Q: Stuck at "Connect to iTunes" (error 4005)

I as well have my Ipad 4 in the same state as everyone else. What a drag. So much for taking my Ipad to work tomorrow. Thanks alot Apple.

Same problems here.  iPad 2 and iPhone 5 both locked on recovery screen.  iTunes does not recognize either, even after reboot and iTunes reinstall.

I spent 40+ minutes on the phone with Apple Care with a genious who walked through the usual steps, all to no avail.  Then, a senior manager got on the line to advise the problem has been widely (relatively) reported, and a fix is in the works.  Apparently its an iTunes 11.1 issue on some machines.  I'm on Windows 8, but don't know if its a PC only issue.  The manager also said Apple rolled back the PC iTunes download to 11.0.5 until a fix was worked out.

In the meantime, I went to a friends house to use his PC, still running iTunes 10.6.  For whatever reason, this machine recognizes my devices as being in recovery mode.  When I hit "restore" iTunes began downloading IOS 6.1.4 (?!?!?). 

We'll see how this goes....

I struggled with this on my 4S and iTunes 11.1 on Win8 until I realized it was user error.  Not sure if it will work for you but my USB cable was plugged into my monitor and not directly to the USB head on my PC.  Once I moved the cable directly to the PC everything worked like it should.  Restored fine into iOS 7 and then restored all my data from the backup.  The location of the USB cable was an oversight on my part.  Wasted 4 hours of my time and calls to 4 very helpful agents at Apple Support.  Support almost had me DFU the device but the lightbulb went off in my head before before we got there.  Thank goodness.  HTH.

Holllywood

I had this problem as well, iTunes on my laptop would not recognize my iPhone 4 while it was stuck on the "Connect to iTunes" screen.  Eventually I connected my iPhone to my desktop computer and restored it to factory.  Once it was restored I connected it back to my laptop and restored a backup I luckily did earlier today.  However since then if I try to update the same issue occurs.  Last time I tried was roughly at 10:30 PM, I'm just gonna deal with iOS 6 till tomorrow and try to update after I get out of class.  If you absolutely need your phone and if you have access to another computer I would do what I did in the mean time and try again tomorrow.

Hope everything works out!!

Another win 8.1 Beta user here with this problem on a 4S and the phone connected to my monitor USB port. I will try to connect it to an USB port on the computer and I will report back if I can solve the issue!

Thank ohnoitsokay for this tip.

My is connected to the computer.  Itunes is open but it doesn't recognize my 4s.  Phone is not working since I can't get passed the itunes logo and the usb plug on the screen.  If I hold down the on/off button along with the home the phones powers off and when it comes back on the same is on the screen. 

Don't have the update and now have a NON working phone.  Guess I will have to go to the Apple store tomorrow and be there all day. 

I solved the problem installing iTunes in another computer. Putting the device in DFU mode and restoring it.

Then I cleaned my own computer (which didnt detect the device) of all apple soft and reinstall itunes and it detect it again.

Here are the steps you can try:

1) Make sure you got the ipsw file to restore to 7.0 (In my case iPad3,1_7.0_11A465_Restore.ipsw), google it, you'll find it.

2) Follow this guide to remove all traces of apple soft from your PC: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1923.

3) Reinstall itunes. Open it.

4) Connect your device.

5) Put it in DFU Mode: Hold the Power button for about 5 seconds. Now press down the Home Button without releasing the Power button. Keep both buttons pressed for about 10 more seconds. Now release the Power button but not the Home button. Keep the Home button pressed for 15 more seconds or so. Your device should be in DFU Mode afterwards. NOTE: DFU Mode is just a blank screen but your phone should be recognised by iTunes.

6) Restore from the ipsw. And then restore from a backup.

Just to give an update: I was able to restore my Iphone 4S from another PC with and older Itunes version and installed 6.1.3 after I was prompted to do so when ITunes detected it was on recovery mode; then I came back to the original PC where I have this Iphone's backups and restored a backup I had created before my first IOS installation attempt (All this with it connected to an USB port on my PC instead of an USB on my monitor). Then I tried to upgrade to IOS 7.0 but it failed again with the same error code 4005.

That did the trick.  Thanks.  Old iTunes turned out to be a dead end.  Spent waaay too much time installing iOS 7 tonight.  Going to sleep with what little hair I didn't pull out this evening.

This worked for me - installed this software and clicked on "Exit Recovery" and back came the home screen on my iPhone. Many thanks Nik.

I FOUND A SOLUTION FOR THIS: Just update your Iphone using wifi and forget about Itunes. It worked perfectly for my 4S after 2 failed attempts using ITunes and getting 4005 error code!

Thanks, fecfecfec. Putting the phone in DFU mode made iTunes to recognize my phone. Now I'm with my fingers crossed to have a successfully restore & update...

Thanks NikSmith - 4 hours of dealing with this.  This solved my problems, thanks!