Incorrect iPhone name shown on PC

After searching google and finding no solutions or suggestions on how to fix this, I decided to give it a try myself and fixed it. I had the same problem, my friend's iPhone name was showing up under "Computer" / "Portible Devices" on Vista. In iTunes it was the correct name of the iPhone. I also noticed that under the Autoplay settings on Windows my friend's name was listed there as well under "Devices" along with my iPhone name and my iPad name.

It seemed to me that it had nothing to do with the iPhone and more to do with the Windows regsistry so I searched the Windows Registry for "friends name" and the first thing I found was a registry key for the "Devices" in "Autoplay" with my friends name. I promptly deleted the key and reconnected my iPhone. Well, his name showed right up again! I then went back to the registry and did a search for "friend's name" again and got the same registry key and deleted it. Only this time I searched again and found another strange folder with my friend's name on one of the registry keys. I was unsure about deleting it so instead I renamed it to "Tom's iPhone". I contined to search for more keys with my friend's name and found 2 or 3 more. I renamed every key that had his name on it to my name. I closed the registry, plugged in my phone and my name appeared like it used to! I hope this helps anyone with the same problem!

Thanks for your post because when you mentioned switching USB ports it got me thinking about the computer as the culprit and led me to the registry.

Whew, deleting registry keys is not for the faint of heart, but it looks like you were clever and lucky this time. Good job -- I'll keep this in mind if someone posts the same problem.

Thanks JVXB. Hah, yes you're right. But I never really worry about it too much seeing that I regulary backup my computer and anytime I have a hint of a problem with it, I simply restore it to factory settings. Actually, I do it about every six months just to keep it running fast. I've got it down to where the whole process takes me about an hour. If you have that in mind when you're troubleshooting a problem, it gives you the courage to take chances. And beleive it or not, they usually work out. I didn't even back up the registry before making the changes, how's that for gutsy?! lol

But seriously, I was confident that deleting the "autorun" entry in the registry would simply remove my friends device from the autorun device listing, (which it did) so I wasn't worried about that one. But that didn't fix the problem. As for the other registry entries, maybe I could have deleted them but I thought renaming them would be a safer solution. One thing I was sure of, any registry key with my friends name on it didn't belong in my registry!

s2s, I get what you're saying, and I'm no expert, but I don't think making those changes will affect the profile or backup of either phone. And even if it did, you could always back them up again. The fact that the phones show up correctly on iTunes before making any changes makes me believe that the registry changes will not affect anything to do with the phone or iTunes and that they are merely Windows tweaks.

It's strange because the only thing I did with my friends phone before this happened was- I began the update on my computer to iOS 5 on iTunes. But as soon as it started to backup his phone, I immediately stopped it and pulled the plug because I didn't want all his info on my computer seeing that I'm low on space. Also, we had another computer handy that we could use. But somehow, for those 30 seconds that I had it plugged in, his phone name showed up everytime I plugged in my phone from then on. Another strange thing is-- when I plug my wife's phone into my computer, her name shows up correctly! Earlier I was going to say that a future iPhone update will probably correct the problem but I'm not sure based on what I just told you.

In any case, it's not the end of the world that someone else's phone name shows up under "Computer" most people don't even look at that. But it did bug the **** out of me, especially because my friend had a stupid name for his phone! I'm not recommending that you try what I did, I'm just sharing what worked for me. Good luck and keep us posted!

I'm having the same problem with my PC, but when try do delete "her" iphone in the RegEdit it keeps coming back and the problem remains. Help anyone? 🙂

Chappy,

Did you try doing what I mentioned in my original post of searching for her name in the registry and renaming all entries of her name to your name?

Edit: Now i finally found the right entry to change name so it's fixed now woho 🙂 thanks for the help!

Chappy,

You're welcome, great to hear! I was a bit surprised when you said you tried it and it didn't work. I was going to say to try it again! I laughed about what you said about it being annoying seeing her name on your computer-- because I know what you mean, that's what drove me to try so hard to fix it!

Tom, where can i find the registry editor in Windows 7? I am trying to edit the name of the phone as well. same problem. thanks.

nevermind, found it! it works!! thanks!!

s2s,

Well, it sounds like it DID work then! Actually, I was saying to just rename them and not delete them but I understand that you had a slightly different problem than I did. That was gutsy to delete them all! But it makes sense that it says, "Apple iPhone" because it has to say something..so better that than the wrong names!

I was having the same issue with my iPhone 4.. I'm running Windows 7 Ultimate x64, and found the keys in the following locations:

Inside of regedit:

Navigate to:

Computer\HKLM\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Enum\USB\VID_05AC&PID_1297&MI_00\0\Device Parameters

Update Keys:

"FriendlyName" from "Wife's iPhone" to "My iPhone"

"Label" from "Wife's iPhone" to "My iPhone"

Hopefully this helps someone else

-Justin

** BTW ** Don't delete anything out of the registry!! You only have to modify the two keys! If you delete the wrong thing, you can risk having to perfrom a reinstall of iTunes, or worse.

Also, if you find that the label still comes up wrong, change the two keys back, and go on to the next "folder" below the "folder" you're in.

ok it did work for me but I still cannot backup my iPhone. I have restored it from new and still nothing.