Pear Shaped Apple? IOS 6 for iPhone, iPad and iTunes 10.7

There is a problem for some with iOS 6, iTunes 10.7 and Windows 7. Despite how we PC users get to love Apple, our digital lives were not built on an early adoption of MACs. If, like me, you get to rely on your iPhone and iPad, it is unbelievably irritating when Windows 7 just will not mesh with iTunes.



I use my iPhone alot, not just for the ease of using and setting up texting, email, iMessage, Facetime (occassionally) and.......oh yes, phone calls, but also for music. Music at home across a home network, in the car, mobile etc.

My problem arose when I ditched Windows XP and embraced Windows 7. Initially it was fine but then an update to iTunes caused problems. It got to a stage where an update to iOS also needed an update to iTunes. After an iTunes update, my iPhone would not sync with iTunes. Not only would it not sync with iTunes, the PC would not even recognise the iPhone when attached via USB. It would not even charge the phone. I spent so much time try to resolve the problem, I can't even remember now how I did it! I do remember the amount of irritated people on forums, Apple and various others, who had the same problem. It was if Apple had forgotten to consider PC's when pushing out iOS and iTunes updates, and some had said 'Hey, what about PC's?' followed by someone replying 'Damn, forgot about that. I'll sort it'. It makes me think that someone produced the code, squirted out the needs for PC users without really checking if it worked. I also remember, reverting to my tired old laptop running XP, updating iTunes and syncing with that. I can also remember taking files off the trusty but old laptop and putting them on the Windows 7 PC. It worked. I can't remember how. The Windows 7 machine was 64 bit. The laptop was not.

So now I have come full circle and it has happened again. I was fooled by the new 'over the air' update to iOS6 on my iPhone. Immediately after it was complete, I started to remember the amount of time it took (days not hours) to get iOS5 syncing with iTunes. Straightaway I knew that I would need an update to iTunes. Sure enough, when back at the Windows 7 machine, no sync. This is where my problem started last time. So downloaded iTunes 10.7, but this time it would roll back data, not install and not update the PC. Again, I had to find a way around this.

Eventually, after again reading post after post on forums and realising that there are a multitude of suggestions that worked for some and not for others, I gave up on online help and opinions. I then checked what I knew that the PC needed for iTunes 10.7 to sync with iOS6. The problem looked like (for me anyway) it was all around AMDS (Apple Mobile Device Service), sometimes referred to as Apple Mobile Service, Apple Mobile Support etc. etc. At the very least this service needs to be started. When checking Services on the Windows 7 machine (Start, run, Services or Control Panel - Administrative Tools - Services), Apple Mobile Devices was not even listed as a service. At this point, frustration reached it's peak, again! How to install AMDS separately?  Here's how I did it.

First of all take everything Apple related off the PC, iTunes, Bonjour, Quicktime, AirPort. To do this use a good uninstaller program like Revo Uninstaller or CCleaner. (Make sure that you make copies of iTunes music and other content in a separate folder in case they get deleted. They will probably not, but better to be safe.) With Revo Uninstaller make sure you do a deep scan to remove any left over registry items. At the end of this removal process it is good to also scan the registry to remove any irrelevant lines, orphans etc.

Once the PC is de-Appled, download the latest version of iTunes BUT DO NOT INSTALL IT. Once the file is saved in the downloads folder (in my case iTunes64Setup.exe), right click it and extract files to a separate folder. In that folder you should see the following

The first thing to do is to double click to install 'AppleMobileDeviceSupport64.msi'. This will install the service that was either missing, corrupt or just not working as it should. Once that is installed, check that it is, by going to Services (Start, run, Services or Control Panel - Administrative Tools - Services). If it is there, it will display as below

Once Apple Mobile Device is installed and running, double click iTunes64.msi which will then install iTunes. Hopefully for you, as for me, iTunes will be the latest version and sync with IOS6 for iPhone and iPad.