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Why can't I just drag and click photos from Windows Explorer anymore? I used to plug in my phone, see my photos in Windows Explorer (under my iPhone folder), and drag and drop over to my computer/external hard drive. Now the photos do not appear. What changed? This is on multiple PCs running different versions of Windows (7-10). Iphone 6s is updated.
iPhone 6s, iOS 10.0.3, null
I found the solution from madrivergirl was the one that worked for me. The folder will be in the My Pictures>Camera Roll folder if you're using a PC. Copying any random pic file to that folder suddenly let me start viewing my Camera Roll. Several other solutions I found might be helpful to other people with this issue.
One potential solution that worked for me temporarily is to go on your iPhone in Settings>General>Reset and click Reset Location & Privacy. This will of course cause you to be prompted to confirm permissions in almost all your iOS apps again. But it also seems to solve the problem.
Of course powering off and on your phone and your computer can also help.
Another less likely possibility is that the computer does not have the Apple Mobile Support program installed or it needs resetting. Restart the Apple Mobile Device Service (AMDS) on Windows - Apple Support This utility is automatically installed with iTunes.
My solution is to connect the iPhone in an open state and with iTunes closed. Windows Explorer then shows the iPhone and Windows Photos will now import as it recognises the device. I think this is a bug/security feature in a recent version of iTunes it used to be OK a few months ago. If iTunes is already running from a previous Sync then my iPhone is only visible to iTunes, also the same if my iPhone is not open. This is weird and annoying, but not as bad as some solutions where people switch between driver software for Syncing and importing photos.
And to follow up on this.. I just tried it again and it would only work if I took the photo out of the "Camera Roll' photo, then copied it back into that same folder, then disconnect and reconnect my iphone. Then the iphone appears in my File Explorer list. Whew! Why has Apple made this such a problem?
Don't blame Apple it's probably Microsoft's fault! These kind of issues are sad as I cannot afford a Macbook
If you don't like old technology you shouldn't use copy and paste.
If you're using iCloud photo library and optimize storage, then this is expected behavior. You'll need to download iCloud for Windows to download your photos from iCloud to your windows PC.
Just wanted to note, you didn't find a workaround, that's the way it's supposed to be done according to Microsoft.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/17449/windows-7-import-pictures
Thanks. It did work imediately in windows 10. I just copied one photo to the folder you mentioned and the photos in my iphone are now displayed in windows explorer.
This worked for me. Thank you! 🙂
Martinccall's solution above worked for me. Connect the iPhone in an open state and with iTunes closed.
I wasn't really confident about the solution suggested by madrivergirl above , but I tried and, incredible, it works! It seems to be more a Microsoft issue in this case! Thanks a lot!
Not if you can't see the files. And that's the issue here.
Do you use iCloud photo library and optimize storage?
iTunes is almost irrelevant for importing photos anyhow, but you should still keep it up to date as it includes some drivers that help communication between Windows and iOS.
Yes, this is the only thing that worked for me! ( I tried the thing suggested before about adding a photo to camera roll but my PC doesn't have a folder named "Camera Roll.")
Awesome. This worked for me! Thanks very much for this post @madrivergirl.
Cannot see photos in Iphone folder in Windows Explorer
