Q: iPhone sync with Outlook fails with sync server not starting
Hi, Community -
Up until a few days ago my iPhone synced beautifully with Outlook 2010 under Windows 7 on Parallels (running on Yosemite, MBP late 2014).
I don't know what changed but I cannot sync the two anymore. I keep getting error messages. Either a Windows error message saying that Mingler.exe stopped working or an iTunes message saying that the iPhone could not sync because the sync server did not start.
I have tried the following:
- Reset the sync history
- Uninstalled and re-installed iTunes (several times)
- Tried to restore to older backup versions (I keep backups of the iPhone backup files)
- Synced with other iTunes installations
- Restored the iPhone to a state about two weeks old (when syncing still worked)
All to no avail.
The Mingler.exe crash report under Windows gave these details:
Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: Mingler.exe
Application Version: 17.669.22.115
Application Timestamp: 54941c4c
Fault Module Name: KERNELBASE.dll
Fault Module Version: 6.1.7601.18409
Fault Module Timestamp: 53159a86
Exception Code: e06d7363
Exception Offset: 0000c42d
OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.1
Locale ID: 1033
Additional Information 1: 0a9e
Additional Information 2: 0a9e372d3b4ad19135b953a78882e789
Additional Information 3: 0a9e
Additional Information 4: 0a9e372d3b4ad19135b953a78882e789
(Yes, I know ... I should not expect support on Windows issues here ... but by now I am pretty sure it is an iTunes issue.)
Could anyone please help? I really need my calendar and contacts updated on my phone!
Thanks for any help you can offer.
iPhone 4S, iOS 5.1
Posted on Mar 4, 2015 12:56 PM
OK ... I am not going to go into the depths of how a company that makes such nice hardware cannot get its act together to write decent software, too. I'll also spare you my anger on why I need to sync my iPhone on a Mac throgh Windows in order to connect to the most widely used office suite worldwide. I guess I am just disappointed at the inferiority of Apple's software and simply cannot bear the ravings of clueless artsy users who believe they know something about computing because they are proficient Photoshop users. Phew. Sorry, venting ends here and now.
......................................................
In the meantime I managed to solve the above problem myself. I hope my description is helpful to other users encountering similar issues (and Google tells me there are many).
My solution is based on the rationale that after all steps described in the initial post the problem must lie with iTunes. And it did.
Here is what I did to fix the issue on my Mac running Windows 7 on Parallels:
- Uninstall iTunes and, importantly, also all other Apple software (Bonjour, Apple Mobile Device Support etc.) from Windows using the Control Pannel utility 'Programs and Features'. The interesting thing is that uninstalling all Apple software will not remove all directories involved in mobile sync! I conjecture this is the source of the observed sync issues.
- Remove all software registry entries with Apple Inc. and Apple Computer Inc. as author
I deleted entries under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SOFTWARE and HKEY_CURRENT_USER > SOFTWARE. - Manually remove the directory C:\Users\__UserName__\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\SyncServices\Local
This will result in the loss of all iPhone backup information you have collected in the past. The manual removal of this directory is crucial because it does not get removed automatically in the uninstall process. - Restart Mac OS and Windows (just to be safe)
- Reinstall the latest version of iTunes
- Reboot your iPhone (just to be safe)
- Connect the iPhone and sync it by overwriting calendar and contacts on the iPhone from the Mac (choose the appropriate sync options in iTunes)
These steps worked perfectly for me and I am now able to sync my iPhone with my calendar and contacts from Outlook 2010 again.
Do let me know if this was any help with your sync issues.
Posted on Mar 5, 2015 5:50 AM