Service 'Apple Mobile Device' could not be installed

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Level 1

8 points

Service 'Apple Mobile Device' could not be installed

I have been running iTunes for a long time but when I try to install version 10.5.3 or 10.6, I get the following error.

Service 'Apple Mobile Device' could not be installed. Verify that you have sufficient privileges to install system services.

I have never gotten this before trying to install a newer version.

I am running on Windows 7 with an administrator password. I tried uninstalling and then installing and get the same error.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks!

Bill

Posted on Mar 11, 2012 11:20 PM

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Answer 1

b noir

Level 9

72,336 points

Mar 12, 2012 10:50 AM in response to bilh

Perhaps let's try disabling the service prior to an install attempt.

In your Start menu, right-click Computer and select "Manage".

Expand "Services & Applications".

Open "Services". (Perhaps maximise the screen to better see what's going on.)

Right-click the Apple Mobile Device Service and select "Properties".

In the General tab, set the Startup type to "Disabled" and click OK.

Restart the PC and try another iTunes install. Does it go through properly this time?

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Answer 2

bilh Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 12, 2012 10:57 AM in response to b noir

b noir,

Thanks for the reply. I had seen this possible solution in another thread this morning, but when I looked at that it already said disabled. I restarted the computer and that didn't make any difference. I still got the same error.

I finally was able to install however. First I had to uninstall all Apple products including Bonjour, Apple Software Update, iTunes, Apple Application Support, and Apple Mobile Device Support. I then re-installed 10.5.3.3 and all seems to be good.

I'll not try to upgrade to 10.6 again. That was really a hassle.

Thanks,

Bill

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Answer 3

b noir

Level 9

72,336 points

Mar 12, 2012 11:06 AM in response to bilh

I had seen this possible solution in another thread this morning, but when I looked at that it already said disabled.

Interesting. It's enabled by default on a PC. So if you didn't explicitly disable it (either in Services or MSCONFIG), that might be some clue as to what has been going wrong with the install attempts.

... doublechecking. You're sure you want to stay at 10.5.3? Otherwise, we could try some more troubleshooting. (Granted, there's no guarantee we'd succeed, so perfectly okay if you want to stay at 10.5.3.)

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Answer 4

bilh Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 12, 2012 1:10 PM in response to b noir

It was ok before i tried the install of 10.6. This is what disabled it. I didn't disable it myself.

When i tried to install 10.6 is when all my troubles started. 10.5.3 was working fine and seems to be working fine again. I really had no reason for going to 10.6 other than trying to stay current.

So... I think I'll stick wth 10.5.3 for the time being.

Thanks for the offer of help though!

Bill

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Answer 5

Mar 12, 2012 2:51 PM in response to bilh

This exact thing happens to me each and every time I upgrade iTunes. It says volumes about Apple software quality on Windows.

The only way to fix it is to completely uninstall every Apple product, then reinstall it all. Reinstallation of iTunes means reinstallation of the song library, which means at least 3 hours of file copying.

I would think that someone within Apple would see this as an issue, and fix it, but apparently no one cares about Windows users enough to make them find their products tolerable. No other piece of software I've ever used has suffered this problem, but iTunes does this each and every time I update.

Sorry for venting here but I've really not no one else to vent to about it.

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