iTunes on my PC cannot see my iPhone

You should try ITunes again today. I had this same problem starting on Feb 3, 2025 and everything resolved itself on Feb 24, 2025.

Short story: Connected my Apple 12 mini (256 GB) running 18.2? or 18.3? to Windows 10 ITunes on Feb. 3 with the goal of backing up the phone. Foolishly, clicked download and install new IOS software when ITunes popped up an update message. Install failed and phone stuck in boot loop. Various recovery options including factory reset failed. Apple support suggested a few fixes that didn't work. They also suggested installing Apple Devices. This failed and ITunes on my PC stopped recognizing my phone. ITunes on my laptop still recognizes phone. Took it to 2 repair shops. First one tried various hardware fixes and couldn't recover or factory reset.

Accepting my 12 mini was dead, I bought a used 13 mini (512 GB). While waiting for delivery, I took the 12 mini to a second shop that was able to factory reset. New phone arrived. I was able to recover my last backup (4 months ago) onto the new 13 mini using Apple Devices. However, no music or playlists were restored. Luckily, all apps and their data were restored and I regularly copy all my photos to my HD without using ITunes so nothing was lost, but I can't get the last 4 months of photos back onto the new phone. ITunes still didn't recognize the new phone. I saw this thread and uninstalled Apple Devices ~Feb. 17. Still no luck with music or playlists. The 13 did an automatic software update to 18.3.1 via traditional wireless upgrade on Feb. 24. I tried ITunes again and magically ITunes recognized the device again and was able to sync my music and backup the new phone. I suspect that Apple patched ITunes and/or 18.3.1 sometime between Feb. 17 and 24.

3 weeks of dealing with this and $300 spent on a new phone that in the end might not have been needed, but I'm at least glad that I have everything back and a phone with more memory. Moral of story for me was: always decline software upgrades via ITunes for Windows, back things up regularly, only do installs via wireless network, and accept that sometimes software breaks hardware but that developers may patch things if enough people complain.

Try iOS device not showing in iTunes for Windows - Apple Community.

tt2

That did NOT work for me.

That little trick to completely uninstall (via Revo Uninstaller) and then reinstall iTunes worked only ONCE. It saw the iPhone only one time. Since then... NOPE!