Help Screen is unreadable, but I need to download pics

[peterApinto]

I'm trying to solve a problem for a relative.

He's busted his screen on his Huawei P30 Lite. It's unreadable and it's locked. I am trying to access the device on my Windows 10 PC in order to extract his pictures. The device shows up as a CD-drive, with no access.

Is this even possible, since I can't unlock the device with the screen busted?

 

[mikedt]

I'm trying to solve a problem for a relative.

He's busted his screen on his Huawei P30 Lite. It's unreadable and it's locked. I am trying to access the device on my Windows 10 PC in order to extract his pictures. The device shows up as a CD-drive, with no access.

Is this even possible, since I can't unlock the device with the screen busted?

Not possible. No data on the phone is accessible if it's screen-locked. And actually it would be a serious security problem if it could. Were the pictures backed-up somewhere else, like Google Drive or Huawei Cloud? Think the only chance is to get the screen replaced/repaired.

 

[Hadron]

What type of screen lock is it? I have managed to unlock a PIN-protected phone using a USB OTG adapter and a keyboard (use cursor keys to navigate the invisible keypad, I think the enter key to click on them). The trick was to get the cursor in a known position before I could start moving it around the keypad: I practiced using another phone from the same manufacturer with a working screen, so that I could see what I was doing. Unfortunately it didn't accept my typing on the keyboard's number keys, as that would have been very simple, but if you have a password rather than a PIN that might well work.

 

[peterApinto]

Thank you for your replies and insights. I think the answer is that he should get a new screen. This will be the cheapest and best solution to gain access to his pics. The device is 6 months old, so he might even be able to get some money from his insurance company.

 

[Hadron]

As long as they don't reset the phone when they repair it. Official service centres often do that as a matter of procedure.

 

[ocnbrze]

if you do get the phone up and running without data lost, i would recommend that you use google photos to back your pictures to the cloud.....or at least some cloud storage service. with google photos setup, you can have it setup so that any pictures you take on the phone will get backed up automatically. i never have to worry about my pictures.

 

[svim]

Thank you for your replies and insights. I think the answer is that he should get a new screen. This will be the cheapest and best solution to gain access to his pics. The device is 6 months old, so he might even be able to get some money from his insurance company.

That photo indicates at least you can see the screen even if its touch interface might not be working. If it's just a matter of the digitizer is messed up, it might be worth trying to use a Type C-to-USB adapter to connect a USB mouse and/or keyboard to key in past the lock screen. If you can at least get it unlocked than you can backup the data before sending it off to be serviced.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B...OQIKU&linkId=2b192d2bb2a847371300f1e455c47c9e

 

[James L]

If usb debugging was enabled you could use this to see and use the phone.

https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy

 

[Hadron]

That photo indicates at least you can see the screen even if its touch interface might not be working. If it's just a matter of the digitizer is messed up, it might be worth trying to use a Type C-to-USB adapter to connect a USB mouse and/or keyboard to key in past the lock screen. If you can at least get it unlocked than you can backup the data before sending it off to be serviced.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B...OQIKU&linkId=2b192d2bb2a847371300f1e455c47c9e

That's a good call: you can see enough of the keypad that you can probably get an indicator of where the cursor is on the left-hand row, then work out your moves from there.

Keyboards are easier to judge semi-blind than mice (I speak from experience of using both with a broken screen).