How to use iPhone USB tethering / Personal Hotspot without iTunes

Question

How to use iPhone USB tethering / Personal Hotspot without iTunes

I have a corporate laptop so didn't want to install the whole of iTunes to enable USB tethering / Personal Hotspot.

Here's how you can enable USB tethering / Personal Hotspot without installing iTunes.

1. Download iTunes from https://www.apple.com/itunes/download/

2. Extract the contents of the downloaded file using winRAR or 7zip. In particular you want the following files:

For 32 bit systems:
- AppleApplicationSupport.msi
- AppleMobileDeviceSupport.msi

For 64 bit systems:

- AppleApplicationSupport64.msi
- AppleMobileDeviceSupport6464.msi

Note: If you don't have either winRAR or 7zip you can do the following instead:
Start the iTunes installation, then on reaching the first screen, the required files will be extracted to your machine, perform a search for one of the files above on your C drive whilst the iTunes installation window is open, it should find them in a temp folder somewhere, you can then copy and paste them somewhere and close the iTunes installation.

3. Before continuing, ensure your iphone is not connected to the computer. Then, install AppleApplicationSupport.msi (or AppleApplicationSupport64.msi for 64 bit machine)
4. Install AppleMobileDeviceSupport.msi (or AppleMobileDevice6464.msi)

5. Restart your computer

6. After your computer has restarted, enable Personal Hotspot on your iPhone (select USB only option) and plug in your iPhone using the USB cable. Some device drivers will install and then your computer should automatically connect to the iPhone internet connection.

iPhone 6, iOS 8.1.3

Posted on Feb 13, 2015 4:14 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

bytmee

Level 1

4 points

May 28, 2015 1:41 AM in response to Community User

Excellent advice this

To help with finding those extracted files, on a PC try this

Type....

%temp%

In a Run box (Start, Run or Win+R) or in the search box in the Start menu or type it at the top of an Explorer window (File Explorer, not Internet)

Press Enter

This should take you straight to your Temp directory whatever Windows you're running

Here you can delete everything safely BEFORE running the installer

Once that directory is relatively clear, run the installer and you'll see a new directory (which should have the current date/time)

Here you'll find the files as per the OP's instructions, just remember to leave the first screen of the installer alone and once you've installed the two MSI's, cancel the installer

I found this method particularly useful on older computers that don't need the bloat of iTunes

Great for using on desktops that don't have wireless (no hotspot access)

Cheers

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