iPhone sync conflict

I had the same problem as everyone else with the conflict error described above on both my iphone 4 & my ipad 1. I solved my problem eventually by doing a couple of things of which I list below:-

1. I went into itunes Edit, Preferences, Devices, and deleted all of my backups so there wasnt any backups for any device. For the sake of it I also reset my sync history.

2. I then clicked onto my iphone on LHS & onto the Info tab at top. I changed my 'Do not sync events older than XX days' setting. I originally had 45 days and changed it to 30 days (I changed my ipad to 7 days when I synced that),

3. I scrolled down to the Advanced section and ticked the 'Contacts', 'Calendar', 'Mail Accounts', 'Notes' boxes for this time only, and re-synced both my iphone & ipad separately. The problem disappeared for both devices.

It is also worth pointing out that on both devices, I used to have more than one calendar in operation (since the launch of OS 5.0 & icloud etc), which I feel caused the problem in the first place? Consequently, I only have only one calendar now in operation (synched from MS Outlook on my PC). In other words I don't use icloud anymore and switched it all off in both devices. I only sync with my desktop PC & with the cable again. I would rather sync this way and be free of this damm problem than syncing with icloud & getting the problem back again.

I hope this helps all the frustrated people out there. Good luck.

Thanks, I have been having this problem with my iPhone, iPad and Windows 7 PC and it has been irratating. I thought it was the iCloud so I completed removed it from the PC....thought that fixed it but the error came back again. I did your suggestion and it seems to have fixed it. I hope the error message doesn't come back in a few days.....but for now my iPad and iPhone seem to be in sync with my PC.....if the message stays away I may even get brave in the future and try the cloud again.

Cheers

Since I had installed iOS5, when syncing my iphone with iTunes and Outlook on Windows, I got the error message :

“Unable to retrieve conflict information from sync server. Please try again next time conflict resolver window is presented”

So, as far as I am concerned, it was indeed a problem with iCloud. I have posted on my blog a solution that has worked for me so far :

http://harryseldon.thinkosphere.com/2011/11/10/iphone-or-ipad-synchronization-wi th-itunes-icloud-and-outlook

H

Used Gator5000e's fix (renamed sync file) and it worked. Considered using later fix (I scrolled down to the Advanced section and ticked the 'Contacts', 'Calendar', 'Mail Accounts', 'Notes' boxes for this time only, and re-synced both my iphone & ipad separately.) but that would wipe out whatever wasn't in outlook not combine the two.

Thanks Gator5000e

Gator, you're a star, renaming conflicts.syncconflict to conflicts.syncconflict.old and unresolvedCount to unresolvedCount.old in OS(C:) Users/(USER NAME)/AppData/Roaming/Apple Computer/SyncServices/Local/conflicts seems to have fixed it - lets hope it stays that way !!!!

Gator5000e, I cannot locate the file you reference: Users/(UserName)/AppData/Roaming/AppleComputer/SyncServices/Local/conflicts/con flict.synconflict

Any suggestions on how to find it? I have searched under any and all combinations of the words in the above file.

I think one of the posters above noted I had misspelled the file name and added an "s" at the end to synconflict when there should not have been.

This should be the correct path in Windows 7:

OS(C:) Users/(USER NAME)/AppData/Roaming/Apple Computer/SyncServices/Local/conflicts/conflicts.synconflict

Note that the filename is conflicts.synconflict (no "s" on the end). This initially caused my file search to fail, but I found it with the path you provided.

Try to follow the path instead of searching for the file name. Make sure you are able to see hidden files. Once you find the file then rename it and it should work.

Remember this was for a windows computer. I imagine the path on a Mac would differ.

Good luck and I hope you can locate the file and fix your problem.

Thanks heaps Gator5000e. This fixed my sync conflict prob too. I'm syncing an iPhone 3GS and 4 to the same PC running XP. I also had the problem that after I edited canendar items, syncing would make them revert to what was there originally. For anyone else running XP, the path is C:\Documents and Settings\USER NAME\Application Data\SyncServices\Local\conflicts\conflict.syncconflict. Pity Apple don't have a FREE help desk to help with problems with their systems. Every time I update the OS on the phones, or iTunes S/W, there's problems. It's a pain.

Renaming the file orked like a charm. (conflicts.synconflicts to conflictsOLD.synconflicts)

My conflict was with contacts. For some reason when the facebook app synced with my contacts (and added pictures) this caused itunes to freak out and give me that error. Renaming that file did the trick. Excellent find!

For windows users, remember when navigating to (Users/(USER NAME)/AppData/Roaming/Apple Computer/SyncServices/Local/conflicts/conflicts.synconflicts) change your folder options so you can see hidden files. Otherwise, appdata won't show up.

Thanks Gator5000e. I've had this problem off and on for awhile and even called Apple support and paid the $30, or whatever it was for their scripted, unsuccessful support.

I wish I'd thought of that solution of effectively getting rid of the file that chronicled the conflicts. It's an obvious solution, but it took you to come up with it, so thanks.

I suppose it doesn't exactly solve Apple's problem with the sync process but it sure does give us a viable workaround. Well done.

I'm having a similar problem to everyone here and have tried all the fixes to no avail. I recently change the file name as instructed on Page 4. Same old, same old.

I have all the correct boxes checked, Outlook is set correctly as I was instructed to set it in another thread I found. All the latest updates are correct.

iTunes will not synch contacts from my phone to my computer regardless of what I do. This is especially troubling because we recently updated Outlook here at the office, and I stupidly forgot to back up my contacts. I backed up everything else, but forgot that one. Now all that information is trapped on my phone, and I guess I'm going to have to add contacts manually from my phone.

Also troubling is that iTunes will not back-up my phone to the computer. I click the box from iCloud to computer, click apply, and the only thing which happens is the selection moves right back to iCloud.

All info trapped on phone and no way to back it up, apparently.

Hi brettfrombirmingham

This does not fix your problem, but there are a number of free utilities around that will let you get your contacts from your iPhone on to your PC. I think you can even do this to .VCF, which can be read by Outlook.

Search the web for something like "copy contacts from iPhone without iTunes".

I used one a while ago, but forget which it was.

One thing to watch out for with these shareware programs is that they can stop after so many copies and ask for money. You have the choice to count and reinstall or pay for a full version!

Just a thought.

Tony

Gator5000e is the man.

His solution fixed my syc issue as well. I had recently upgraded from an iPhone 3GS to a 4S. I was getting the sync conflict error for 1 contact and 10 notes. Always the same set. Finally stopped getting the error!

If your data is syncing but you continue to get the annoying message that iTunes can't access the sync server, here's what worked for me.

Search your hard drive and find the file conflicts.syncconflict. Rename it (I dropped the t off the end of the file name). Sync your iPhone. iTunes will be unable to access the file and will create a new, clean one.

Check your sync results. If it's all good, delete the old (renamed) file.

Hi L,

I found the fix!!

I was having the same issues for months and was not able to resolve it until last night.

I discovered the solution purely by accident while trying to resolve the issue and it is so simple you will laugh.

CLOSE MS-OUTLOOK

I was looking at all of the recommendaed fix's and I thought to myself, I wonder if the issues is a record lock?

I closed MS-Outlook and ran the Sync again and no conflict sync errors appeared. To test this out again I went to get my iPad and ran a Sync and low and behold no more conflict Sync errors.

Perhaps this solution will work for you also.

All the best!

Dwight