If you tell me which step failed, I can walk you through the fix.

Instead of letting the computer search, Alex clicked "Browse my computer for drivers" and then "Let me pick from a list of available drivers" .

Panic set in. Alex needed to skachat (download/install) the elusive "" (MTP USB Device Driver) to restore peace. The Tale of the Missing MTP:

If running Windows N/KN versions, downloading the Media Feature Pack from Microsoft solves the issue.