iTunes hang while backing up my iPad or iPhone 3GS

hkuhn07,

as much as i appreciate your faith in Apple's Technical Support team, i do not think they are working quite as dilligently on this issue as you make them out to be. we're going to be waiting for awhile...

i have had this issue for over 3 months now. it's getting to the point of frustration for me because i would like to upgrade to ios5.

my theory is that this is Apple's way of punishing us for owning Windows laptops...

I had exactly this issue.

SOLVED it by plugging in the iPAD to a USB port directly on the PC rather than a USB port on a hub.

Tried 10x to get the synch to work with no joy, moved to the USB port on the front of the PC and total joy!

My problem is specifically whilst trying to updgrade to iOs5. If I opt *NOT* to upgrade, my sync works fine. I still have not been able to upgrade to iOs5.

Fellas, i fixed my problem, and you can too. Its a simple solution. My ipad would not back up, and stalled, and "not responding".. etc. You have to NOT ONLY exit your anti-virus program, but uninstall it (there are remnants in the system and registry that block Itunes usage), especially if you have this heavy-footed GUARDDOG. Uninstall it from the Programs and Features tab in Control Panel.

My ipad 1 is not fully updated with iOS5, and the backup system works.. it saves all your personal docs, notes, etc.

Enjoy!

Look, Apple has known about this for well over a year now. Do you see the date of the original post? That's right...June 2010. This problem is all over google and it dates back further than June 2010. Something tells me that Apple is not interested in support, they're to busy collecting our money to take time out to fix anything. Yeah they're really sweet on the phone but this problem still exists and I see no sign of it being delt with any time soon.

This problem does not lie with your computer. Do not restore your system to a previous time. Do not edit your registry. The problem lies squarely with Apple's software and it's not our job to debug it for them. I didn't see anything about a Beta build on my version of iTunes, did you? Get on Apples *** about this. For what we paid for these iPads and iPods we should not have to put up with this crap. I hate to say it but it's the same old deal. Apple was a good company that supported it's products. That is until it got to big for it's britches. Now it's money, money, money.

I actually got the same problem while working from a Windows system recently using iPhone 4 and the iPad.

There are probably a large number of possible reasons for a backup to hang. Therefore, I can only provide some possible reasons for the hanging and mention what seems to have fixed it for me.

1) Microsoft Outlook Hotmail Connector and iTunes: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3504

I had successfully synched my iPhone with my laptop iTunes, but decided to do it for my Desktop. I had Microsoft Outlook Hotmail Connector on the Desktop and disabling it helped to allow the backup process to go further than before without locking up.

2) As I tried to backup my phone prior to going to IOS5.1 it locked up again. I disabled my antivirus, then I just logged out of my windows account and then logged back in. This is a good way to shut down programs running under your account, particularly a locked up iTunes.

3) After logging out and logging back in, for some reason the backup went through. If I come up with a better solution, I'll let you all know, but that's what worked for me.

P.S. Remember to re-enable your antivirus software after the update. Also, at this point I can not conclusively say whether it was disabling the antivirus or just logging out and logging back in that did it.

Respectfully,

Will Chung

I get this problem too since updating IOS to 5.0.1 and iTunes to 10.5.1.42 on Windows XP. The Backup seems to hang forever.

I tried moving the Backup folder to "force" a completely fresh backup - same thing happened after this.

Clicking on the x next to Backing up doesn't do anything.

If I open Task Manager and kill AppleMobileBackup.exe the backup part of the sync stops, and the sync process proper begins.

I think I'll probably do a factory reset of the iPad, and then try syncing again. It could also be a rogue app (there have been a lot of updates since IOS5 came out, so very hard to isolate one if that is the cause.

I totally agree with you LS7454

I do not want to change Windows version, unistall and reinstall itunes etc..all these things need time time time...

i'm even angry to spent time reading / answering this forum for something that i am not responsible for.
Precious time taken from my work just because i want to Upgrade my iPad to IOS5..

If apple is not interested anymore for Windows clients they should have told Us. "iDevices are only for OS Users, Windows users should stay away from us and our support"

I own 2 iphones and 1 iPad1 but even thought i own a new MacBook all of them are connected to my PC

This year i bought my 2nd MacBook and i was thinking of buying a Mac Pro for my office but after this i feel like Apple has started to show a different face with all this success

Thay had time to fix these errors with a new iTunes version but they didn't...

I wish someone could answer this post..

So the problem is now resolved for me.

• I didn't need to reinstall iTunes
• I didn't need to reset my iPad to factory settings

What worked for me was:

• In iTunes set the iPad to backup to iCloud - this only backs up your accounts and other settings - not all the content on your iPad
• With the iPad connected to the charger, not the computer, go into Settings > iCloud, set Backup to iCloud to On, then press Backup Now button

Now when I connect my iPad it doesn't try to do the backup - it goes straight to Sync without any messing around.

I may try and turn the local backup back on, and see whether that fixes it, but to be honest, I am not that bothered about backing up my iPad at all. My content is all on my computer (that is what Sync does), and setting the accounts etc. isn't a concern for me. Everything backed up to iCloud is encrypted, and it doesn't cost me extra, so I'll go with that.

Just so I'm not being misunderstood: my version of iTunes doesn't sport the term "beta" anywhere. It is not up to us to fix this problem for Apple. I should say for US, not apple, because there is a fix that I used. The problems I have encountered with iTunes now and in the past, I would never upgrade without backing up first.

I finally was able to upgrade to the new Ios5.? and more of my apps crash now than ever. I have put bug reports in for those but haven't seen or heard anything from any of them. I regret putting this upgrade in. To think of all that I went through to get my iPod to crash more frequently really burns my ***. I have come up with a fix of my own. Regrettably not everybody can use it. Here it is; put my two iPods in my desk draw(bottom) and buy myself a Samsung G10 for Christmas. No longer considering an iPad.

I will not get involved in a Windows vs Apple argument due to the fact that it is comparing an OS to a computer. I build and design custom intel based PCs and will stand by those computers. If I'm not mistaken, isn't apple using intel now??! I may be wrong on that but thought I heard that in the grape vine. Well that's it for me. I will post the link to the fix I used as soon as I can (in the hospital right now on their wifi).

This problem is quite common, but I have not been able to figure out what causes it. My best bet is that it's a USB issue, and I have found a workaround that makes synchronising possible when all else fails. For the record, I have tried all of the potential solutions on these forums without lasting success. Here's what worked for me.

(Windows 7 32bit, iPhone 4S, iTunes 10.6.1.7)

First of all, make sure you have a good wi-fi signal in the region of the PC you are syncing with. Then -

1) Start iTunes.

2) Connect phone via USB.

3) Left click on phone in iTunes.

4) On the Summary page check "Sync with this phone over Wi Fi"

5) On the phone go to Settings>General>iTunes wi-fi sync

6) Tap on Sync now.

The phone should sync via wi-fi, even though it is connected via USB. It didn't seem any slower to me than syncing via the cable, and more importantly it worked, and the backup went smoothly. I've tried it several times now with no problems.

Also, if you have a lot of apps you need to synchronise or you are re-arranging the app windows using iTunes you can sync in the normal way from the PC if you do it immediately after the wi-fi sync, because iTunes does not run the backup again. It probably won't run two backups within a few minutes of one another.

It's all a bit of a fiddle, and Apple/MS needs to get a fix for it, but if this method works for you at least you have a good backup should you flush your phone down the toilet!

Good luck!

If your iTunes on Windows 7 always hangs on the backup step of syncing your iPad/iPhone, try this:

Click on your start menu, go to accessories, right click on the command prompt icon and choose "run as administrator". Once it opens, type in the following command:

netsh winsock reset

Hit enter and reboot your computer.

@ThreeDeeSydney The winsock reset method seems to work for one or two subsequent tries, but after that the problem returns.