I apologize for the mass text, but this was the only resource I could find when I had this issue and I wasted a lot of time running in circles before understanding what was actually causing the problem. In the off chance that it may help someone else, I would like to share my journey and credit Azerox's solution.
My Pixel 6 was invisible to Windows Explorer in all USB modes, but it would show up as "Acer Composite ADB Interface" in Device Manager and as "Unspecified Device" in Devices and Printers. When I enabled USB Debugging and switched to PTP mode, I could see the Camera folder in Windows Explorer. It remained invisible in all other modes.
I installed the aforementioned Google USB Driver, and uninstalled the "Acer Composite ADB Interface" from Device Manager (right click > Uninstall) erroneously thinking that the Google driver would appear on restart by default (spoiler: they're different drivers). Every time I restarted or plugged my phone back in, I saw Windows re-assert the Acer driver. To add to my confusion, when I updated the driver from Device Manager (right click > Update Driver), Windows prompted me with a "The best drivers for your device are already installed" message.
It wasn't until I stumbled across this Stack Overflow thread that I realized I had to abandon the automatic "search for updates" and manually roll back the driver. So for the sake of SEO and future frustrated pixel-users, update your USB driver from Device Manager by selecting "Browse my computer for drivers," and then "Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer." You will not be looking for the Google USB Driver--that's for ADB purposes/troubleshooting. USB - MTP or any Android Composite ADB Interface option will allow Windows to recognize the Pixel 6 as a storage device (assuming, again, that file-transfer is enabled on the phone).
Thanks Azerox and community at large for helping me out.
My Pixel 6 was invisible to Windows Explorer in all USB modes, but it would show up as "Acer Composite ADB Interface" in Device Manager and as "Unspecified Device" in Devices and Printers. When I enabled USB Debugging and switched to PTP mode, I could see the Camera folder in Windows Explorer. It remained invisible in all other modes.
I installed the aforementioned Google USB Driver, and uninstalled the "Acer Composite ADB Interface" from Device Manager (right click > Uninstall) erroneously thinking that the Google driver would appear on restart by default (spoiler: they're different drivers). Every time I restarted or plugged my phone back in, I saw Windows re-assert the Acer driver. To add to my confusion, when I updated the driver from Device Manager (right click > Update Driver), Windows prompted me with a "The best drivers for your device are already installed" message.
It wasn't until I stumbled across this Stack Overflow thread that I realized I had to abandon the automatic "search for updates" and manually roll back the driver. So for the sake of SEO and future frustrated pixel-users, update your USB driver from Device Manager by selecting "Browse my computer for drivers," and then "Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer." You will not be looking for the Google USB Driver--that's for ADB purposes/troubleshooting. USB - MTP or any Android Composite ADB Interface option will allow Windows to recognize the Pixel 6 as a storage device (assuming, again, that file-transfer is enabled on the phone).
Thanks Azerox and community at large for helping me out.
Right click the ADB-device in device manager (somehow it says ACER @ mine), choose properties > manual driver update and choose the standard usb-mtp driver. After that you will see your pixel and its contents (when u choose file transfer).