When you connect your mobile phone to a computer, you can see a DCIM folder in File Explorer that stores your digital camera files (photos and images). However, there are some issues related to this folder: the DCIM folder is missing, the DCIM folder is empty, the DCIM folder is not showing photos, etc. MiniTool Solution offers some useful ways to help you fix the problem.
What Is DCIM
What does DCIM stand for? The item DCIM is actually the acronym of Digital Camera Images. It’s a directory name in the Design rule for the Camera File system, being part of the digital camera file system.
What Is DCIM Folder
A DCIM folder is a folder created automatically by a digital camera on the memory card (SD card is used frequently). Also, a DCIM folder is created automatically on any Android photos or iPhone devices by the Camera app (the screenshots taken by your phone will also be saved in DCIM). You can see the folder in File Explorer if you connect your mobile photo to a computer. The main function of the DCIM folder is to store the photos and videos captured by a certain camera.
What is Windows.old folder? How to recover data from it?
Why Photos Are Kept in DCIM
Now, the DCIM meaning is clear to you, but you don’t know there should be a folder named DCIM to store the photos and videos. To understand that, you must get to know DCF (Design rule for Camera File system) first.
What is DCF?
DCF is a JEITA specification (number CP-3461) used to define digital cameras’ file system – the file format, metadata format, directory structure, character set, and file naming method – to guarantee interoperability. DCF is always the standard for the digital camera industry.
Why is there a DCIM folder on the memory card?
According to the DCF specification, a digital camera must store its photos (and video files) in a “DCIM” folder.
There can be multiple subfolders within a DCIM folder and each of them is made up of a unique three-digit number (from 100 to 999) & five alphanumeric characters; for instance, 100APPLE and 100ANDRO.
Your photos taken by the camera will be stored in these subfolders with names consisting of a four-digit alphanumeric code & a four-digit number; for instance, DSC_0001.jpg.
Having a standardized DCIM format helps computers and picture-transfer apps automatically identify photos saved in the camera, on the memory card, or your mobile phone. This can simplify and speed up the process of photo transfer.
Tip: The memory card must be formatted to FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, or exFAT before used by the camera. Please read Convert NTFS to FAT if you plan to use the SD card formatted as NTFS in the camera.
Where Is the DCIM Folder
You must be wondering where you can find the DCIM folder since it is so important. Its location varies on different devices and the following content shows you how to find the DCIM folder on your computer.
How to View DCIM Folder Android
You can connect the Android phone to the PC directly and view photos.
Use a micro-USB cable (or another matched USB cable) to connect your Android device to the computer.
Tap the Turn on USB Storage button on your Android device screen. Then, press OK or Mount to continue.
Open File Explorer on your PC (it’s also called Windows Explorer in older versions of Windows). The easiest way to open is pressing Windows + E.
Look for the Devices with Removable Storage section in File Explorer.
The drive that stands for your Android device will show up there. Please double click on it to open.
Double click on the folder that is named DCIM.
Double click on the Camera folder to view all the photos/images/pictures and videos that are stored on the Android device connected to the PC currently.
Also, you can take out the memory card (if it has any) and connect it to your PC via card reader to view the pictures and videos.
How can you deal with File Explorer not responding/stopped working?
How to Access DCIM Folder iPhone
The photos and videos captured by iPhone will be saved in the internal storage. Unlike Android devices, Apple products including iPhone don’t support a memory card. So you need to connect your iPhone and trust your computer to view the iPhone internal storage (with DCIM folder).
Connect your iPhone to the computer via the original data line provided by Apple.
Unlock iPhone.
Tap Allow on the screen when iPhone asks whether you'd like to allow this device to access photos and videos.
Open the File Explorer (also known as Windows Explorer).
Select This PC from the left sidebar.
Look for the Devices and drives section in the right panel.
Double click on the Apple iPhone icon to open it.
Also, open Internal Storage by double clicking on it.
Now, you can finally see the DCIM folder on your computer.
The subfolders in DCIM are named 100APPLE, 101APPLE, 102APPLE, etc.
The message you’ll see on your iPhone screen after connecting it to a PC:
Allow this device to access photos and videos?
This device will be able to access photos and videos while it is connected to your iPhone.
What Happens If You're Connecting iPhone to PC for the First Time
After connecting the iPhone to PC, you’ll see the Unlock your iPhone to use accessories message showing up on the screen of the locked iPhone. Please just unlock it.
The Trust This Computer window will pop up to ask you whether you'd like to trust it or not. If you tap Trust, your settings and data will be accessible from this computer when connected.
Besides, the Apple iPhone window will pop up in the notification center of your PC and you’ll see the message – Select to choose what happens with this device. You can ignore it, of course.
Tip: If you press Don’t Trust by mistake, you should follow this to reset the trusted devices: Settings -> General -> Reset -> Reset Location & Privacy -> Enter your passcode.
Can you always access USB accessories from your iOS device? Generally, yes. However, when you don’t connect to USB accessories regularly, you need to allow access to USB accessories on iPhone manually:
Locate the Settings app on iPhone and tap it.
Scroll down to look for Face ID & Passcode (or Touch ID & Passcode).
Please enter your passcode.
Scroll down to find the ALLOW ACCESS WHEN LOCKEDsection.
Turn on USB Accessories. Otherwise, you’ll need to unlock the iOS device to connect USB accessories.
Extended reading: how to make sure that you get full access to a Windows folder on your PC?
How to View the Camera's DCIM Folder
There are two options available for viewing DCIM folder of your camera.
One: Connect Your Camera to PC Directly
Find the cable that came with your camera.
Insert one end of the cable to the camera and then insert the other to the computer.
Wait for a few seconds and Windows will mount it as a new drive.
Open File Explorer and look for the camera drive.
Double click on it and you’ll see the DCIM folder.
Two: Connect the Camera's Memory Card to the PC
Prepare an SD card reader.
Power off your camera and take the memory card out from it.
Insert the card into the card reader properly.
Connect the card reader to your computer via a USB port.
How to fix if your camera says: card cannot be accessed?
[SOLVED] Camera Says Card Cannot Be Accessed – Easy FixStay calm when camera says card cannot be accessed suddenly; then, take measures in time to carry out camera card recovery.Read More
Some users are asking whether they can delete the DCIM folder/Photo Library folder as a whole since it occupies too much space. In this part, I’ll discuss the deletion and recovery of your DCIM folder. Users are not allowed to delete the DCIM folder directly unless they use special tools. But there’s an alternative solution to it: deleting subfolders inside DCIM (for example, 100APPLE).
How to Recover Lost Folder & Files
You should think twice before deleting your photos and videos inside the folder. However, a lot of users said their DCIM photos are deleted mistakenly or all photos are lost suddenly & the iPhone DCIM folder empty. Can they recover the deleted DCIM folder or photos? Certainly, yes. You should get a reliable program like MiniTool Power Data Recovery to restore missing files from DCIM.
The Fabulous Folders Recovery Software Is Ready For You To Use.
Step 1. Download the data recovery software to a safe place and double click on the setup program to install it properly.
Free Download
Step 2. Connect your memory card that was used in the camera or phone to the PC.
Step 3. Run the software after installation and select Removable Disk Drive in the left pane.
Step 4. Look for your memory card in the right pane. Then, select it and press Scan. You can also double click on the card to start scanning it directly.
Step 5. Wait for the scan and browse the photos found on your card.
Step 6. Please check the DCIM folder or check the photos & pictures you want to recover one by one. You can select a photo and click Preview to determine whether it’s needed or not.
Step 7. Click on the Save button and choose a storage path for the recovered DCIM folder or photos.
Also, this software can help you recover files from a dead/corrupted/formatted memory card.
Note: If you want to recover DCIM photos from an Android phone, you should use MiniTool Mobile Recovery for Android. If you want to recover the DCIM folder on iPhone, please use MiniTool Mobile Recovery for iOS instead.
DCIM Folder Not Showing on Computer
However, many users are complaining about this issue - iPhone photos not showing up on PC. Some said they find the iPhone Internal Storage empty while others said the iPhone not showing all photos on computer. What happened? How to fix such problems?
Fix DCIM Folder Shows Empty on PC
You should try the solutions mentioned below when you find the DCIM folder is empty on your computer. However, if you find not all iPhone photos showing up on PC, you should suspect some photos are lost so you might need to recover photos at once with professional recovery software.
One: Trust This Computer
If you don’t trust the computer you’re using before, you’ll find the Apple iPhone empty or the iPhone Internal Storage empty. You can see the Apple iPhone icon in the File Explorer and find the Internal Storage icon. However, you can’t find anything in the Apple iPhone or iPhone Internal Storage.
How to fix it? How to view the internal storage and DCIM folder?
Unlock your iPhone.
Click Allow in the Trust This Computerwindow.
Wait for a few seconds and try to open Apple iPhone -> Internal Storage again.
Two: Show Hidden Files in DCIM Folder
Connect your memory card to your PC.
Open File Explorer and select the target USB drive.
Double click on the drive to see the DCIM folder.
Select View tab at the top -> click Options -> choose Change folder and search options.
Shift to the View tab in the Folder Options window.
Look for the Hidden files and folders option under Advanced settings.
Check Show hidden files, folders, and drives.
Three: Restart Your Device
You need to restart your iPhone/iPad or Android phone by pressing the corresponding buttons. After that, you should restart your computer by pressing Windows -> clicking on the Power icon -> selecting Restart.
Four: Uninstall the Apple iPhone Device
Right click on the Start button at the bottom left.
Select Device Manager.
Open Portable Devices.
Right click on Apple iPhone and select Uninstall device.
Click on the Uninstall button in the pop-up window to confirm your selection.
Wait for the process to end and remove the iPhone from the computer.
Restart the computer and reconnect your device to it.
You can also choose the Update driver in step 4 to have a try. Besides, the steps to uninstall the Android device in Device Manager are the same.
Five: Turn Off iCloud Photos
Tap Settings on your iPhone.
Tap your username at the top.
Select iCloud.
Choose Photos under APPS USING ICLOUD.
Select Download and Keep Originals, instead of Optimize iPhone Storage.
Wait until the photos are downloaded.
Connect your phone to the computer and check the DCIM folder.
Six: Reset Location & Privacy
Open Settings on iPhone.
Select General.
Select Reset.
Tap Reset Location & Privacy.
Enter your passcode.
Click Reset Settings.
Seven: Clear Cache Data
You should clear the cache of External Storage and Media Storage on Android devices.
Choose Media storage -> click CLEAR DATA -> click CLEAR CACHE.
Also, you can try a different USB cable, USB port, or card reader, while connecting your phone/memory card to the computer. Besides, you should remove the write protection from a memory card or scan the mobile phone/card for viruses and then kill them.
If there are still problems with the DCIM folder, you should reset your mobile phone or format the memory card that holds it.
Want To Recover Formatted SD Card – SEE How To Do ItThis is written to help users recover formatted SD card when they find valuable data are lost due to wrong SD card formatting.Read More
Verdict
If you didn’t hear the DCIM folder and don’t know what does DCIM stand for, this page must be very helpful. It introduces the DCIM meaning and tells you where the DCIM folder is & how to view it on different devices. Besides, it shows you how to recover photos from the DCIM folder and how to troubleshoot iPhone internal storage empty & DCIM folder empty.
5 Ways: How To Transfer Photos From iPhone To PC Windows 10.
There are a few reasons why the DCIM folder is empty or missing. For example, your computer is not trusted by your iPhone, the USB drive has an issue, you turned off indexing contents and properties of files on a drive, files, and folders on your device are hidden from your computer, to name a few.
If the DCIM folder appears after configuring the folder settings, then the folder has hidden attributes that may need to be removed. If the folder still doesn't appear, the folder may have been deleted.
If the DCIM folder shows empty on your Android phone and if it is saved on the Android internal storage, the best way to restore the DCIM folder with all files on your Android phone is to apply the best Android data recovery software for help.
The drive that stands for your Android device will show up there. Please double click on it to open. Double click on the folder that is named DCIM. ... Six: Reset Location & Privacy
Restart your phone. Go to settings > Application Manager > All Apps (or System Apps) > Gallery > Clear cache. Recheck your gallery and see if you can find them. There could be lack of storage and your phone memory would be full.
In many cases, the photos that don't show up on PC is caused by a locked device. When connecting your iPhone to PC, be sure to unlock the device so that the computer can have access to files and folders inside of it. Once you plug in the USB cable, your phone will charge and you may need to unlock it at least for once.
If there's a driver that is outdated or got corrupted, it could stop your computer from showing the files and folders on your USB. If you want Windows to search and install drivers that match your system, the easiest way is to use Device Manager. Right-click Start and select Device Manager.
Normally, you can find DCIM folder on Android device through the full path: /storage/emmc/DCIM, if you save photos to Android internal memory; or you can find /storage/sdcard0/DCIM, if you store pictures to an extended SD card.
Every camera — whether it's a dedicated digital camera or the Camera app on Android or iPhone — places the photos you take in a DCIM folder. DCIM stands for “Digital Camera Images.” The DCIM folder and its layout come from DCF, a standard created back in 2003. DCF is so valuable because it provides a standard layout.
DCIM is short for “Digital Camera Images.” DCIM is a folder that is automatically created on the SD card by your camera. The camera use the DCIM folder to store the videos and photos captured by the camera.
The most possible reason is your files are hidden. Other factors might be some malware or virus attacking your disk and hiding or even deleting your files so that you won't see them in the folder. Some users also report that problems with compression tools can also cause your files to not be displayed.
Note: Depending on the Android version you're running, the Trash option may appear under the three vertical dots in the upper right-hand corner. Select Trash. Your missing photos should appear in this folder. If they do, you can easily recover them by tapping on the Restore icon in the lower left-hand corner.
Make sure that you're signed in with the same Apple ID that you're using with iCloud for Windows. Open iCloud for Windows, and next to Photos, click Options. Turn on My Photo Stream. Close and then reopen iCloud for Windows.
If you cannot open your DCIM file correctly, try to right-click or long-press the file.Then click "Open with" and choose an application. You can also display a DCIM file directly in the browser: Just drag the file onto this browser window and drop it.
Data center infrastructure management (DCIM) tools monitor, measure, manage and/or control data center utilization and energy consumption of all IT-related equipment (such as servers, storage and network switches) and facility infrastructure components (such as power distribution units [PDUs] and computer room air ...
If your photo is still in bin, you may be able to get it back. Learn how to restore a deleted photo. If your photo is in bin for over 60 days, the photo may be permanently deleted. If you use another photo app or gallery, and delete photos there, you might delete your photo before Google Photos can back up your photo.
Go to Storage. If your Gallery app is corrupted or frozen, you'll need to tap Force stop to shut it down first. Choose Clear cache button located on the bottom right corner. Then, restart your phone and see if the missing photos appear on Gallery app.
The detailed steps to fix it are: Go to the file manager and find the folder containing . nomedia file > When you have found the file, rename the file to any name you like > Then restart the device, and here you should find your missing pictures in your Android gallery again.
You can't see photos in DCIM folder iPhone, probably because your photos are uploaded to iCloud instead of being stored in your iPhone internal storage. To access them on your computer, you must download them from cloud storage and save them on your iPhone.
Files can disappear when the properties are set to "hidden" and File Explorer is not configured to show hidden files. Computer users, programs and malware can edit file properties and set them to hidden to give the illusion that the files don't exist and prevent you from editing the files.
Open Computer or This PC, right-click Removable Disk and open its Properties. Step 3. Check and recover corrupted USB drive. Click on Tools, tick the Check Now option and check Automatically fix file system errors and Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors, then click Start to begin the scan process.
Your photos will be in one of two areas: The Pictures folder or the DCIM folder. Photos you took with your phone will likely be in your DCIM folder, while other photos or images (like screenshots) you keep on your phone will likely be in the Pictures folder.
Most Android phones come preinstalled with at least one file manager app. A file manager app lets you view and work with the files sitting on both internal and SD card storage on your device. This app may be called File Manager, Files, or something similar and should be available in the app drawer of your device.
4 Touch My device. Note : If you inserted an SD card into your device and used the SD card as the storage location for the videos and the pictures taken with your smartphone, a DCIM folder will be located on your SD card.
Nothing happens! your android system will again creat that file when you open the gallery app! So don't waste your time to delete that . thumbnail file to increase your internal space!
Still images you shoot are recorded in a folder that is automatically created under the DCIM folder on the memory card. You can change the way folder names are assigned. MENU → (Setup) → [Folder Name] → desired setting.
How can I open Office files from an external storage (SD card)? If you have an SD card mounted on your device, then you can easily read & write files to the SD card from Office on Android apps. On the Open page, tap This device.Tap SD Card or Documents (SD Card).
If there's a driver that is outdated or got corrupted, it could stop your computer from showing the files and folders on your USB. If you want Windows to search and install drivers that match your system, the easiest way is to use Device Manager. Right-click Start and select Device Manager.
Step 1: On your iPhone device, go ahead and launch the Settings application. Step 2: Then from the Settings, go ahead and tap on the option General. Step 3: Then from the General's page, go ahead and scroll down and tap on Reset. Step 4: From the Reset page, go ahead and tap on Reset Location & Privacy.
DCIM stands for Digital Camera Images and it is one of the preloaded folders on your Android device. This folder saves all of the photos that you capture using your phone's camera. It also contains the screenshots that you have taken on your device.
DCIM is short for “Digital Camera Images.” DCIM is a folder that is automatically created on the SD card by your camera. The camera use the DCIM folder to store the videos and photos captured by the camera.
Files can disappear when the properties are set to "hidden" and File Explorer is not configured to show hidden files. Computer users, programs and malware can edit file properties and set them to hidden to give the illusion that the files don't exist and prevent you from editing the files.
Open Computer or This PC, right-click Removable Disk and open its Properties. Step 3. Check and recover corrupted USB drive. Click on Tools, tick the Check Now option and check Automatically fix file system errors and Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors, then click Start to begin the scan process.
That is because photos on the iPhone are not designed to be viewed on a Windows computer in File Explorer. The link provided allows you to import the photos from the iPhone to the computer using the Photos app in Windows.
There could be a number of reasons for this issue, which include: Malware or virus infection – the malware hides your files and makes the folder indicate empty but still has size. Improper removal of external hard drives, memory card, USB flash drive. Damaged file system or hard drive.
Windows Explorer allows you to transfer pictures from iPhone to PC: just connect your iPhone to computer and run Windows Explorer.Then, find your iPhone name under “Portable devices”.Open the “DCIM” folder, then drag and drop photos to your PC.
On your Android phone or tablet, open Google Photos .At the bottom, tap Library Find the folder under Photos on device. If available, open your device folders to find your missing item. If you want your device folder items to appear in your Photos tab, you can back them up automatically.
Normally, you can find DCIM folder on Android device through the full path: /storage/emmc/DCIM, if you save photos to Android internal memory; or you can find /storage/sdcard0/DCIM, if you store pictures to an extended SD card.
Introduction: My name is Frankie Dare, I am a funny, beautiful, proud, fair, pleasant, cheerful, enthusiastic person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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