Dreaded "session could not be started" syncing problem.

Thank you so much!

Apple Care, like you, suggested that I delete any old devices but did not suggest to turn off the iPad.

Your suggestion worked without a snitch!! My ipad is updated and synced!

🙂 Wonderful!

im getting the same problem so i tried to turn it off and now all im getting is the circle in the middle of the screen... how do i get that to stop?

Same happened on mine...press and hold the Home and Power buttons for a few seconds until the circle disappears. Then, re-start the ipad

I started getting this cryptic error message last week, after I synced my iPod when the battery had gone flat; it had not been used for a while. With the iPad connected, I saw one backup file for each device, the iPad and the iPod (which lost its identity when I tried to sync it).

I reset the iPad (you have to hold both buttons to get the red slider) and resynced it after it reset, but then before the sync ended I got a message that the device had disconnected. I clicked OK, and it completed the sync.

Oh, when I first connected the cable to sync, it told me it could not sync my iPhone and gave some equally cryptic error message. I do not now nor have I ever owned an iPhone.

Thanks! This helped me too.

My iPad has had the same "session could not be started" problem for some time. I didn't realize it, but my iPad had not backed up successfully for over two months.

Alas, Carolyn's suggested fix did not solve the problem. After turning the iPad off, it would not turn back on - it simply displayed the spinner going round and round and round. (I did not have multiple iPad backups listed under the Devices tab.)

To get rid of the spinner, I had to force a reboot of the iPad. Even after doing so, I got the "session could not be started" after performing another sync.

So I then initiated a manual backup of the iPad (by Control-clicking on the iPad's icon in the iTunes sidebar). A backup session started, and completed after a few minutes. Since then, the normal sync operation completes successfully - no more "session could not be started" errors.

Helpful tip: check the status of your iPad backups occasionally, via iTunes Preferences/Devices. Ensure that the date of the latest backup is current, lest you be lulled into a false sense of security that your iPad is being backed up when you do a Sync.

I am naming all of my children "Carolyn!" Thank you!

Amazing, simple and effective!

THANK YOU!!!

i closed itunes and re-opened it and it worked perfectly for me....

Thank you. Your advice saved the day. It worked well for me

I was working with windows 7 and a iPad. I deleted all the backups buts one then did a hard reset on the iPad and it worked!!😉

A long time down the road since the first post, but I just encountered this problem when trying to sync my iPad with my Windows PC.

I followed all of the directions given, deleting all but one of the backups. Still though, I got that same "session cannot be started" message. Grr!!

I was able to sync sucessfully after deleting ALL iPad backups in the Preferences/Backup tab.

Thanks for the tip!!!

Andrew

Thx, worked for me too (for my iPhone). Wonder what is causing this all of a sudden.

It all started with iTunes 10.7, as I am using 3 ipods and an iphone 4S, and everything was fine till I updated itunes. I still had ios 5 on the ipods and phone, but things stopped backing up the same on each of them. I upgraded to ios6 on everything, but nothing changed as far as the backup/session problem. I have followed all the steps above (deleted ALL backups for all devises) and I still get the same. I had for a while been able to backup using wi-fi sync, but that no longer works either. I read another thread that said Norton Antivirus had a problem with itunes 10.7 and that Apple was working on that, and they were also having the backup/session problem. Well, it has worked for some, but not for me. I am on a Windows machine, but I guess some of you that are back in business are also. Any more ideas? I have un-installed and re-installed as per the instructions, but still no go.

I get these issues too, Even with a restore?

I work around it, (and would appreciate feedback on if this works for everyone) by :

Right clicking device in iTunes and selecting "backup", I then get the error; I quickly "ok" the error, then select "backup" again, then I often get the error a second time, but on the third attempt (in very quick succession) of selecting backup, the task initiates, and completes successfully!

Exactly the same for a restore!

Did this work for you?😕