Dreaded "session could not be started" syncing problem.

after several hours of looking for a solution ... this worked! thanks so much!

I am still having a persistent problem with this error. For the record it SEEMED to start when I updated to 6.0.1 on the phone and updated to Itunes 11 (but can't exactly sure). The ONLY solution that has allowed me to take backups so far is to re-install Itunes; this works for a number of backups and then, at some point, the problem re-occurs. I've tried all the suggested solutions in this forum and no luck. I'd like to find a solution that doesn't involve re-installing Itunes every week !

FYI the re-install may solve your back up problem if you are really struggling. Currently, I'm keeping a copy of the Itunes.DMG file on desktop and re-installing each time the problem re-ocurrs - it only takes a minute or so to re-install but it's not ideal by any stretch !

Robbie

MacBook Air on 10.8.2, Itunes 11.0.1, Iphone 4 on IOS 6.0.1

I have a similar issue and re-install Itunes as well. It happens on all of my devices (three Ipads, two Iphones) periodically.

I was having same problems with iphone and ipad - been like it for weeks

saw somethign on a another site- . it simply said to solve problem just turn off wi-fi and it will sync

So i did that and it worked on both iphone and ipad

poblem seems to be with wifi on and wifi sync on.. turn off wi fi and its sorted

this worked for me!

Not exactly same problem but this worked for my iPhone on Windoze.

Was getting the cannot start session error for both a backup and a restore attempt.

Restarted both PC and iPhone and plugged in iPhone before starting iTunes.

Seems to be no rhyme or reason for this. Tried a back up eight or nine times - each with a fail. Then, having not changed anything, a back up ran. I did turn off wi-fi but that seemed to have no effect.

This is all really frustrating. It seems that as soon as I plug an iAnything into the PC it just fails.

I've had this problem for a little while now and it was really bugging me.

After some searching, i found that turning off "wifi syncing" from both my iphone and ipad it has fixed the problem. It's not too much of a drama, i didn't use the wireless syncing anyway.

I hope this helps others out there. :-)

It's just one more (different) "works for me" anecdote, but I have been 100% successful with backups, first try, as long as I put the iPad into Airplane Mode first.

(I agree with those who sense that it has something to do with sync over WiFi, but disabling that did not reliably resolve.)

OMG, put iphone on Airplane Mode then sync...worked 1st time. 🙂😝😊

Who knows why? Just turned Airplane Mode on....worked for me. Thanks!

Turning on airplane mode works for me too. Go figure.

Airplane mode worked for me the first time too

My situation seems to be a little different.

I get the message about not being able to connect, but it is after everything is done.

Everything looks good, the changes I was trying to sync are there and the backup file has been updated..

I would like to not ge the message.

Something is wacky and needs to be fixed.

I hope it is contained in the next update.

Jeff

But putting it on Airplane mode worked for me too.