My phone cannot find my PC

Three things account for nearly every case. The phone and PC must be on the same Wi-Fi, and a guest network usually stops devices seeing each other. A VPN on the phone can route its traffic away from your local network. And Snap2PC runs as part of your Windows session, so it is not running at the sign-in screen.

Where do I find the QR code to pair my phone?

On the PC, click the Snap2PC icon in the system tray, bottom right next to the clock, and choose Pair a phone. A QR code appears on screen. The code is good for three minutes and works once.

Setup

Set up Snap2PC

Q: Should I install from the Microsoft Store or download the installer?

Use the Microsoft Store. Microsoft signs and verifies the package, so it installs with no security warning and nothing for your antivirus to object to, and it keeps itself up to date afterwards. The direct installer exists for PCs where the Store is blocked by IT policy, and is otherwise the harder path for no benefit.

Q: Windows says “Windows protected your PC” when I run the downloaded installer

Click More info, then Run anyway. It appears because that file is new and has not built up a reputation with Microsoft SmartScreen, not because anything is wrong with it. The Microsoft Store version does not show this warning at all, because Microsoft signs it.

Q: Do I need an account to use Snap2PC?

Not on the phone. There is nothing to sign up for and nothing to sign in to, and personal use on your own network is free for a limited time. Businesses create an account on the website and claim each receiving PC from the Snap2PC window on that PC.

Everything happens on the PC that should receive your documents. It takes about two minutes, and the phone app is free.

You need to be on the PC itself. Snap2PC is a Windows program, so it cannot be installed from a phone. If you are reading this on your phone, type snap2pc.com/setup into a browser on the PC instead.

1. Install it on the PC

Get it from the Microsoft Store. Microsoft signs and verifies the package, so it installs like any other Store app — no security warning, nothing for your antivirus to object to — and it keeps itself up to date afterwards. It runs in the tray and adds the firewall rule it needs. When it has installed, open Snap2PC once from the Start menu: installing does not start it. From then on it starts by itself whenever you sign in. Windows 11 is required.

Install on this PC Signed by Microsoft — no security warnings

If you would rather install it directly, you can download the installer (.exe, 62 MB) and run it — it installs to C:\Program Files\Snap2PC. Windows Defender or your antivirus software may complain about it because the file is new rather than because anything is wrong with it; you can carry on past that and install it. The two sections below are about that path only.

If your antivirus objects to the downloaded installer

Some antivirus products flag it. It is not infected, and you do not have to take our word for it — the checksum is published below.

Verify the download yourself

Snap2PC-Setup-0.4.9.exe is 62 MB and its SHA-256 is:

05e2571e19d06859a3db7a4ea89b9542a273cb2e530a466d0707197209e155d1

On the PC, certutil -hashfile Snap2PC-Setup-0.4.9.exe SHA256 should print exactly that. If it does not, do not run it — tell us at [email protected].

To a scanner the downloaded file is an unknown program with no reputation that writes to Program Files, adds a firewall rule and sets itself to start with Windows. That is a reasonable thing to be suspicious of, and it is a judgement about the file being new rather than about what it does.

The Store version is not affected: Microsoft signs and verifies that package, which is why it installs without any of this. If your antivirus is making the direct installer difficult, installing from the Store instead is the shorter road.

If Windows warns you about the downloaded installer

You may see a blue box saying “Windows protected your PC”. Click More info, then Run anyway.

This appears because that file is new and has not built up a reputation with Microsoft SmartScreen — not because anything is wrong with it. It is worth saying plainly rather than hoping you do not notice: it is the step most people stop at, and it is the whole reason the Store is the recommended route above.

2. Choose where documents should go

When it first runs, Snap2PC asks which folders your phone is allowed to send to. Pick the ones you actually file into — a client folder on the desktop, a folder on a network share, whatever you already use. You can add more later.

This is the part that does the work. Documents arrive already named and already in the right folder, so there is nothing to rename and nothing to drag anywhere.

3. Pair your phone

Install the Snap2PC app on the phone first. It is free and needs no account.

On the PC, find the Snap2PC icon in the system tray — bottom right, next to the clock. You may need to click the small arrow to show hidden icons.
Click it and choose Pair a phone. A QR code appears on screen.
On the phone, open Snap2PC and tap Pair, then point the camera at the QR code.

That is the whole setup. The code is good for three minutes and works once — if it expires, just show another.

Scanning the code off the screen is also what makes the connection private. The keys travel over light rather than over the network, so nobody sitting on your Wi-Fi can intercept or substitute them. There is more on this in Security.

If the phone cannot find the PC

Three things account for nearly every case.

They are on different networks. The phone and the PC must be on the same Wi-Fi. A guest network usually stops devices from seeing each other even though both have internet.
A VPN is running. The most common cause after the network itself, and the most confusing, because everything else on the phone keeps working. Android routes each app's traffic through the tunnel separately, so Snap2PC can be cut off from your local network while the browser beside it is fine.

Two settings usually fix it without switching the VPN off, which in many firms is not yours to do: turn on split tunnelling and exclude Snap2PC, or turn off any “invisibility on LAN” option, which exists precisely to stop local devices seeing each other.

Check the PC too. A VPN client there can change which network the PC is reachable on, and one running at both ends looks identical to one running at neither.

On Android the app notices a VPN and says so. On iPhone it cannot, because iOS does not report one — so if an iPhone says it cannot reach the PC, check this first.
The PC is asleep, or nobody is signed in. Snap2PC runs as part of your Windows session, which is what lets it write to network shares using your own permissions. It is not running at the sign-in screen. Documents you send are not lost — they wait on the phone and go by themselves once the PC is available again.

Accounts

The phone never needs one. There is nothing to sign up for and nothing to sign in to: install the app, scan the code shown on your PC, and start sending. Personal use on your own network is free for a limited time.

Businesses register on the web rather than on the phone. Create an account at snap2pc.com/signup, then claim each receiving PC from the Snap2PC window on that PC — it asks for your account once, because a PC being claimed belongs to whoever is claiming it. Commercial use is free for the first month, then $9.99 per receiving PC per month — see pricing.

Installing across an organisation

The installer is an Inno Setup package and takes the usual switches, so it deploys from an RMM without anyone touching the machine:

Snap2PC-Setup.exe /VERYSILENT /NORESTART /SUPPRESSMSGBOXES

The firewall rule is added during the elevated install, so no prompt appears for the user. Note that the rule is bound to the installed program path — running a copy from somewhere else means inbound connections are silently dropped, which looks exactly like a switched-off PC.

Snap2PC runs in the user's session rather than as a Windows service. That is deliberate: a service running as LocalSystem has no user network credentials and cannot write to a UNC path without a domain service account. Running in the session means it inherits the signed-in user's share permissions with nothing to configure.

Still stuck?

Email [email protected] and say what you saw.