can not sync photos with ios 11.3 and itunes 12.7.4

I did that and it got me further, but now I get stuck on "waiting for changes to be applied" .. I let it sit like that for 13 hours and nothing.

The only thing that works for me, and it's a REAL P.I.T.A .. is using iFunbox to delete a bunch of files from the photo data folder.. the sqlite databases, the stuff in the sync folders, and ithumb files .. you have to look for them .. then you reboot the phone.. after that, it syncs normally.. once.. then it's a problem again.

It ***** because I'm constantly adding photos to my albums since I do a lot of photography and like to keep them with me out of the camera roll .. I have about 17,407 images as of this post, all I did was add ONE new image and it's sitting here forever.. all I can see on my iPhone is that it created the album but hasn't copied the image..

To add to this..

I just had to do the ifunbox thing again..

I closed itunes, I closed the photos app ( I'm Windows by the way )

I went into the filesystem, the phonedata folder.. ( don't delete anything in Photodata/DCIM, that's your camera roll )

I deleted everything with sqlite in the filename.

I deleted everything in the sync folder aside from one file that stood out as a system file, I can't see it now sync I'm currently syncing all of my photos back.

I deleted all of the ithmb files from the thumbnails folders ( including v2 ) except anything that looked like system files, I deleted the album metadata files, the faces metadata files..

I then deleted the iphone photo cache on my computer, chose the option to sync my photos, chose my photos folder.. and viola! .. the process is working now..

It's a pain to have to repeat this process, this is the third time I've done it, there's not an exact step by step guide on how to do it, I'd like to be more exact in the process now but I'm a unix guy and I just kind of did it by instinct.. there's some even more vague guides on the net that pointed me to the right direction at least.

Oh, and if you want to save yourself some time as a windows user.. ( there's another command for mac users )

Opening up a command prompt and executing this ( path is different for 32 bit users )

"C:\Program Files\iTunes\iTunes.exe" /setPrefInt DeviceBackupsDisabled 1

This will disable the backup before sync thing.. it disables backups permanently until you change it back .. to change it back you simply change the 1 to a 0, make sure itunes is closed each time.. I personally made two batch files, enable backups, disable backups..

"C:\Program Files\iTunes\iTunes.exe" /setPrefInt DeviceBackupsDisabled 0

Hopefully this helps.. ifunbox is free, the method I use is no fun, but I've done it three times and I've gotten down to where I can clear out my photos quick and easy in 3-4 minutes and have it ready for sync. This wipes out ONLY your photos to stock..

Ps. If you have anything in your camera roll, don't sweat it.. it's still there even if it looks like it's gone.. all you need to do is take one picture with your camera app AFTER you're done syncing. It may crash the photos app, or you might have to reboot.. but it's still there, as long as you didn't delete contents from Photodata/DCIM

Thanks Philipp

your advice to downgrade to 12.7.3 has solved the immediate problem. I can now sync photos to my iphone once again.

For others with the same problem, I searched for itunes 12.7.3 and found a link to download it from webforpc

iTunes 12.7.3 - Download For Windows & Mac - WebForPC

Yes, like someone else has reported here, I violated my old rule of waiting a few weeks before installing these annoying updates. Figured it was no big deal -- just a minor step version update. Now I'll have to wait until iTunes 12.7.4 is fixed before I can see my photos on my iPhone. I refuse to go through the hassle of downgrading to 12.7.3, and possibly losing my music like others here have reported.

Seems like this is the second or third time in the last few years that something like this has happened. Aggravating to say the least.

Downgrading didn't even work for me.. I think it's also an issue with 11.3 .. it seems like some how the library gets corrupted, when I delete my images ( unchecking the sync photos button ) .. it LOOKS like my photos are deleted, but when I use ifunbox to browse the filesystem, they're all still there.. it just resets the photos database but keeps the files, and I'm pretty sure that's a bug.

I think this results in the sync issues because when I delete all of those files manually in the sync folder, the thumbnails folders.. etc... the sync works again.

But yeah.. downgrading to 12.7.3 didn't do anything to help me.

MAY HAVE FOUND A SOLUTION. I just got off the phone with my apple tech. I/We found that there were many "ipod photo cache" folders with various dates located at a number of places in my working drives C: (SSD) and E: (harddrive). After I erased all, I attempted to sync and the sync worked. So what you might try is to do searches for ipod phot cache files and see what you have. You could then delete and sync and see if that helps. The actual sync seems to take longer though than before. We just did a file with 2350 photos and it took 20 minutes. Both the apple rep and I are not satisfied with the performance but at least I now have photos back on my iPhone 8 plus.

I've already gone that route .. my itunes media library is actually on it's own SSD drive and the ONLY thing I sync is my photo library, there's no other iphone photo cache folders :/

In my case I have to delete that and delete files on my phone with ifunbox that do not get deleted by itunes when I uncheck "sync photos" .. only when I do both does it work.

It might work for others though.. hopefully

Deleted folders which deleted their content. Apple tech still does not know but is speculating the my Adobe photoshop elements may play a role. Backup this morning was 45 minutes (way too long). I am attempting to add a photo subfile containing 211 pictures now. IT IS TAKING A LONG TIME.

Both Windows and Mac users are reporting issues syncing photos with iTunes 12.7.4.x. Some have reported success deleting the iPod Photo Cache, but the reliable fix appears to be reverting to iTunes 12.7.3.46.

tt2

I am beginning to believe that. The apple tech that I am working with, however, has said that bad things can happen if one reverts. I broached the topic with him yesterday and he repeated that it was not approved by apple. It took me 40 minutes to backup and sync this morning. I have added 211 photos to see how long it will take to add them to my phone. It just ook 31 minutes. I now have 4079 photos back on my phone. I would like to get back to the 8000 that I usually have but......................................

After I did my method with ifunbox ( and downgrading as well to prevent it from happening again ) .. it took me about 10 or 15 minutes to sync the 27,000+ images I have..

30 minutes to sync 4,000 images seems extremely slow to me!

My iPad typically takes 10-15 minutes to sync around 1,000 photos for the first time (including conversion). Subsequent syncs from cached images are faster but it still takes over an hour to restore all of my images after a factory reset.

Of course those times were using fully functional versions of iTunes and iOS. For over a year now iTunes has been plagued by a sync problem so would run the normal sync process but only around 300 photos at a time are actually transferred so for large numbers of photos, it takes forever. So while downgrading from 12.7.4 to 12.7.3 allows it to sync, the process is still painfully slow with the constant restart required due to this longstanding issue...

See the thread:

The ipad cannot be synced. An internal device error occurred.

Warning: the last sync attempt locked up the iPad Mini 4 with a black screen and spinning wheel!

It finally rebooted after about 5 minutes.

It is seriously flaky but I'll try to finish the photo sync.

This work-around isn't going to work. The photos finished syncing but the iPad is unstable after the sync is done, like it's low on memory. There may be a memory leak from the photo sync process. Have to keep rebooting it.

Guess I'll have to turn off photo sync until Apple fixes this for good.

Hi, I have the same issue after itunes upgrade (12.7.4) & IOS 11.3. However, I would like to highlight that it is not forzen at "Reading photos from pictures". It will advance to "Preparing t copy items". Just that it takes longer than usual to advance to that stage. As a guide: I have 15,000 photos in various folders in my Windows 10 computer. It took me 72 hours to advance to prep to copying items!!!!! Yes, if you wait long enough, it will sync. However, I don't think t should tak that Long! if you combine ALL photos into a SINGLE folder, the process is shorter. I have reported this to APPLE technician (Furqan), yet to hear form him.