iTunes 12.10.7.3 on Windows crashing on connection of iOS device

I had a instance where a iOS device was crashing on initial connection of the device to iTunes on Windows

Windows was reporting a Event ID 1000 error in the event logs.

Faulting application name: iTunes.exe, version: 12.10.7.3, time stamp: 0x5ec585c9

Faulting module name: KERNELBASE.dll, version: 10.0.18362.959, time stamp: 0x7b90c1b5

Exception code: 0x80000003

Fault offset: 0x00000000000c0aa2

Faulting process id: 0xef4

Faulting application start time: 0x01d65d4583ce8cab

Faulting application path: C:\Program Files\iTunes\iTunes.exe

Faulting module path: C:\windows\System32\KERNELBASE

After several troubleshooting steps which included removing and reinstalling iTunes, trying different computers, etc.. and opening tickets with both Apple and Microsoft that included:

• Wipe and restore of iPhone from iCloud backup
• Setup of iTunes on a different PC with Windows/iTunes installed
• Install of previous versions of iTunes
• Install of Windows Store version of Itunes
• Removal and Install of Apple version of iTunes from Apple website
• Attempt to sync using 3rd party software (success)
• Run iTunes in Administrator mode
• Remove and Install iTunes in Administrator mode
• Changing compatibility mode of application back to Windows 7

I ended up doing a Sysinternals Procmon capture as the event log error was not really helpful. I discovered that despite being wiped and restored and no configuration in iTunes to sync photos that iTunes was trying to sync photos that did not exist and the application was crashing. As iTunes was not connected to the internet at the time, the only place that it could get that configuration was from the iPhone itself. It then occurred to me that when i had wiped the device and restored that I had done it from a iCloud backup.

I wipe the iOS device once again, and did not restore from backup. I set the device up brand new and was able to fully sync the device with iTunes. It appears that there was a corruption in the iCloud backup and that was the root of my problem. It has now been 24 hours and iTunes has not crashed once.

*important note. - If one chooses to not restore from a backup they will need to manually re-install the apps onto the phone as iTunes does not keep a record. However, the app store does keep a record of every app purchased. You can go through your purchased apps and install them pretty quickly.

Hope this is helpful