Settings - Photos - Transfer To Mac or PC - Automatic not working...

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Level 1

32 points

Settings - Photos - Transfer To Mac or PC - Automatic not working...

Hi,

I've upgraded from my old iPhone 8 to the new iPhone 11 Pro a few days ago.

I've always copied photo and video files from iPhone to my Windows PC's (Win7 and Win10 using file explorer or Windows Import) without any issues using this setting:

Settings - Photos - Transfer To Mac or PC - Automatic

As expected, it would convert files from the High Efficiency Formats to compatible formats, and the transfer would run without any problems, as well as the reproduction of such transferred files.

Now with the new iPhone 11 Pro, it doesn't work anymore. I can't transfer files, let alone reproduce them.

Eventually the copy process starts, but (I guess) as soon as it encounters a file with High Efficiency Format, it stops and shows this error message:

"A Device Attached to The System is Not Functioning"

The only way I can get the transfer to happen is to change the setting to:

Settings - Photos - Transfer To Mac or PC - Keep Original

This is obviously not optimal (well, at least for me) because then the files saved with High Efficiency Format will not display or play in Windows.

Then the option is to disable High Efficiency Formats on the iPhone... which presents another set of problems/limitations, such as not being able to use the highest resolution/fps for video and Slo-Mo recordings, and also excluding the option to enable certain features with photos such as Capture Outside of Frame and possibly it might interfere or actually deny access to the upcoming Deep Fusion feature (one of the best things on the iPhone 11 Pro!).

So... my questions are:

Why is this "Automatic" conversion setting not working? Am I doing it wrong?

Does it affect everyone? Will this be fixed?

Thanks!

Sergio

iPhone 11 Pro

Posted on Oct 6, 2019 4:57 PM

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Answer 1

chuck_3rd

Community Specialist

Oct 8, 2019 11:39 AM in response to SergioRZ

Hello SergioRZ,

Thanks for posting. I understand you're seeing an error when you import photos, and I'm glad to see how I can help.

To double-check, are you using iCloud Photos? If you are, you might give this a try as an alternative: Transfer photos and videos from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

Have you installed the latest Windows 10 updates? Get the Windows 10 May 2019 Update

If you have, and the issue persists, I recommend you Contact Apple Support next. Take care!

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Answer 2

SergioRZ Author

Level 1

32 points

Oct 8, 2019 12:00 PM in response to chuck_3rd

Hi, thanks for your reply.

Indeed I've contacted the very helpful and friendly Apple Support, tests were made and we confirmed there is an issue with the "Automatic" transfer setting that is preventing the import process from running as expected.

They've escalated the issue to the Engineering department and hopefully will get back to me with an explanation for this behavior, if the functionality was changed, or broken, or if it could be something on my side interfering with this procedure.

In any case, no there is no iCloud Photos involved with this issue, and my Windows 10 is fully updated on my Dell XPS 15 9570 Laptop.

To clarify, using the "Keep Originals" transfer setting I can successfully import on both Windows 7 (my desktop) and Windows 10 (my laptop), but all files are imported in their native "High Efficiency" format.

On Windows 10 I can also play and display all videos and photos without any further steps, but on Windows 7 it requires additional steps to play/display or convert files, installing add-ons, using third party players, and so on...

In any case, I'm sure Apple will get back to me on this with a solution (that makes Automatic setting work and convert files as necessary).

Thanks!

Kind regards,

Sérgio

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Settings - Photos - Transfer To Mac or PC - Automatic not working...

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