make it work:
- A microSD to SD adapter that will allow you to insert the microSD card into your computer’s SD card slot.
- A computer with an SD card slot or an SD to USB adapter (an SD card reader).
Now, here are the steps to do it:
- Start by finding the microSD in your GoPro by opening the battery door and removing it. Then, you will see the microSD card on the long side of the battery opening. So simply press it gently and release it to eject it from your GoPro.
- Next, insert the microSD card into your microSD to AD adapter.
- So, insert the adapter into the SD slot of your computer (or the SD to USB adapter).
- After that, your computer should immediately detect the card (just as it would a normal USB flash drive) and list it as a mapped drive in Windows File Explorer. You will see this drive under “My Computer” or “This Computer”.
This way you can browse through the directories on the microSD card, find your recorded videos and transfer them to your computer.
How to Connect a GoPro to a Computer Via Mobile App
The last method is to download the GoPro Quik app for your Android from the Google Store or for your iPhone from the Apple Store. This app allows you to connect and control your GoPro through your mobile device. Therefore, it is an amazing app and has many great features.
The highlight of it is the ability to extract videos directly from your GoPro device. Which will be especially useful if you have no way to transfer files from the microSD card and can’t get the USB connection to work. To do this, follow the steps:
- Once you have installed the GoPro Quik app and launched it, you will need to select the small GoPro camera icon with a plus sign. Follow the steps in the wizard to add your new GoPro device.
- Then, on the main page, select the Media icon at the bottom and click App on the next page. Next, select the video from your GoPro that you would like to download to your phone and tap the Export icon at the bottom. Finally, tap Save to Phone.
- After you have saved your GoPro app to your phone, you can transfer it to your computer via the cloud. Open your Gallery app, view and select the video you want to transfer and export it to the cloud storage service of your choice.
- When you have transferred the video to the cloud, you can connect to the same cloud storage account with your computer and import the video
Note: A faster transfer option to move the video from your phone to your computer might be doing a Bluetooth file transfer, or connecting the phone to your computer via USB and skipping the cloud option entirely.
These are all the options available to connect your GoPro camera to your computer and transfer all your captured files. We hope you enjoyed the article and above all, that it was helpful. Good luck!