[UPDATE: This article was first published Feb 1, 2014. I republished it for today, July 2, 2015, because it has proven very helpful to me lately. I am testing Windows 10. During the last few builds, my iPhone has not been recognized by Windows or iTunes. Going through this quick driver re-installation has saved me a lot of time compared to uninstalling/re-installing Apple’s iTunes and related software. Perhaps it will help others, too.]
If iTunes on Windows will not see your iOS devices (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch), you may be thinking that uninstalling and reinstalling iTunes will fix the problem. Well, it probably won’t. You might think that uninstalling and reinstalling all Apple applications could do the trick. Well, this will probably work, but will take a lot of time.
Here’s your quick(er) fix.
- Open Device Manager.
- In Windows 8, go to the Desktop and right-click in the very lower left of the screen. Click Device Manager
- In Windows 7, click the Start orb and type “Device Manager” and press the Enter key.
- In Device Manager, find Portable Devices.
- Click the + or the arrow beside Portable Devices to view those devices.
- Right-click the first Apple device and click Update Driver Software…
- In the dialog box, choose to browse to a location on your computer.
- Browse to this folder path (or type it in directly if you wish): C:\Program Files\Common Files\Apple\Mobile Device Support\Drivers
- Click Next.
- It should confirm that you’ve just installed the latest driver.
- Repeat the Steps 4 through 7 for each of your remaining iOS devices.
If it says you have the latest driver already, then you’ll probably need to uninstall and reinstall all Apple software of your computer. Uninstall these in this order.
- iTunes
- Apple Software Update
- Apple Mobile Device Support [This one might refuse to uninstall. If so continue with the remaining apps.]
- Bonjour
- Apple Application Support
Now, reinstall iTunes. Good luck!