iPhone 15 Plus stuck in “Preparing To Sync"

I had the same problem with iOS 17.2 on iPhone 14 and syncing to iTunes on Mojave.

The solution was to Open the Activity Monitor app and Force Quit "MDCrashReportTool", syncing should proceed just fine after that.

Unfortunately it seems that process starts back up with every sync, so prepare to do this a lot...

You're a genius. This MDCrashReportTool was certainly hanging my system too. (Sonoma 14.2, iPhone 14 17.2) Force quitting it (on every sync) fixes it straight away.

Incredibly frustrating. Thank so much for the tip.

C'mon Apple: my 2023 MacBook M2 pro and new iPhone 14 "just oughta work"! Fix MDCrashReportTool ASAP!

iOS 17.2 broke iTunes sync. On Windows PC, it hangs at "Preparing To Sync". The culprit MDCrashReportTool (32 bit). MDCrashReportTool (32 bit) does not appear in Task Manager/iTunes UNTIL iTunes arrives at the Preparing To Sync step. And subsequent Sync requires repeating ending the process MDCrashReportTool (32 bit) each time until the Apple Programmer which broke it fixes it. 😠😠 credit appletrav on YouTube (@NoMathHere123) has the workaround for Windows PC here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HczFwxWHj2c

Hello,

I have the problem since iOS17 (still with iPhone 13 Pro) and Watch OS 10 (Ultra2).

The change to the iPhone 15 Pro and a complete reinstallation of the iPhone did not bring any improvement. The strange thing was that the "fresh" iPhone (without any apps installed, no backup installed) could initially be synchronized just as easily as an iPhone SE, an iPhone SE3 and an iPad Pro 11 3rd. This actually made it clear that the problem could not be due to my computer configuration, especially since it also occurred on another notebook and with another Windows user. Nevertheless, I have gone through all these options together with Apple support.

When I had only installed my most essential apps on my iPhone and paired it again with my Ultra 2, the synchronization went wrong again. Out of sheer desperation, I tried to decouple my Ultra 2 again and, lo and behold, the synchronization ran completely smoothly and all data (including diagnostic data) was synchronized again. As soon as I had paired the Ultra 2 again, the same mishap. This morning, Apple support also confirmed to me that there is a problem that is being worked on in this context.

My workaround to the solution:

1. Start iTunes on PC
2. Connecti the iPhone
3. Start synchronization and wait until the sync at step 2 "... prepare..." hangs
4. Disconnect the usb cable to the iPhone and wait until the sync process in iTunes is finished.
5. Reconnect iPhone (! Don't close iTunes in the meantime!)
6. Start synchronization again, now it runs through without any problems

My explanation: After every restart of iTunes, iTunes apparently tries to load the diagnostic data onto the PC during the first sync operation of a device. This obviously does not work (for me) with paired Ultra 2. Therefore, the "killing" of the mdcrashreport tool in the task manager leads to the continuation of the sync. It seems as though access to the diagnostic data is blocked by pairing the Apple Watch. (Just a hypothesis)

Why do I prefer to disconnect the cable instead of using the task manager? When killing the tool in the task manager, the current sync continues to run, but the next sync runs back into the same problem because iTunes does not transfer the diagnostic data or the mdcrashreporttool does not register as performed. If, on the other hand, you pull the cable, iTunes seems to regard the mdcrashreporttool as performed and does not try to pull the diagnostic data from the iPhone again at the next sync. I.e. As long as I don't close iTunes, I can always sync my iPhone without any problems. If I close iTunes, the sh… starts all over again.

Which way you choose is, of course, a matter of taste. A fast solution would be very desirable.

"MDCrashReportTool" doesn't even appear in my Activity Monitor. Any other ideas?

This didnt work for my PC running windows 11. It just stops the sync. I want my songs.

Same problem with iOS17.2.1 and macOS 14.2.1.

I discovered the following work-around. (But the whole thing is still quite annoying.)

1. When stuck in sync, pull-off the sync cable
2. Next, plug-in the cable again
3. Skip the generation of "Backup" to speed-up (it was generated just before the stuck)
4. The sync process goes on and finishes

Is everyone aware this issue has been reported as far back as 15 years ago, release after release?

Do a one word search for MDCrashReportTool and you will see what I mean.

For example: Can't sync music - Apple Community

xCowboy, no idea how the heck you sussed that out, but thank you. Worked on my Windows box, too. It had been hung forever this evening as I patiently waited for it to get its act together, but after I zapped that process in Task Manager, iTunes had moved on to the next step before I even clicked back over to it. Thank you so much!

I do have an update:

I've reached out to Apple Support and sent them this thread. I asked if they're aware of the situation and if they are taking action to rectify it. For the record, this is kind of a long one, but they are very nice so 10/10 with customer service. Here is the condensed version:

AS: Just to be sure, your Music is not syncing between your iPhone and your MacBook, correct?

Me: Yes that’s correct.

AS: Thanks for confirming! I will be more than happy to help! Here is our plan, I will be asking some questions and be providing some steps, if they don't work we will continue with a call with my senior advisor, sounds good?

Me: Actually, if you could be so kind as to look at this Apple Forum thread: Stuck in “Preparing To Sync. This seems to be a major issue with many users. I would like to know if Apple is aware of this issue and if they are taking steps to correct it.

AS: Got it! I'm checking it, please allow me a second.

Me: Yes, of course. Please, take your time.

AS: Does it start working once you force quit the MD Crash report Tool?

Me: I haven’t tried it, as I’m not comfortable quitting a system process. However, some users state that they repeatedly plug and unplug their iPhone to get the MDTool to stop. I did try that method a while ago and it did work. People have found a few ways to get the MDTool to stop, but this isn’t a permanent solution.

AS: Thank you so much for letting us know! I will be adding this to my notes and submit it as a feedback for the next MacOS updates. If you want you can also submit this feedback to our web page Product Feedback - Apple. We have a team here at Apple, whose entire job is dedicated to reviewing this feedback, this feedback is escalated to our engineers team and they ad the patch in the security updates

Me: Okay, if you could please escalate this issue to the engineers, I would greatly appreciate it. As many of us would like to sync our music.

AS: Sure! I can see that this has been already reported so our engineers team is already working on a solution. I will add this case for their investigation. Just for documentation purposes, could you please confirm the MAcOS version running on your MacBook?

Me: MacBook: Sonoma 14.2.1, iPhone: 17.2.1, AppleWatch: 10.2 | I included the other devices as other users also seem to have issues syncing the Mac and have stated that the syncing works if they unpair their AppleWatch.

AS: Perfect! Thank you so much added it to the notes.

-----

As stated above, if these sorts of software issues are fixed through security patches, we may not have to wait for an update. As don't security patches get downloaded and are apart from MacOS updates?

AiPB wrote:

Sorry, noob here. How do I force quit the MDCrashReportTool? I've tried syncing my iphone ios 17.2.1 to my Macbook Air sonoma 14.0 but it gets stuck at step 2 or syncing. Hoping to sync so I can get my songs to my Music App

Hey, on day #1 we're all noobs. To force quit MDCrashReportTool on your MacBook, do the following:

1. Open the Activity Monitor (find it via Spotlight or look in the Utilities folder)
2. In the app upper right corner, use the search field (enter MDCrashReportTool)
3. Highlight the tool name (CPU panel) and then click the (X) button at top of screen
4. From the popup, click on Force Quit

Good luck!

-R.

Girshon Rutstein wrote:

And since Apple relies on consumers as quality control …..

As far as the Apple users we could save time as well, finding a solution ourselves…..

I’m afraid Apple does rely on users to test its products…. It shouldn’t. But it does. Worse, in circumstances like this, the Apple Communities are used as a discussion forum for bugs - which is not their purpose. It’s a self help forum ie helping people get the most out of their Apple gear in the best ways possible, and in ways they might not be aware of.

End Users can’t find solutions or fixes for bugs. Forcing processes to quit, renaming apps, unpairing watches, unplugging hardware connections, restarting hardware etc etc are not solutions nor fixes . And this appears to be a bug in a process that reports problems to Apple. Oh, the irony.

A hanging sync is a problem that is squarely in Apple’s court. Not ours.

Just my 2 cents.

For me, it turns out it was songs that iTunes could no longer find in my Library. The steps I took that led me to that conclusion was:

1. While my phone was connected to my Mac, I activated the "Show this iPhone when on Wi-Fi" in the Options settings.
2. Disconnected the physical cable connection between the phone my the Mac.
3. Performed the sync over WiFi. Once the synch was complete, there was an error sync message. I saved the file to my desktop.
4. Open the Error file and saw it was a bunch of songs that were no longer on my Mac but still showing up in playlists (and thusly were included on the sync execution).
5. I had to individually search for these songs and delete them from the iTunes library.
6. Reconnected the physical lightning cable, turned off "Show this iPhone when on Wi-Fi". Tried the synch with just the cable and it worked.
7. Lesson Learned: why didn't the physical cable connection synch provide a verbose error message?

Hello Norman18

You're brilliant! Thank you very much for making this at least a fixable nightmare. How long has the "MDCrashReportTool" been a nightmare, years and years.

I wasted an hour or two waiting for it to resolve, but once I quit the "MDCrashReportTool", boom it finished right up.

Anyways, Thank you very much for your help, I'm sure Apple would have suggested we are to delete everything reinstall the iOS and MacOS fresh, etc. In other words destroy your enire setup, and it likely still wouldn't have worked. You, you put the truth and have probably made a lot of people pretty happy solving this problem.

FYI: While I haven't tried it yet, I found an article called "How to disable and enable the Crash Reporter on MacOS

" at http://www.mnott.de/how-to-disable-and-enable-the-crash-reporter-on-macos/ that may solve not having to deal with it every sync. I'm not sure what MacOS it's written for, I hope 10.14.6 and all others that need it. Apple as usual isn't any help, I'm really glad you were have been a great help.

Thanks again,

Dan

[Edited by Moderator]

Marc Marshall wrote:

The issue is that something in it isn't working, so while it launches, it hangs indefinitely instead of completing (or timing out), so the sync is stuck waiting for it to finish and never completes.

Like hundreds of other background processes, it's always been there launching in the background when you do a sync, it's just that it usually completes and closes itself in a brief moment, and you're not carefully watching for it, so you aren't aware of it.

This is why others here are debating renaming the file: If the sync process can't find it, it can't launch it, and it can't get stuck.

My programming days are long gone, and I’m no expert but:

I would have thought the tool is only invoked or launched in response to an error - its purpose is to send crash reports to Apple. So something returns a non zero code immediately the “Preparing to Sync” step starts, which launches the tool which hangs. The Sync clearly doesn’t crash, but something causes the tool to run and, as you say, something in it isn’t working. Or, it’s this particular invocation that causes the problem, in other circumstances the tool works fine. Just guessing. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. And I could be totally wrong.

Apple must know about this issue and it’s disconcerting that they don’t seem able to solve the problem(s).