Could not back up because an error occurred

If you can't make an iTunes backup of your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support

64bit Windows 7 w/ iPhone 5 iOS 9.0.1

I received my new iPhone 6s today and wanted a current back up from my old phone to restore my new one from.

I have this same issue trying to back up to my computer. Doesn't matter whether it's during sync or manual backup I get the same error.

I restarted my iPhone and got same error.

I force restarted (power+home button until apple comes up) and tried again but got same error.

I went through the steps to uninstall iTunes, emptied trash, restarted computer, and reinstalled iTunes but get same error.

I deleted my last (and only) saved backup and got same error.

I paused my virus protection and tried again and got same error.

I renamed my iPhone and got same error.

I went through all the steps in HT203271 and got same error multiple times.

I tried to create a backup on my iCloud (I normally don't) but it times out. - Internet works fine. I'm online typing this...

I've searched other websites looking for a fix but am finding nothing!

This is my fix, for iPhone 6 iOS 8.4 2015

My problem was caused by a dummy app, I removed it through iPhone's SETTING, GENERAL, USAGE, MANAGE USAGE.

Look for empty app name or blank icon. Remove the app.

Try to backup again, if fail again, check for the LOG of your iTunes.

For Windows, go to

a) C:\Users\XXXXXX\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\Logs

b) Open the log, and see what's the problem. For my case there problem was

[11132 @ Fri Oct 09 21:27:23 2015] [com.apple.console AppleMobileBackup.exe] ERROR: Backup message response: 101 Unable to open domain directory: No such file or directory (2) at path "/var/mobile/Containers/Shared/AppGroup/8E726549-3ED1-4171-818A-12B66843C156" (MBErrorDomain/101)

c) For my case, this App " 8E726549-3ED1-4171-818A-12B66843C156 " caused the problem. So I just browse into my iPhone's directory using iExplorer, and create a folder with the same name. Note: My iPhone is jailbroken.

Then I manage to backup my phone.

Note: If you see similar error message, thats mean it's caused by an APP. Just try to delete more app and try to backup again.

Good Luck!

I was trying to back up old phone (iPhone 5) so I could restore from backup onto my new phone (iPhone 6s). I could not get the iPhone 5 to back up-it kept giving that error. I tried the following:

• power cycling phone
• hard resetting phone
• renamed the phone
• uninstalled iTunes per Remove and Reinstall iTunes and other software components from Windows XP - Apple Support including emptying recycle bin and restarting computer before downloading it again.
• followed every step in If you can't make an iTunes backup of your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support following them exactly as written.
• deleted old backup file (which, on after thought, I wish I hadn't because I may have been able to restore to that and saved some aggravation)

I contacted Apple Support and created a case with them. After explaining all my steps I was promptly sent to a supervisor (I forget what they call them) who logged everything I did and got the okay to send it up to the Engineers. They asked for all sorts of log files to be sent to them and they would get back to me.

This is how I resolved the issue with my situation;

• I backed up my iPhone 5 to iCloud iCloud: iCloud storage and backup overview
• I selected to restore from iCloud backup on my iPhone 6s
• After restoring from iCloud backup I sync'd my iPhone 6s to my computer
• I restored my iPhone 5 from the new backup made on my computer from my iPhone 6s

After doing all of this I was able to create a backup from my iPhone 5 with no error message.

I know this is all a bit of a pain, but I wanted my iPhone 5 to be available as a backup phone in case (God forbid) something happened and I or a family member needed a backup phone. I guess I could have restored my iPhone 5 from a backup of my iPod or iPad once I'd successfully created an iCloud backup, but I didn't think of that until after I'd already gotten it to work again. After I got it to work again I was contacted back by Apple Support to let me know that the Engineers wanted some more logs. After I told him I was able to get it to work, and how I got it to work, he said never mind about the logs and closed the case file. I really have to wonder if the logs would have helped the Engineers come up with a solution for others so the next person wasn't floundering around like I had to.

The dummy app solution worked for me. Thank you.

had similar issue with backing up ipod. it was something in the photo file. spent 2 hrs on phone with apple support who showed me the logs but got nowhere. knew it was something related to the file but couldn't figure out how to find the pathway until i found your solution with iexplorer. once i used that and found the file path i deleted the corrupt file and backup was fine. how come my apple super tech couldn't figure this out? thanks for this solution!

I have this problem with my iPad. Restarting, updating, connecting the USB directly all failed to help. Also, no dummy apps.

As suggested by this article ...

If you can't make an iTunes backup of your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support

... I deleted the files in my lockdown folder but the problem still occurs. I think I've tried all the ideas here, can anyone think of anything I've missed which might help?

Thanks

i was having an issue trying to backup an ipod to itunes on a pc. i don't know what the steps are for a mac but i had to look on my os drive and find a folder called users then one with my name. inside that 1 called appdata>roaming>apple computer>logs. what you're trying to find is the error log that is made when the backup fails in itunes. this was my error:ERROR: Backup message response: 100 open_dprotected_np error: Operation not permitted (1) at path "/var/mobile/Media/PhotoData/MISC/.dat0f10.000" (MBErrorDomain/100). it had something to do with the photos but even though i deleted the photos it still kept happening. I downloaded iexplorer to my computer like boracaytime suggested then plugged in my ipod then looked in the photos/media file and erased the dat0f10.000 file. after that my backup worked.

Thank you for your suggestion and I'm sorry it took so long to try but I've been away ...

Unfortunately I couldn't find any files on my mac equivalent to those you named so it looks like it's organised totally differently. I'm very grateful that you took the time to suggest it though, thank you 🙂

I got the same message as pweester above but for my iPad 3. I tried the steps provided by Apple Support and posted by Linc Davis to no avail. I performed the steps listed by Boracaytime and got the following response "ERROR: Backup message response:100 open_protected_np error: Operation not permitted (1) at path "/var/mobile/Library/SpringBoard/ApplicationShortcuts/ .dat.nosysnc002f.yLYvt8" ((MBErrorDomain/100)"

Any assistance would be appreciated. I spent about 20 minutes on the line with Apple support (no help) and waited 3 hours today at a local AppleStore before i got fed up and left. They finally gave me a text that they were ready to help me an hour later.