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Newer version of Apple Mobile Device Support required

When I plug in my iPod touch into iTunes, it gives me the following error message:

*"iTunes requires a newer version of Apple Mobile Device Support. Please uninstall both Apple Mobile Device Support and iTunes, then install iTunes again."*

I ran the diagnostics thing in the Help column with all four categories unchecked, and here are my results (I took out some of the irrelevant things, like my video card details):

+iTunes 9.2.0.61+
+QuickTime 7.6.6+
+FairPlay 1.8.20+
+Apple Application Support 1.3+
+iPod Updater Library 9.2d4+
+CD Driver 2.2.0.1+
+CD Driver DLL 2.1.1.1+
+Apple Mobile Device 2.6.0.32+
+Apple Mobile Device Driver 1.45.0.0+
+Bonjour 2.0.2.0 (214.3)+

+Current user is an administrator.+
+The current local date and time is 2010-07-13 18:21:40.+
+iTunes is not running in safe mode.+
+WebKit accelerated compositing is disabled.+
+HDCP is not supported.+

+ ** External Plug-ins Information **+

+No external plug-ins installed.+

+iPodService 9.2.0.61 is currently running.+
+iTunesHelper is currently not running.+
+Apple Mobile Device service 2.50.39.0 is currently running.+

I tried uninstalling AMDS in Control Panel > Add & Remove Programs but it always gave an error message saying *"Fatal error during installation."* I tried uninstalling in CCleaner, and that wouldn't work either.

Normally, I would do a system restore, but this problem started in late June, and restore points before July were all deleted because my system two weeks ago had 0 MB space.

Please help...I don't know what to do 😟

Windows XP, Service Pack 2

Posted on Jul 13, 2010 6:03 PM

Best reply

b noir

Level 9

72,324 points

Posted on Jul 14, 2010 2:50 PM

Excellent information, thank you.

I tried uninstalling AMDS in Control Panel > Add & Remove Programs but it always gave an error message saying "Fatal error during installation." I tried uninstalling in CCleaner, and that wouldn't work either.

I suspect there's a damaged AppleMobileDeviceSupport.msi for the earlier version of AMDS on the system, kevin. (That can certainly cause the "Fatal error" when uninstalling AMDS.) So, if that's what is going on, if we can clear the installation database for your existing AMDS install we can probably get the new version to install.

Unfortunately, these sorts of msi-related troubles have gotten more complicated to deal with ever since Microsoft pulled the Windows Installer CleanUp utility from their Download Center on June 25.

Let's try Googling. (Best not to use Bing, I think.) Look for a working download site for *at least version 3.0* of the Windows Installer CleanUp utility. After downloading the utility installer file (msicuu2.exe), scan the file for malware, just in case. (I use the free version of Malwarebytes AntiMalware to do single-file scans for that.)

If the file is clean, to install the utility, doubleclick the msicuu2.exe file you've downloaded.

Now run the utility ("Start > All Programs > Windows Install Clean Up"). In the list of programs that appears in CleanUp, select any *Apple Mobile Device Support* entries and click "Remove".

Quit out of CleanUp, restart the PC and try uninstalling and reinstalling iTunes 9.2 again. Does the install of the new version of AMDS go through properly this time?

(If you do find a clean download site for the correct version of CleanUp, please don't tell me where it is. Without wishing to sound paranoid (although I grant it does sound paranoid), there is a non-zero chance that posting links to download locations for the utility here at Discussions leads to that download location being shut down.)

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23 replies

Jul 19, 2010 12:50 PM in response to b noir

Okay, thank you 🙂

Whenever I sync my iPod now, should I use the new account I created or can I use the temporary profile?

This isn't relevant, but my Recycle Bin won't open at all on my temporary profile. If I double click it, it shows the arrow and hourglass for a few seconds, but then disappears. Nothing pops up. Furthermore, when I right click the desktop shortcut and go to Properties, a message comes up saying +"The properties for this item are unavailable."+ The recycle bin works fine on the other account I created, so I think it might have something to do with this temp profile...

Also not relevant, but do you think it would be possible to somehow get out of this temporary profile and go back to my old profile?

b noir

Level 9

72,324 points

Jul 19, 2010 1:40 PM in response to amazingkevin81797

Whenever I sync my iPod now, should I use the new account I created or can I use the temporary profile?

Under normal circumstances, that depends on which user account on the PC you were inside when you did your transfer of purchases from the iPod, and the utility-based recovery of other content on the PC. There's a different default library location in each different user account. So you do your syncing from whichever user account holds your library.

It is possible to share or transfer a library's contents between different user accounts, though. See:

[iTunes: How to share music between different accounts on a single computer|http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1203]

That might be a good idea at some stage, because:

This isn't relevant, but my Recycle Bin won't open at all on my temporary profile. If I double click it, it shows the arrow and hourglass for a few seconds, but then disappears. Nothing pops up. Furthermore, when I right click the desktop shortcut and go to Properties, a message comes up saying "The properties for this item are unavailable." The recycle bin works fine on the other account I created, so I think it might have something to do with this temp profile...

... I fear that that is sort of relevant. When that is taken in conjunction with the installation troubles we had in the temp account, my worry is that the temp account may also be beginning to die, like your original user account. Having one user account go bad on a machine could be just happenstance, but having two different user accounts go bad starts to look dangerously like a trend. I'm a bit worried about the prospect of you being chased from user account to user account ...

As to what could steadily cause user accounts to die on a PC ... that's not an issue that I've done a great deal of work on, I'm afraid. However, the Microsoft Answers XP forums would probably be a useful place to go to check on that:

http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/category/windowsxp

At a guess, the "Desktop and personalisation" area there might be a good place to start ... (although I'm not familiar with that particular forum).

Jul 19, 2010 2:23 PM in response to b noir

Okay, thank you for the help with iTunes.
My computer was probably naturally going to wear out sooner or later. It's already about 6 years old 😟 But I'm trying to get a new PC as soon as possible...I'm getting tired with the problems on this one.

I'm going to go to Windows Answers to see if I can actually fix the root cause of these problems, which I think is my "temp" profile.

b noir

Level 9

72,324 points

Jul 19, 2010 3:15 PM in response to amazingkevin81797

🙂 Fingers crossed for luck at Answers, kevin.

Jul 19, 2010 3:28 PM in response to b noir

Thanks 🙂

Jul 20, 2010 1:01 PM in response to b noir

Hey, when I tried to sync my iPod on my other account, it gave me the following pop-up:

+The iPod _ is synced with another iTunes library. An iPod can be synced with only one iTunes library at a time. What would you like to do?+
+"Erase and sync" replaces the contents of this iPod with the contents of this iTunes library.+
+"Transfer purchases" copies iTunes store purchases this computer is authorized to play from this iPod to this iTunes library.+

I should press +Erase and Sync+ right?

Jul 20, 2010 1:33 PM in response to amazingkevin81797

Oh and following up from my previous comment...

I read online that the pop-up box is very common when you attempt to sync an iPod using another user account on Windows, which is what I did in my situation. They listed the solution, which was to sync with your old user account.

Should I do what the other website recommended (Syncing on your old user acc.)?

Sep 10, 2010 7:37 PM in response to amazingkevin81797

Thank you, b noir!

I was following your advice, and began to ask questions on the Windows forum. But a couple days after I posted a topic on that forum, my parents surprised me with a Macbook Pro (which I had always wanted for a couple years now) as a late graduation gift! I ended up recycling my old computer (the one with iTunes problems), and with that, my iTunes problems were gone.

Newer version of Apple Mobile Device Support required