Poweramp doesn't read SD card on Chromebook

[jwagnerfamily]

Poweramp has been working fine for months but after a Chrome-os system update it died and won't see the SD card where I store my music files. Formatting the card is not an option - I've done that and it has multiple hundreds GB of music.

Using build-905 and unlocker build-302.

How do I get Poweramp to see my SD card?

Currently using Musicolet which is a good player but not as feature-complete as Poweramp.

Please advise.

Thanks

[maxmp]

Recent Chromebook firmwares require additional steps to allow access to storages for the Android apps. See here: https://www.androidpolice.com/2021/02/24/chromebook-apps-external-sd-cards-storage/#:~:text=How to get Chromebook Android,SD card%2C as shown below.

[jwagnerfamily]

Nothing there that explains what to do on my chromebook to allow apps to access storage. The problem happens only with Poweramp, no other app regardless of type has trouble reading the sd card. So what can I do *in Poweramp* to get it to work? Note it was working fine until a couple of days ago.

[andrewilley]

You could check Settings > Misc > File Access Legacy Mode, and try turning it off if it is enabled.

Do you see your SD Card in Settings > Library > Music Folders, and is it selected?

Andre

[andrewilley]

1 hour ago, jwagnerfamily said:

Nothing there that explains what to do on my chromebook to allow apps to access storage.

Yes it does. Follow the instructions on that page in the sections How to get Chromebook Android apps to see your SD card and the subsequent How to set up Android apps to use your SD card for downloads.

You could check Settings > Misc > File Access Legacy Mode, and try turning it off if it is enabled (or vice versa).

Do you see your SD Card in Settings > Library > Music Folders, and is it selected? Have you tried clearing Poweramp app data (in case Google is restoring settings) and allowing PA to re-configure itself for your new ROM?

Andre

[jwagnerfamily]

Checked all settings, everything is correct, THIS IS A BUG with Poweramp, unfortunately a showstopper. No other app has any issue accessing the SD card including Netflix and Plex.

Edited May 24, 2021 by jwagnerfamily

[andrewilley]

On 5/23/2021 at 9:28 AM, andrewilley said:

Do you see your SD Card in Settings > Library > Music Folders, and is it selected? Have you tried clearing Poweramp app data (in case Google is restoring settings) and allowing PA to re-configure itself for your new ROM?

... ?

[jwagnerfamily]

No I don't see the SD card and can't select from internal storage. How does one go about "clearing Poweramp data"? Do you mean a full rescan? I've done 3 reinstalls. I've been through everything. Poweramp is the only app of many including a number of music/media players that won't read the sd card.  It's not an android problem, PA works fine on my phone, it's a chromeos problem on a Samsung galaxy tablet. If you have access to a chrome tablet and sd card try it yourself. It's a bug my friend.

[andrewilley]

Just go to the app information page, and in Storage select to clear any used app data. Should have the same as doing a re-install though. Then go through the process outlined in the link Max posted earlier to allow Poweramp permission to access storage on the device. Once you've done that, you'll need to do the same in PA Settings > Library > Music Folders ('Enable' the storage location in there if still needed).

I'm afraid I don't have a Chromebook to test further on (although Max may have?). My phones and tablets are pure Android, but my computers/laptops are all Windows. Chromebooks always struck me as neither one thing nor the other.

Andre

[Eudy Pastor]

@andrewilley Enabling it fix it for me. Thanks Andre.