Issues copying files from iPhone 7 to PC

It's Windows 8.1, whichever built is the latest, I always keep it up to date + also the latest version of iTunes, but I'm not using iTunes in the process.

I'm trying to go via Explorer, just enter the Internal Storage -> DCIM -> 100Apple folder and simply drag & drop those files to the HDD. Right now after the last file, I've reconnected the phone 7 times already and this time it still won't work. Usually it takes 4-5 reconnects, if I'm lucky.

I still can't find the pattern, now reinstalling the driver doesn't even help, it just won't start copying, then shows the aforementioned "A device attached to the system is not functioning." error and if I try again without reconnecting it, it shows "Device is unreachable". I tried both leaving iTunes open in the background and closing it, can't see a pattern.

Sorry, I didn't realize there's a time frame for editing your own posts, wanted to add/redact something, now I can't replace the blank placeholder :/

For the continuity of the conversation, basically I said that I'm not "one of those people" who don't even realize they aren't updating their software, that Windows 10 is more unstable than 8.1 and I'd appreciate an answer from Apple which doesn't assume that I have no clue what I'm doing. Now, back to it.

KiltedTim wrote:

Good luck. You obviously are not open to reasonable suggestions.

Reasonable? Multiple Apple devices connected to the same PC don't have an issue. iPhone has an issue. Your "reasonable" suggestion - try Windows 10. Really? That's reasonable?

Anyway, just to prove the point, I did try my Windows 10 testing laptop. I don't have iTunes installed on it, it recognized the phone, asked if I trust it, I did and it started fine, it even copied 3 out of 6 multi-selected files in a row... and then the exact same issue occurred - device is not functioning, device is unreachable.

Now it won't copy anything again, just like on Windows 8.1, any attempt to drag & drop the file will result in a few seconds of nothing, followed by the error message about the device not functioning or being unreachable.

If anyone has any other "reasonable suggestions", I'm still actually open to them. Is the file size the problem? If I select 20-50 photos, it does manage to copy all of them so I also suspected that it stops working once the phone locks itself, but in the last Windows 10 test it did go through 3 files but the phone went to sleep already during the transfer of the first one and I'm always unlocking it before I try to copy the next file - doesn't help.

Also, why would it not copy those videos through iTunes? If I select "sync photos" and also "include videos" I'd expect it to do just that. Is there some file size limit to videos iTunes can copy?

One more thing to add, hopefully it helps, it never seems to fail in the middle of copying a specific file, it always manages to finish copying one file and then fail before staring the next if I select multiple files. If I don't select multiple files, it will successfully copy the one file and then refuse to start copying anything else after that. Very weird.

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