Level 1

33 points

Unable to open photos from iPhone on PC

Suddenly I'm unable to view photos on the iPhone with Windows photo app or windows file explorer. I can see the thumbnails on the computer but they won't open or let me save them to the PC. Have been copying photos from phone to pc for years without trouble. Windows photo app says "can't open this file because the format is currently unsupported or the file is corrupted.

I can toggle settings on the phone photos to show heic or jpg format with Automatic or Keep Originals settings. Neither works properly.

Windows, Windows 10

Posted on Aug 9, 2021 9:16 PM

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irbryan

Level 1

8 points

Posted on Sep 14, 2021 4:42 AM

I have found a fix for this as follows:

If you would prefer that your iPhone camera saves images in JPG format, you can on your iphone go to Settings/Camera/Formats and set the 'Most Compatible' option. Your camera will now save all images a JPGs - but be aware that your images will now be larger in filesize.

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45 replies

rlpcdr Author

Level 1

33 points

Sep 14, 2021 5:01 PM in response to artc356

I finally broke down and took the time to get with Microsoft on this. Opened a support case and also asked the questions in the forums. The support case got chopped off in mid stream and I'm trying to reconnect. So far over the last six weeks I easily have 10 or 12 hours working the issue without success.

Hoping someone will stick to it until a resolution is found. Thanks.

Sep 21, 2021 11:42 AM in response to Days2

Hi Everone

I've been working with one of our users on a similar issue.

The User is reporting that when he transfers the files from his iPhone (iOS 14.7) currently to his Windows 10 laptop the file becomes corrupt and is unable to open. Not sure if this is what your seeing, but here's where we are at so far.

1) He is not using iCloud or iTunes. Rather he is transfering them directly using Windows Explorer. We would perfer not to use iTunes or iCloud since these photos are confidential and all we need is to sync photos.

2) The photos seem to work fine the first time he transfers data. However when he disconnects the phone from the computer, then they stop working.

3) He is able to email the photos to others and then have them email the photos back to him. These photos work. Right now he is going to email the photos to himself, but I suspect this will work.

4) The photos are all *.jpg files. None of these photos are the *.heic files, which on Windows 10 is a headache for another time.

What this is leading me to believe is that the phone is encrypting the photos. I'm not sure if there is a way to decrypt the iPhone temporaraly to test this theory. But if nothing else, this might provide some clues as to what could be happening.

Sep 24, 2021 5:22 PM in response to rlpcdr

Thanks for running this down with Microsoft and posting your progress. I just tried to upload ~10,000 pictures in a manual backup to windows since I have a ton of storage for archives and only about half of them came over and a quarter are even usable. I didn't want to bump up my iCloud storage but seems like I'm going to have to in order to back them up and get them down on my PC before I fire up my new iPhone. I imagine with a new phone launch a decent amount of people are going to be pinging Microsoft so maybe a fix will get bumped up in priority.

wrldendr

Level 1

8 points

Sep 24, 2021 5:51 PM in response to rlpcdr

Hi - I am experiencing the exact same issue today with Windows 10. Apple Support told me I needed to start a ticket with Microsoft to event attempt a fix (which based on what you've been going through, seems like won't be happening). Would you happen to have the Microsoft Support link so that others can start a ticket on the Microsoft side as well? Maybe more people reporting the issue will get more traction going.

jsie508

Level 1

8 points

Sep 30, 2021 11:22 AM in response to rlpcdr

That's what I've had to do. I can select my iphone on my computer's directory and then select the iphone DCM directory and I can view the thumbnails of the photos.. I just cut and paste the thumbnails to a directory on the computer. As you stated "Once the pictures are on the local machine or cloud service (off of the phone) then you can work with them normally". I normally do

The problem I had was when I tried to view iphone photo on the computer the photo would be viewed fuzzy for several seconds and the photo would disappear being replaced with this notice " Sorry, Photos can't open this file because the format is currently unsupported or the file is corrupted" it would also leave the photo number "IMG 3099.JPG" above the notice.

I thank you for your hard work in getting an understanding of the problem. I thought it was me. I hope it's fixed soon.

irbryan

Level 1

8 points

Oct 1, 2021 12:53 AM in response to jsie508

Not only is it not possible to view the photos from the iphone on windows but when you disconnect the phone from the Windows PC I get 11 warning pop-ups that say "The device has either stopped working or has been disconnected". Sometimes these pop-up warnings appear even when I have no iphone connected.

rlpcdr Author

Level 1

33 points

Oct 13, 2021 5:11 AM in response to relayer246

I think the bulk of the problem here is on the Microsoft side. They've admitted to it and are supposedly working on a fix. That said -- they made no commitment when it would be resolved. I'll be setting up a Windows 11 machine in the coming weeks and will post back here to see if it still exists on 11.

The best we can do is keep making complaints so they have pressure to resolve the issue. The more complaints the better.

Have a Great Day!

artc356

Level 1

8 points

Sep 10, 2021 2:53 PM in response to rlpcdr

I am having the same exact issue following recent Windows 10 update; very frustrating

irbryan

Level 1

8 points

Sep 14, 2021 4:37 AM in response to artc356

I am having the same problem. Have you been able to resolve the issue yet?

Days2

Level 1

4 points

Sep 14, 2021 6:19 PM in response to rlpcdr

I spoke with Apple support and they couldn’t solve the problem but the did indeed try to blame it on any product out there that isn’t Apple. Unfortunately for them I have Mac and I can’t download the pictures there as well. At the end (after a long conversation) their customer support told me that it is probably a bug in the new system and hopefully someone will fix it soon 🤔.

rlpcdr Author

Level 1

33 points

Sep 14, 2021 6:45 PM in response to Days2

Thanks for the update. It's really frustrating when the vendors point their fingers at each other while neither one of them will take the responsibility to find the root cause. One reason they could get away with saying it was a Microsoft problem is because I have two identical iPhones and multiple different Windows PCs where the problem exists. Thus their reasoning it must be Microsoft.

I'll keep after Microsoft and maybe even visit Apple again. I have to admit that so far -- Apple has been much more responsive and had more qualified people working the issue than Microsoft. Even though they gave up and pointed the finger back to Microsoft.

I think we all need to keep the heat on both of them. Otherwise they'll ignore it and we'll never get a real solution to the root cause of the problem.

Days2

Level 1

4 points

Sep 16, 2021 4:24 AM in response to rlpcdr

Someone from Apple left me a msg on my phone yesterday about the issue that I reported about not being able to download the pictures . Unfortunately it doesn’t look like that they were really trying to find me. Hopefully they will read my comment here and call me back.

rlpcdr Author

Level 1

33 points

Sep 25, 2021 12:12 PM in response to wrldendr

I actually got support through the Windows update side of things. Don't recommend that because of all the hassles I had to go through. It's pretty tough to get support from them -- at least someone who will stick with the problem to resolution. Here are a couple links you might try.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us

https://support.microsoft.com/contactus

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/home/expcontact?AppVer=smcexp1&ContactUsExperienceEntryPointAssetId=S.HP.SmcContactUsLanding

There's an app on the PC called feedback hub. That's where the final submission was created. I think you can add comments to that post and share it from this link to get more attention:

https://aka.ms/AAdwji0

The title of the original post is: pictures from IPhone and android not syncing with windows 10 The description of the problem could use some improvement. Hopefully if more people add on we can get some more attention.

You can also try the Get Help that is on the PC.

Good Luck.

rlpcdr Author

Level 1

33 points

Oct 1, 2021 1:02 PM in response to purplecomet84

I have about 6000 photos on my phone. Have imported them multiple times during the testing but haven't had issues with that. Takes a long time but it works. Used the Windows Photo app to do the import.

rlpcdr Author

Level 1

33 points

Oct 1, 2021 1:03 PM in response to irbryan

Same here on the disconnect warnings. They sometimes pop up the next day after the phone was disconnected. This issue affects multiple areas. They were all documented in the case and feedback I sent to MS.

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Unable to open photos from iPhone on PC