Apple Mobile Device failed to start

OMG! I'm so glad I found this thread! I have been trying everything for a week. Even was on the phone with support for an hour and they couldn't even resolve it! I kept deleting all the Apple files in order and trying to run the new iTunes installer as admin and still got the same error! So doing this helped.

Deleted all the Apple programs in that EXACT order.

Restart

Then download and installed the iTunes 12.1 for Windows (64-bit — for older video cards)

Viola! It works like new again!

Praise this person! They are a life saver! Pure GENIUS! 🙂😉😍😎

I've spent a few days on this and finally tonight this suggestion from another thread worked straight away. iTunes is now running with no errors and says its the latest version.

iTunes 12.1.1 for Windows (64-bit — for older video cards)

Funny, I don't think I had and older card, but there you go.

Hope that helps.

turingtest2, you are the man. This is my first iPhone and was totally lost and remove, install, reboot and remove, install/reboot 3 times. Did not work, but using your "iTunes 12.1 for Windows (64-bit — for older video cards)" made it work like a charm!

<Edited by Host>

Do you want FIX!!!!! I tryed evey fix method but nooooooot. Then i fix it and easy. My computer's video card older. Probally your video card older. You can fix this problem with" iTunes 12.1.2 for Windows (64-bit — for older video cards)" Here is the link:

https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1784?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

Download and setup iTunes for older video card

For general advice see Troubleshooting issues with iTunes for Windows updates.

The steps in the second box are a guide to removing everything related to iTunes and then rebuilding it which is often a good starting point unless the symptoms indicate a more specific approach.

Review the other boxes and the list of support documents further down the page in case one of them applies.

The further information area has direct links to the current and recent builds in case you have problems downloading, need to revert to an older version or want to try the iTunes for Windows (64-bit - for older video cards) release as a workaround for installation or performance issues, or compatibility with QuickTime or third party software.

Your library and device backups should be unaffected by these steps but there are links to backup and recovery advice should it be needed.

tt2

Hey there

I had the same problem as many others: After I've been using iTunes for years, it suddenly just didn't work and reinstallation failed because of the "Mobile Device Service"-error. I wasted tons of time searching a solution on the web - but non of the solutions worked for me. After experimenting a lot, I finally found out how you can get iTunes running again. THIS IS THE SOLUTION!!!

1. Uninstall all the Apple Software in the following order:

- iTunes

- Quicktime

- Apple Software Update

- Apple Mobile Device Support

- Bonjour

- Apple Application Support

2. Go to "C:\Program Files" and delete the folders "iTunes", "iPod" and "Bonjour". Then open the folder "Common Files" ("C:\Program Files\Common Files" and delete the "Apple"-Folder. If those folders don't exist, skip this step.

3. Go to "C:\Program Files (x86)" and delete the folders "iTunes", "Bonjour" and "Apple Software Update". Then open the folder "Common Files" ("C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files") and delete the "Apple" folder. If those folders don't exist, skip this step.

4. Uninstall the "Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable"-Software, the "Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable" and the "Microsoft .NET Framework X.X". If you don't have this software installed, skip this step.

5. Open CCleaner (or download and install it from https://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download), run it and then go to its "Registry"-Tab. Use CCleaner to analyse your Registry-Keys and after the scan, click "Fix all selected issues" (and say "Yes" if it wants to do a Registry-Backup first).

6. Go to your desktop and press "Win + R". Then type "%appdata%" to open the folder where all the temporary Program Data is stored ("C:\Users\YOUR NAME\AppData\Roaming"). Delete the whole "Apple Computer"-Folder in order to remove all the remaining Apple-Files on your Computer.

NOTE: This folder can be as large as 50GB!

7. Restart your Computer

8. Download and install the "Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable"-Software, the "Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable" and the "Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5". If you're using Windows 10, the ".Microsoft .NET Framework" is already included in the operating system.

Here are the download-links for a 32-bit OS: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=3387 https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=29

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=30653

And here for a 64-bit OS: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=21254

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=15336

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=30653

9. Restart your Computer

10. Download the latest version of iTunes: http://www.apple.com/itunes/

11. Install iTunes and have fun!

IMPORTANT NOTE: It is possible that the installation still doesn't work. But this time, the services will start and you will get an error message like "Windows Error 193". For specific error cases like this, Apple provides the fitting solution here: If you see Error 7 (Windows error 193) when you try to install iTunes for Windows - Apple Support. With this additional step, I was finally able to install and use iTunes again.

Please let me know if this solution also worked for you!

Kind regards and have a good time =)

See my earlier post to this thread. Re: Apple Mobile Device failed to start.

If needs be reinstall the last version that worked for you and roll back the library if necessary. See the iTunes installers section for details and links.

tt2

Well... it worked with previous version.

iTunes 12.3.2.35 for Windows (64-bit) - iTunes6464Setup.exe (2015-12-21)

But again, this is a half measure. If a user requires a feature from the latest version, he will find himself/herself in a dead end.

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1567

Use the Control Panel to uninstall iTunes and related software components in the following order and restart your computer:

1. iTunes
2. Apple Software Update
3. Apple Mobile Device Support
4. Bonjour
5. Apple Application Support (iTunes 9 or later)

Important: Uninstalling these components in a different order or only uninstalling some of these components may have unintended effects.

This should work

Try the following:

1. Windows Search Bar type services.msc, hit enter
2. In the Services manager that opens up find "Apple Mobile Devices Service"
3. Right Click, select Properties
4. Make sure that "Startup Type" is Automatic. Mine was set to disabled, which was causing the update utility to fail
5. I also did the same thing for "Bonjour Service" which was also disabled, but I'm not sure if that was necessary, as the updater only complained about not being able to start "Apple Mobile Devices Service"

Updater was able to complete, once the services were enabled.

Unfortunately this didn't work for me because the part that won't install is the apple mobile device support file, therefore it won't show up under services. 😟

I was able to rollback to the previous version of itunes, in which I was able to install and start AMDS, however the problem lies within the new version of AMDS imbedded in itunes 10.7. THere must be a compatibility issue with my version of Windows 7 (32) THe most likely senerio is that I will need to wait until the next version of itunes is released, and the and only then will I be able to sync my iphone5. Sadly, i regretting buying this phone as my 4 was flawless.

I agree. I also am able to re-install the previous version of iTunes with the previous AMDS, but can't get the new one. It has to be something with the AMDS (I'm on Windws 7 (64)). I'm not sure if the next version will resolve this though. It seems some people have been able to install 10.7 and some like us haven't. I'm dying to get my iPhone 5 (it was supposed to be a birthday present to me a few weeks ago but I wanted to get the iTunes upgrade first). 😟