Tried to update to iOS 6...now my phone is stuck.

So my dad and I just upgraded to the 5, but I noticed that when I updated his iphone software it stuck to the "Connect to iTunes" screen (aka, what brought us all here), so I decided to forego updating my own iPhone software. I was updating his iPhone on his laptop (HP: Windows 7) and mine on my MacBook.

After coming here, I realized the problem was in the restoration

WHAT WORKED FOR ME:

After an hour or so of trying to get my dad's phone unstuck, I decided to just plug it into my computer. iTunes detected it as having been in the middle of a restore, and prompted me to finish the update/restore (I think...from what I can remember). All I really wanted was for the phone to not be stuck on that forsaken screen, and it worked! When it was all done restoring on my laptop, I ejected it and plugged it back into my dad's computer to finish the restore (from his previous backup).

Anyway, just wanted to post what helped for me. Hopefully it helps for people who have access to another computer with iTunes!

HI WOULD I LOSE ALL THE DATA AS I AM HAVING THE SAME TROUBLE LIKE YOURS AND IF I SELECT RESTORE PHONE...IT SAYS IT WOULD GO TO FACTORY SETTINGS AND I WOULD LOSE ALL MY DATA????

I'll tell you what worked in this instance.

Having verified that the iTunes installation on our laptop was functioning properly, (I downloaded a song) I shut iTunes, restarted my laptop and connected my wife's phone. This prompted iTunes to open and it gave the message where it states it has detected a phone in recovery mode. I simply followed the onscreen instructions to do a restore. Once that had successfully completed I did a backup from iCloud and that put all her settings etc back on. It was very straight forward, 20 - 25 mins.

I think POSSIBLY the reason my wife's attempts to do the same earlier in the day had failed was because she hadn't disconnected the phone from the laptop and closed iTunes. I think that "cold start" was perhaps what helped it all go smoothly.

Good luck.