Verifying iPhone software...

I had the "Verifying iPhone Software" issue on both the 2.2 and 2.2.1 upgrade. I just got off the phone with Apple support and they had me delete the WinXP registry key "TcpWindowSize" located here:

HKEY LOCALMACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters

Apparently this setting was added by my AT&T Aircard and is known to cause the "Verifying iPhone Software" issue. I had to do a restore on my same PC and not a second iTunes but all seems to work properly now.

I hope this helps.

Can I get your address so I can come over and HUG AND KISS YOU!!!!!!

OMG I worked on this for hours today before finally finding this article.
I used to have an AT&T card also, and once I deleted the registry key and went through the Restore process again, it WORKED!!!

Thank you so much for posting this!

Glad it worked for you... 🙂

This worked perfectly for me. After getting ATT mobile broadband, the update killed my phone. Performing the regedit, reboot, and everything worked. Thanks!

jgkurz -

This so helped! How in the world did you get this piece of golden info from Apple support? I have been hammering at this for 6 hours. After deep searching on the internet and finding this registry key (of course, it's Windows issue as always) I finally can do a restore. I do have an AT&T 3G USB key that had put this setting in. I wonder if the performance on the 3G key will now suffer... Oh, well - I have my iPhone back! (I have to use this 3G key until iPhone can tether).

Thanks again for posting this!

Acer0001

I checked to see if the "TcpWindowSize" was re-created and sure enough it was back in my registry. I think I figured it out though. In my AT&T Connection Manager settings there is a tab labeled Acceleration. I set the option to manual vs. automatic startup. So far it hasn't re-created the key. However I need to plug in my AT&T USBConnect Mercury aircard and reboot a few times to be sure it's fixed.

Let me add my thanks for posting this. I experienced the same problem of my iPhone going into recovery mode and iTunes getting stuck "verifying iPhone software". This happened in November when I updated to 2.2 and was resolved only by going to the Apple Store, where they restored my phone; and then it happened again last night as I tried to update to 2.2.1. I, too, had installed the software for the AT&T USBConnect 3G key, in early October; prior to doing so, I had no trouble updating or restoring my phone.

I am amazed you were able to find someone who could pinpoint the problem and very grateful that you posted this. You saved me another trip to the Apple Store and future frustration with later updates.

One note, and this might be obvious to others but it wasn't to me: after deleting the offending key from the registry, I needed to restart my machine before iTunes could successfully restore my phone.

Looks like disabling the Acceleration setting in AT&T Connection Manager did not fix the problem. The TcpWindowSize key was re-generated. Apple actually contacted me for some additional files so I am assuming a fix MIGHT be in the works.

Ok guys,

This happens to me as well. I do have a solution, but it's kind of a hassle. I will make this short and sweet. I have my girlfriend's 1st gen iPhone because she upgraded to the 3G. When she got her 1st gen, she activated it on her Mac. I have a PC, so when I try to update the software on it, I also get stuck at the "verifying software...". When I update it on ANY Mac, it updates FLAWLESSLY!. Now, I don't know why it will update on a Mac and not a PC...but, it will update, you just have to get your hands on a Mac.

Ok, stupid question. How do I get to the registry to remove this file?

Thanks much for the suggestion, but just so everyone knows it didn't work for me. I don't have the registry key you mention so there's no DWORD to delete. sigh

Figured I would post this here in case it helps someone.

My "verifying" issue seems to have been caused by the phone connecting and disconnecting to the USB interface - the root cause of this was the fact that I was using an old iPod cable to connect my iPhone to my computer.

The old iPod cables fit perfectly on the iPhone but the pins can easily lose contact with the most minor movement (at least on the two I tried). When I finally connected my iPhone to my computer with the iPhone cable, iTunes was stuck on verifying, but then I cancelled the sync on the phone, pressed sync on iTunes and everything went smoothly from that point forward.

Hope this helps and if Jason from Apple is reading this, thanks for your help!

From what I have seen on the forums, the Mac iTunes interface to iPhone is much more reliable than the Windows implementation. Not to place blame, but Windows has so many more hardware vendors and configurations and interfaces, it is impossible to test every setup.

I am using a very old iMac and PowerBook, and even with only USB1.1 I've never had a sync issue.

I have something that may help that worked for me. While iTunes is open and stuck in "Verifying iPhone" and the iPhone is showing that it is synchronising, you can hit the good ol' ctrl-alt-del and end the iTunes task. iTunes will ask if you want to quit while you are still syncing and you will answer yes. Leave the iPhone alone and do not slide the bar to cancel sync. Unplug the iPhone when iTunes closes from the End Task. Start iTunes and then attach the iPhone. It no longer verified. I have mine set to not auto sync and to manage manually. Seems to work. Good luck.

You are a godsend! Thank you! This has saved me from many hours of travel and further frustration (what a pain in the butt this has been!). Thanks for taking the time to make this posting!