Vista Finds my iPhone, but iTunes doesn't See it!

I found this little gem when upgrading to Windows Vista - I'm not sure if it happens during a fresh Vista install or not, but here's how to fix it! Please make sure you have the most recent version of iTunes before continuing.

• Problem: Vista seems to recognize my iPhone as a digital camera (or other device) but iTunes doesn't find it.

• Solution: The problem is that Vista seems to occasionally recognize the iPhone as a digital camera or mass storage device. Here's how to let Vista know that it's actually an iPhone...

1. Let's make sure that the Apple mobile device service is running on your system before we go any further. Click on your start button and type "services.msc" (without the quotes) in the "Start Search" box. 2. When the services applet opens, you'll need to find the Apple Mobile Device service and make sure it's running and it's startup type is set to "Automatic".

3. If the Mobile Device Service is not running, double click on the service itself (or right click on the service and select "Properties". Make sure that the startup type is set to "Automatic"; Click "Start" to start the service and then click on OK. If you receive any errors during this process, you'll need to uninstall iTunes by clicking on the start button, selecting "Control Panel" and running "Programs and Features". When you find iTunes in the list, right click on iTunes and then select "Uninstall". You can download a fresh copy of iTunes here (opens in a new window).

4. If you started the service (and set it to automatic in step 3), then restart your machine and try your iPhone again. If the service was already running (or you restarted your computer after enabling the service and the iPhone still wasn't detected), we need to update the driver.

5. Updating your iPhone Driver. We'll need to start by clicking on the start button and typing "devmgmt.msc" (without the quotes) in the "Start Search" box.

6. In the Device manager you'll want to find your iPhone - it should be under either the "Portable Devices" branch, or the "USB Devices" branch.

7. Right Click on the iPhone in the device manager, and select Update Driver Software.

8. When you're presented with the driver update dialog box, select the Browse my computer for Driver Software - locate and install driver software manually option.

9. The next dialog will request a location to look for the iPhone driver ( USBAAPL.SYS for the techies ). You'll want to click the browse button.

10. In the browse dialog, you'll want to navigate to the Program Files\Common Files\Apple\Mobile Device Support\Drivers directory. Make sure that the Drivers folder is selected, and then click OK.

11. Click Next to begin your driver installation, then finish to close the dialog. If Vista tells you that you already have the best driver installed, you'll have to follow the directions for uninstalling and reinstalling iTunes in step 3.

12. After installing the driver, your iTunes will probably start right away and detect your iPhone. If not, simply restart your computer (leave your iPhone plugged in).

I hope this solved your iTunes - Vista detection issue! Thanks for stopping by!