iTunes error 17 when upgrading/restoring?

Question

Level 1

5 points

iTunes error 17 when upgrading/restoring?

Every time I try to restore or update my iPhone 5s in iTunes (using my Windows Vista) I get the message "The iPhone/iPod cannot be updated. An unknown error occured (17)", and my iPhone is stuck in recovery mode. (I have a program to "kick" it out of recovery mode so I can still use it without needing a restore.) I'm not sure what is causing the problem, but it's really anoying and I would like to get it fixed ASAP. I have already tried restarting my computer, uninstalling and reinstalling iTunes, disabaling my firewall, and uninstalling my antivirus, but nothing has worked. I am positive that the problem is not being caused by the iPhone because I have tried to restore / update my old iPod 4g, resulting in the same error code... One more thing, I was getting "error 3004" earlier, but that turned into "error 17" whenever I disabled / uninstalled my antivirus (McAfee from Bell)... Any ideas on how to fix this? Thanks.

iPhone 5s, iOS 7.0.2

Posted on Oct 25, 2013 1:42 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Dec 15, 2013 2:20 PM in response to jakecool84

Hi,

I've just had the same problem with iPhone 5s and because I have a Windows PC and a MacBook Pro, I tried on both side: with the same error : unknown error (17). I found a post here on the apple community, about how to fix this error on Mac OS X (https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5381396?answerId=24051676022#24051676022) and it worked for me. I tried, after fixing the problem on OS X, to see if there's any similar fix for Windows and I found this (http://www.enterprisenetworkingplanet.com/netsysm/article.php/991281/Net-Tip-etc hosts-for-Windows.htm).

In theory, in /Windows/System32/drivers/etc there's a file named "hosts" that looks like the one on Mac OS X.

I haven't tried yet but maybe if you delete from that file all the *.apple.com entries, it should work again.

Let me know!

Reply

Answer 2

jakecool84 Author

Level 1

5 points

Dec 22, 2013 9:36 AM in response to WickedOrange

Hi, sorry for the long wait for a reply;

I had ended up looking around on google for a while after I had posted this question and came across the same solution; I totally forgot about this post! Anyways, yeah you’re right, if you have error 17 navigate to /Windows/System32/drivers/etc then open up the file named "hosts" (with notepad or something) and remove all the _.apple.com entries. Problem solved. As for error 3004, that was just my antivirus blocking something in itunes.

Reply

Answer 3

Loop3X

Level 1

4 points

Jan 3, 2014 10:30 AM in response to WickedOrange

Thank you!!!

Reply

Answer 4

maeltj

Level 1

0 points

Jan 17, 2014 2:07 PM in response to WickedOrange

Solved with this.

Thanks!!

Reply

Answer 5

Mar 15, 2014 8:02 AM in response to jakecool84

Even if this post helps, here is the official support thread. I guess is pretty new.

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4451?viewlocale=en_US

Reply

Answer 6

mjray1

Level 1

0 points

Jul 4, 2014 9:26 PM in response to jakecool84

Great post! Totally fixed my issue.

One tip...be sure to shut down and relaunch iTunes after editing the "hosts" file and before you attempt to restore your device.

Reply

Answer 7

Sep 9, 2014 10:42 AM in response to mjray1

The same on my iPhone! I was ****** off but this easy solution solved my problem!

Reply

Answer 8

Sep 17, 2014 9:22 PM in response to WickedOrange

thanks for this 🙂

Reply

Answer 9

jimcruz

Level 1

14 points

Oct 6, 2014 6:52 AM in response to jakecool84

Had the same problem for days, but couldn't find any apple files on the host file. I had to reset the host file. To do this go here Error 3194, Error 17, or "This device isn't eligible for the requested build". This is only for windows users.

Reply

Answer 10

Nov 27, 2014 3:36 PM in response to WickedOrange

thank you, you're the boss!

Reply

Answer 11

Jan 7, 2015 9:00 PM in response to jakecool84

OMG, it took me hours and hours to fix this by simply edit the hosts file! (what is the logic behind this? the hosts file was like more than a year old) Thank you and this saved me a trip to Apple store and get a new one. LOL...

Reply

Answer 12

GardZou

Level 1

0 points

Jan 29, 2015 11:31 AM in response to jakecool84

Hi All,

I'm with Win 7, and That was "Avast Antivirus" which block update.

Reply

Answer 13

imero1

Level 1

0 points

Oct 10, 2015 10:39 AM in response to mjray1

Thank you so much. 🙂

Reply

Answer 14

Jul 26, 2016 3:43 PM in response to jakecool84

Hey Jake, what is the name of the program where I can kick it out of the Recovery mode? Going crazy here with this problem since this is my second Iphone 5S to have this problem. If you can please let me know that'd be great. sj0721@hotmail.com. Thank you in advance!

Reply