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Connecting iPhone to iTunes

When I plug in my 3G iphone to my computer, a message box pops up and says "This iPhone cannot be used because the Apple Mobile Device is not started" I recently had a virus and i had my computer cleaned out and updated all my programs. Since then my iTunes seems to not recognize my iPhone even though it says that this is an authorized computer for this iPhone. Hope someone can help me so i can update me phone and synce it again.

Gateway, Windows Vista

Posted on Aug 18, 2010 4:25 PM

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7 replies

Aug 18, 2010 5:54 PM in response to jenn1981

I see you've gotten immense amounts of significantly helpful replies, but let's put this out there too:

Apple uses non-standard USB connectivity, so it has to run a few services all the time to recognize your iPhone/iPod/iPad, etc. One of them is Apple Mobile Device service. It seems like the service is not running for you at the moment.

I don't have Windows around at the moment, but assuming this is on Vista/7, Press the start button and type Services. Select Windows Services (or similar name) in the results that show up. It will bring up the services control panel, so you can see which services are running. Look for Apple Mobile Device and if it is not running, right click and select start. Also edit the service settings so it starts up with Windows.

Alternatively, try re-installing iTunes and it should take care of the above.

Lastly, if you are using Norton/McAfee and the rest of them, get rid of them. Instead Google for "Microsoft Security Essentials" and install it. Extremely useful, very powerful and very much free security solution. It also stays out of your way and doesn't mess with everything else. Virtually no performance hit. I recommend it to everyone using Windows.

Connecting iPhone to iTunes

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