iPod Windows 10/11 Drivers for ITunes

See iOS device not showing in iTunes for Windows - Apple Community and follow the steps carefully. You must explicitly force Windows to use the drivers you select rather that letting it tell you that it already has the best drivers.

tt2

This is a user to user support forum. Nobody here can escalate anything for you.

Try iOS device not showing in iTunes for Windows - Apple Community. Despite the title the same steps can help with older devices. If you've installed iTunes from the Microsoft Store you might need to switch to the traditional installer. It may also help to downgrade one or two builds if the latest one doesn't work for you for reasons.

tt2

If Windows sees something it calls an Apple USB device that Windows has detected it, but isn't using the correct driver. If forcing using Windows to use the Apple supplied driver in the way described hasn't worked then roll back to the previous build, or the one before that, and try again. Or switch to the Microsoft Store version. They should all work, but sometimes a particular combination of hardware and software environments seem to break things. You could see it iTunes is able to detect the iPod classic while it is in disk mode.

tt2

Putting an iPod classic into disk mode:

Hold MENU+SELECT on the iPod for about 6 seconds until it resets, then switch to PLAY+SELECT as soon as the Apple logo appears, again for about 6 seconds to put the machine in disk mode. Hold MENU+SELECT on the iPod for about 6 seconds to reset the device back to normal when done.

tt2

In which case uninstall iTunes and install the previous build. Or the one before that.

tt2

Ed Redondo wrote:

I do use the 'traditional' installer. I normally do not use Microsoft Store, in fact I've removed the App because of annoying notifications.

Why? (and what annoying notifications?) I use the 'traditional' installer but I do not see any notifications, other than messages specifically about iTunes, or managing the iPod.

iTunes is designed to manage the iPod Classic so if your iTunes isn't (wasn't) recognising the iPod, then you should try turingtest2's advice. That means re-installing iTunes. You will not be able to add music to the iPod without iTunes and since the only thing a Classic can do is play music, you need iTunes.

You can try Apple's own advice on this issue which can be found at If your computer doesn't recognize your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support, or try Official Apple Support again. With so many hardware and software manufacturers involved, and users asking different things of their computers and installing different software, each computer has the potential to be a unique environment. Sometimes that environment can prevent software from installing the way it is meant to. Most people don't get this issue. Those that do are usually able to resolve it by reinstalling iTunes or actively coercing Windows into using the correct driver, so that iTunes is then able to see the connected device. I understand that none of this is any comfort to you when, quite rightly, you just want it to work. 🙁

tt2