Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

IPhone is not listed in My Computer Folder

Jul 31, 2010 1:31AM PDT

My IPhone does not show up in the My Computer folder when I connect it to my computer. iTunes recognizes it and syncs but I cannot explore the IPhone on my computer. When I connect it, a window pops up asking for which program to use to access the phone but gives me no programs to select. I close the window and when I open the My Computer folder, it does not show up. I connected the phone to my work computer and it is listed in the My Computer folder there. I am using Windows XP Home, SP3 on my home computer. When I check in Device Manager, it is listed there. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Earl

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Traditional drag and drop restricted AFAIK on iPhone
Aug 5, 2010 7:13AM PDT

I believe you will need a third party app to do this w/ an iPhone.

Check ilounge.com to see if this feature exists. Otherwise, they will also have software reviews to search for an alternative like File Magic, etc.

- Collapse -
re: IPhone is not listed in My Computer Folder
Aug 7, 2010 2:17AM PDT

If a third party app is necessary, I shouldn't be able to connect it to my computer at work and be able to explore my phone there. It shows up on in the My Computer folder there. I also tried it on a friends computer and it shows up there as well. Could it be a problem with my personal computer? Thanks

- Collapse -
question
Aug 9, 2010 1:12AM PDT

When it shows up under 'My Computer', can you actual peruse the contents? The third party app gives you drag and drop which the stock PC does not AFAIK, at least on an iPhone that has not been jailbroken.

Yes, it is possible that two PCs have different restrictions on what you can or cannot access. The operating system and user permissions can sometimes make a difference depending on which devices you are working with/connecting to.

- Collapse -
re: iPhone is not listed in My Computer folder
Aug 9, 2010 8:31AM PDT

Yes, I can actully go through and look at all the contents and drag and drop photos, music, etc. AFAIK, there is no third party app on either my friend's computer or my work computer. It just shows up in the My Computer folder as "Apple iPhone" under Device with Removable Storage.

- Collapse -
Check Add/Remove programs
Aug 11, 2010 12:28AM PDT

to see if you have Apple Mobile Device Support.

just a thought

P

- Collapse -
Good advice
Aug 11, 2010 3:27AM PDT

Yeah, that's definitely worth checking.

I'd also look at the permissions (guest/power user/admin/etc.). That can sometimes make a difference at what devices are visible to a particular user.

- Collapse -
In my experience...
Aug 11, 2010 3:54AM PDT

For you to get the pop-up window or to show up in "My Computer" is to have your iPhone on, not sleeping, and have a picture on the iPhone that you have taken with it, not synced photos.

You will not be able to "Browse" any other part of the iPhone except where the pictures are, unless you use a third party program.

After reading your post, I decided to check my own 3GS iPhone on Win 7.
I'm guessing it had been a month or so since I had checked, about the same time iOS 4 came out.

When I plugged the iPhone in (with a picture), nothing happened.
When checking the "Device Manager", the iPhone was listed under "Portable Devices" but, with an exclamation mark.

I did a repair of the Apple Mobile Support installation, but to no avail.

I tried to update the driver from "Device Manager" but it said I had the best driver.

I uninstalled the driver from "Device Manager", did a "Scan for new hardware", and there it was.
Showing up correctly in "Device Manager" and also in "My Computer".
Windows Explorer popped up and there was the storage folder for the iPhone pictures and the picture of my shoe.

- Collapse -
re: IPhone is not listed in My Computer Folder
Aug 11, 2010 9:07AM PDT

Thanks for the response and all the suggestions.

I don't know if it makes a difference between Win 7 and Win XP but when I plug it in nothing happens. I look in Device Manage, it is listed as Apple iPhone under "Imaging Devices". I tried to update driver but could not since I don't have a CD to install. I also did a repair of the Apple Mobile Support installation and that didn't help either. I uninstalled the driver from Device Manager and did a Scan for hardware changes. It found the phone but installed it in the same location, Imaging Devices. A window popped up saying with the heading "Still Digital Camera" and asks to "Select Program to Launch for this Action" but gives no programs to choose from.

Shouldn't it be listed under "Removable Storage" which I assume would be the same as "Portable Devices" and not "Imaging Devices"?

Also, if a third party app is necessary, which would you recommend?

Thanks again for all the help!!

- Collapse -
Did you have...
Aug 11, 2010 9:29AM PDT

The iPhone on and a picture taken by it?
It will probably show up in a different place than in Win 7, but it should work fairly similar.

- Collapse -
(NT) Thank you so much!
Jul 28, 2015 10:54PM PDT
- Collapse -
(NT) this fixed my problem!
Jul 28, 2015 10:55PM PDT
- Collapse -
IPhone is not listed in My Computer Folder
Aug 12, 2010 1:20AM PDT

To answer your first question, yes the phone is on and have pictures on it. I had a 1 minute auto lock but changed that to "never lock" and still have the same result. It still shows up in Device Manager under imaging devices but not in the scanners and cameras folder

I tried your suggested links and this is the resutlt:

1. When I went into control panel and cameras and scanners, the phone is not listed there.

2. I went to the next link, same problem, not listed

3. I downloaded the iphone configuration utility and it doesn't allow me to change anything at all. It lists my phone info but can't get past the initial screen or click on any other tab, i.e., configuration profiles, provisioning profiles, etc.

- Collapse -
Only other...
Aug 12, 2010 4:43AM PDT
- Collapse -
IPhone is not listed in My Computer Folder
Aug 16, 2010 11:30PM PDT

Thanks again, I tried the solution mentioned and uninstalled the apple mobile device USB driver. Now it does not show up anywhere. Next I deleted all my photos that I received via email or mms and that didn?t help either. I finally just took my phone to work and plugged it in there and it popped up in My Computer. I can transferr the photos to the desktop there and then email them to myself. I then deleted all photos and that didn?t help either. I also tried different usb ports on my hub, then connected directly to the computer?s port and still it doesn?t recognize the phone. It's a pain to have to use my work computer to transfer the photos, (besides my boss probably wouldn't like it), but it will have to do until I figure out what's wrong with my home computer.

- Collapse -
Update driver details
Aug 9, 2013 1:17PM PDT

I repaired the Apple mobile device support, and nothing. Then I opened the device manager and selected the update driver for the Apple Mobile Device usb, this worked and then I noticed my apple folder.

The window came up to import photos too...though no windows explorer option. I've still got the Hardware Update Wizard open at the finish screen and noticed the apple folder disappeared. I was trying to install the newer version of itunes too. I clicked finish for the hardware update and got a few error screens and the apple folder didn't come back. I uninstalled the driver, then check for new hardware and it came back. Though there aren't any items any in the folder. Strange!

I opened the folder a few times then got a funny little image in the folder and then the images displayed. Awesome. Thankyou. I will try add a word document with the screen shots

- Collapse -
iphone not reading on PC
Sep 15, 2013 7:25AM PDT

I had the same problem... when you have the passcode on, it does not read... when I disabled the pass code, it worked fine.