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Rivergoat Author

Level 1

11 points

iCloud and Windows 10 compatibility issue

I just spent a few hours troubleshooting a 48 hour old install of Windows 10 onto an HP Probook 6470b. Long story short, even though everything had been fine, today upon boot I noticed iCloud Photos reported a pop-up stating it did not have permissions to access. After that, the Windows desktop and system tray kept refreshing every 2-3 seconds, and I had no control over the Start Menu button on Windows (nothing would happen even if the flashing stopped); and once the flashing did stop (though no idea why it stopped) I also could not launch the IE replacement "Edge," as it errored with an inability to register.

Running Windows sfc did not help.

From Task Manager, turning off iCloud caused the flashing to cease.

I also found if I turned off Wi-Fi and rebooted, the system would boot without the desktop refreshing, but as soon as I enabled Wi-Fi it began to flash again.

A repair of iCloud was of no use.

REMOVAL of iCloud cleared the issue; I am on the laptop now, with no noticeable problems.

iCloud was version 4.1.1.53. I cannot determine what the current version is, so I am not going to bother with it, but it appears, at least in my case, that iCloud's version is not compatible with Windows 10.

iPhone 6, Other OS, Verizon iPhone 6

Posted on Aug 2, 2015 1:02 PM

57 replies

Lygil

Level 1

0 points

Aug 15, 2015 1:17 AM in response to JoeMBuck

The download link clearly states that iCloud is not supported in windows 10.

JoeMBuck

Level 1

9 points

Aug 15, 2015 2:09 AM in response to Lygil

"The download link clearly states that iCloud is not supported in windows 10"

That isn't the point. No one reads this before they find the problem.

At this stage no-one said 'I want to to run icloud, what operating system should I use?' or even 'i wonder if I can install icloud on my W10 PC?', and no one manually checked a hundred programs for compatibility before upgrading. Instead people got the Windows 10 upgrade pushed at them through 'nagware' the compatibility checker reports no issue, they let the upgrade happen and then find that things don't work. I think that if MS are going to push the upgrade like this the checking software has got to be MUCH more rigorous in terms of reporting what won't work.

I've been running W10 previews on another PC for about a year now, and I've seen all the issues gradually get resolved. I'm a bit surprised that there are still so many program incompatibilities left. This is far from the only issue.

From Apples point of view they have had a year to sort out compatibility issues, There is no excuse for not having done it by now. I fully understand the issues, I'm aware of specialist systems stillbeing SOLD that need to run on XP, but this is not specialist, its mass market software being used by many millions of people, It should be supported better.

Rivergoat Author

Level 1

11 points

Aug 15, 2015 6:23 AM in response to JoeMBuck

Yes, JoeMBuck is right on target. When we are pushed the "get Windows 10" notification, and the opportunity to reserve the upgrade, and the fact that the entire OS is free to most, we bite. A compatibility tool scans and reports on any issues. It's only as good as the programmers themselves, I would think. I ran the scan, found no issues. I have only upgraded my laptop (after a massive back-up first!); I will wait before touching my Win7 Pro/64-bit desktop.

This thread touches on the one main issue I have had, although Joe indicates there are other things. I know from experience that no OS change is a light undertaking, though Win10 has not been too bad in my case. Microsoft responded to me (or one of their off-shore support centers) stating that iCloud is compatible. Then we clearly see on Apple's site that it does not support Win10. It may work, it may not; I would think the definition is more of a "it has not been fully tested with Win 10." Of course, we see it does not appear Win 10 is truly compatible with it. I will wait for the iCloud upgrade.

Microsoft's cloud feature, OneDrive, has also shown a major problem. It appears as the source of the permissions issue. By disabling it my problems ceased (and I don't know why MS felt they had to change the way to disable a program from msconfig to doing it in the Task Manager; not a big deal, but learning new quirks of an OS is always a pain. I guess the masses might not play with msconfig, and heaven forbid they touch the Registry!)

So many take the upgrade, and probably equally many do not take the precaution of a full backup. I have read a lot of horror stories already. As I say, I have none of that caliber. I'd rate the whole thing on an 8 out of 10. But many of us are tech savvy; I work in IT myself, so this is not voodoo; black magic, yes, but not insurmountable.

It will be interesting how soon MS gets more patches out to deal with the real issues, and naturally, how long before we see SP1 released.

KatLuver

Level 1

0 points

Aug 15, 2015 6:32 AM in response to Rivergoat

Seriously, I don't see this as an iCloud issue at all... it works fine. It's Win10 that has the issue -- and it's all about permissions. They've gone overboard on trying to "protect" the users by restricting permissions on our own photos, documents, etc. Even changing your account to an "Admin" account in Win10 does not give you permission to your own documents. That's ridiculous! MS needs to send the patch to give us rights back to our own documents. Either that, or we hack a fix ourselves.

Rivergoat Author

Level 1

11 points

Aug 15, 2015 6:58 AM in response to KatLuver

Well, as I said at the start, for me iCloud was an issue, even if it was Win10 interfering with it. At boot and log onto the desktop I briefly noticed iCloud giving a warning it was not able to gain permission to its pictures folder, and then the desktop began refreshing every 2 seconds or so, along with an inactive Start Menu button (and if I ever did get in, Edge browser errored with inability to register itself). Disabling/removing iCloud solved all of that, so yes, I think there was a compatibility issue in my case. Many others are experiencing issues with Win10 and iCloud, so which ever one is the true culprit is kind of moot, it just doesn't play nice all the time.

"Wait! I was gonna make espresso!"

Rick_LA

Level 1

0 points

Aug 16, 2015 1:35 PM in response to Rivergoat

I had the same problem as related in previous posts starting yesterday, on both my Dell desktop and Dell Laptop. I had "upgraded" both to W10 the previous day, and started getting error messages right away..

It took me a number of hours to determine that the likely problem was running icloud for Windows.

For both, after a number of hours, I think that I have found the solution.

1. unplug the modem and/or disconnect Wi-fi.

2. restart the computer

3. uninstall icloud for windows

4. Go to your pictures/icloud/my photo steam folder and change all of the security permissions to full access.

5. Reload icloud for Windows.

6. Log into icloud for Windows.

7. Check that the icloud pictures are set to your Pictures/icloud/my photo stream folder.

This solution seems to have worked for bot the desktop and laptop.

Aug 18, 2015 11:22 AM in response to Buck115

Thank you Buck115. I was about to uninstall iCloud or at least uncheck the photo option, then I ran across this thread and saw your comment. My permissions weren't correct, either. Once I allowed full permission on my account and rebooted my computer, iCloud Photos started up just fine. Keeping my fingers crossed this will continue to work, otherwise I will be uninstalling it. Thanks for the help! 🙂

Aug 19, 2015 10:06 AM in response to Rivergoat

Before I downloaded Windows 10 I started putting all my photos & videos from my pc in to my icloud so I can see them on all my devices. This was working fine, but after I downloaded Windows 10 my videos will not download, I keep getting a message coming up saying it has to be a jpeg. Videos are not in jpeg format. I can't understand why it was working fine before but not now. It's very frustrating as I have a lot of videos on my pc I would like in my icloud. All new videos I record on my iphone download ok but not older ones.

Any ideas please?? I have exhausted all my time looking for a solution online.

prin0096

Level 1

0 points

Sep 15, 2015 12:43 AM in response to debbsiedo

Hi All.

Disabling the iCloud ContextMenuHandle class shell extension solves the problem on my computer.

Please download and run Shexview from Nirsoft and disable this context type extension.

Success,

Rob

Fidell_x

Level 1

0 points

Oct 21, 2015 5:47 AM in response to Rivergoat

no news on the icloud-windows10 front???

apple still saying, this two are not compatible!

I´m stuck with my new Win10 installations and can´t use icloud syncronizing calenders of our family, heck!

rwidmark

Level 1

10 points

Oct 30, 2015 7:46 AM in response to Rivergoat

I installed iCloud 5.0 for Windows on a Win 10 x64 PC. I had not been using iCloud for awhile since prior versions were so buggy and problematic.

iC 5 installed fine, and then pushed a dialogue that if I wanted to use iC with Outlook (I am using latest version of Outlook/2016), I would need to go to Programs and Features, select iC 5, and Repair the installation.

Odd, but OK. I did it, restarted, and the dialogue returned next boot up. Repaired again, restarted, same story. I just uninstalled it and wiped my hands of it again for probably at least a year.

Its really a shame Apple has struggled for so long with its cloud offerings, PC or otherwise. I assume they will finally fix this. But I am so wary after years of wasted energy and bugs, that it won't matter for me. By then I will be fully invested in somebody elses cloud, and won't want to switch to Apple, or trust that it would keep working for the long haul.

Nov 24, 2015 6:57 PM in response to rwidmark

Apple has become Windows over the last couple years. Lost it's edge, lots of problems and no one cares.

Having the same problem...upgraded to W10 and now no ICloud. Suxs...

iCloud and Windows 10 compatibility issue