Plug in phone, check phone asks to allow debugging and select yes and also always allow. Check phone set to file transfer when prompted upon plugging USB or set to file transfer under USB preferences in developer options.
unlike about Samsung devices (reboot to recovery after flashing it), there is nothing tricky in installing /e/ on a Fairphone,
have a try… Install /e/OS on a Fairphone FP5 - “FP5”
You can raise an issue on the /e/OS installer not working correctly with the FP5
That way the team gets an idea of what issue can come up when users try out the /e/OS installer.
I have got the same issue. I have activated OEM unlocking, USB debugging and file transfer. I also allowed USB debugging and made the tick at “Always allow”. The download finished successful and the Fairphone 5 starts into Bootloader-mode which has the state “locked”. On my Windows machine the connection fails and I get the same error:
Error on step: connect-bootloader
Cannot execute command connect bootloader
The device is not connected Failed to connect: Cannot connect Bootloader
Proposal: Check connection and that no other program is using the phone and retry.
I have tried Edge and Chrome and different data cables also different computers.
I don’t relly like the advice “there is nothing tricky in installing /e/”, as I have already managed to crash a device before.