iTunes stuck on "Reading photos from Pictures"

Hey, I know that this is something you have probably thought of but it seems to me that, given your particular symptoms, you may want to swap your lightning cable out. I know, I know...but I ran into some similar problems and did exactly what you did (as you described) and more, to no avail. Then someone said to swap out my cable. Even though I thought I had a good cable, it wasn't. For some reason, swapping out my cable with a certified apple 3' lightning cable (I was using a 10 footer...it did everything I needed it to do...except to sync my **** photos after updating).

Anyway, what fixed MY situation was this:

1. Ran iTunes as an administrator. (if you don't know how to do this - right click on the shortcut, not the application and click the 'properties' tab. Then click tab for comparability. Most of the way down the page you can check a box next to "Run Program as Administrator", then click 'apply' and you are done. You can also just right click the shortcut and in the drop down is a line you can click that says, "Run as Administrator" but that is a one time gig, the other way modifies that start parameters until you go back and change them, or an update does it for you, Grrr)

2. Got my 3 foot Apple Original Lightening Cable out and used it in a USB 2.0 port. (Don't know if this matters, but it was an easy change, and maybe later I will see if USB 3.0 works...to tell you the truth, it shouldn't matter...)

Thats it in a nutshell. Afterwards, my entire photo tree sync'd up lickity-split! (23K photos..I am a Photographer too...)

The method I used was this from ErgoEdbo in the thread can not sync photos with ios 11.3 and itunes 12.7.4

I did this on 6 April and have since had all my photos and albums synching okay to iPhone 7 plus, iPad Pro and iPhone 6 plus. The stage where photos are read does take a long time (as it is re-adding all your photos) and will do so each time you synch so don't synch if you are waiting to go out.

A. Performed a sync on both devices, unchecking the box in iTunes stating to “Sync all photos & subfolders, agreeing with the message “this action will remove all existing photos” on both devices.

B. After unplugging each device from the PC, I then performed a hard reboot on both of them.

C. Next, I completely deleted the iPod photo cache folder in each of my PCs two target photo syncing folders. I closed down the iTunes program, but did not restart the PC.

D. I restarted iTunes, and performed syncs on both devices now re-checking the box asking to sync all photos and sub folders. This action took quite a bit of time (as in setting up a new device for the first time), but successfully DID sync all my photos and sub folders to both devices. This also action created a new iPod Photo Cache folder in each target directory.

Dear all,

it seems that I have found a workaround how to fix photo sync in windows.

Currently I have iOS 11.4.1 | Windows 10 1803 x64 | iTunes 12.8.0.150 x64 and since months photo sync has not worked. I got the synced folders on my phone but those were empty.

I have changed / adjusted following on windows and now all my photos were synced completely!!

Editing Thumbnail View in Windows Explorer

In Windows Explorer Options remove the checkbox "Always show icons, never thumbnails"

Source: https://www.thewindowsclub.com/thumbnail-previews-not-showing-windows

2.) Using NOT the default new "Photo-App" in Windows 10. Instead use the "old" one Windows Photo Viewer.

Here is the link how to: https://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-get-windows-photo-viewer-back-in-windows-10/

Also I have assigned this to my default viewer for jpg, png and other graphic files.

3.) Change visual effects / thumbnails on windows

Control Panel --> System --> Advanced --> Visual Effects --> ACTIVATE "Show Thumbnails instead of icons"

Source: https://www.thewindowsclub.com/thumbnail-previews-not-showing-windows

4.) Open every photos folder --> View large Icons

I opened every folder with photos inside (those which were expexted to sync) and changed the view to large icons. With this every photo thumbnail has been created.

5.) After the above steps I started a sync in iTunes again and finally all photos were synced completely!!

So it seems that itunes needs windows thumbnails for syncing all photos!

Finally, after moths!!, I got photos on my iPhone again. Hope this helps someone else!

Regards

Wilhelm

I closed iTunes, had to find the hidden folder "iPod Photo Cache" and delete it. It made me have to resync photos again, but it worked for me! 😅

This is the real fix... I went to the folder that I am syncing from (not "My Pictures") and deleted the "Ipod Cache Folder". Restarted the sync and it completed successfully. THANK YOU!!!

I went to my "Pictures" folder on my Windows computer and deleted the "iPod Photo Cache" folder and then re-started the sync process in iTunes. It appears to be successful at this point. If I discover further issues, I'll simply give Apple a call. Good luck, mate.

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

The new version of iTunes is the problem on a PC. iTunes seems to be reading every single photo every time you decide to sync.

Here's the fix that worked for me.

1) Uninstall iTunes current iTunes version.

2) Download iTunes 12.7.3 from (e.g.) https://www.itechtics.com/download-itunes-12-7-3/

3) Do not update.

4) Sync.

regards,

scheindk

This is correct. Removing the cache folder and doing a sync can get the photos back on your phone, but your next sync won't work. It is a bug in iTunes 12.7.4, not iOS 11.3.1 because the problem was there before I updated to iOS 11.3.1. Only solution appears to be going back to iTunes 12.7.3. Uninstall 12.7.4, download and install 12.7.3.46, delete or rename the current iTunes Library.itl, bring back an older iTunes Library.itl that worked for 12.7.3, then launch iTunes, sync, etc. After that, you can sync your photos normally. Worked for me. Just stay away from any iTunes updates until the bug is fixed.

Had the same issue, here's the fix!!

Cancel the sync, keep everything plugged in and itunes on etc, then go to your 'Pictures' folder and delete the 'Ipod Photo Cache' folder, then go back in iTunes and sync, should work fine. Really annoying that you need to do this every time!!

I originally sorted my situation out by deleting the iPod Photo Cache directory (in the pictures folder you're syncing from) and then syncing. I had intended not to sync again until a new version of iTunes or IOS was released but forgot and plugged my iPad into my computer to charge. It actually did sync OK but took a lot longer than I am used to. I actually plugged it in before going to bed, got up in the morning and all was well. So, in my case at least, it appears to be working (even though it looks like it is stuck on "Reading photos from Pictures"), it just takes a lot longer than it used to - hours instead of minutes. (I'm syncing close to 7,000 photos.) I've just plugged it in to sync again and will post again to let you know how long it takes.

I found the solution to this as I had the same issues with Itunes 12.7.4. The solution was I removed Itunes 12.7.4 as well as Icloud and also renamed the iTunes Library.itl to iTunes Library.bak in the Music Folder.

Afterwards I had a version of Itunes 12.6.3 that I had downloaded a while ago. So I reinstalled after rebooting the PC and then Starting to resync my pictures and then the 22,000 Pictures I had resynced with no issues within 3 hours time.

FYI I have IOS version 11.3.1 that I am using as well. As a result I will keep this version of Itunes 12.6.3 on one computer and use another computer for just updates for Itunes that way I always have a version that will sync my photos and create albums.

How long does it take you to decide that the process is stuck on "reading iPhone pictures"? There are several posts showing the current situation with iOS 11.3.1 and iTunes 12.7.4.80 can take of the order of 1 hour per thousand photos from the hard drive. It will take much longer from a network drive. If your experience is like others maybe you're deciding the process is stuck when really you're looking at a very slow process.

Agreed it's far too slow, but try launching a sync after deleting the iPod Photo Cache directory that will be under the directory where you have your photos stored then waiting 24 hours with iTunes process running at say 70% CPU usage. I believe the sync will work. Far too slow to be useful, but it's not an actual freeze as many have reported.

Cheers

Ian Burton

If you delete the iPod Photo Cache directory from the photos directory and uncheck all your pictures in iTunes, it should sync and delete all the photos from your iDevice. If you then delete iPod Photo Cache directory again (if it's there), select all your photos in iTunes and sync again, your iDevice should sync normally. In my experience, subsequent syncs will again appear to hang on reading your photos although, if you leave them will eventually complete syncing - though with 22,000 photos it might take a day or more to complete! (FYI, I've noticed that, when iTunes begins to sync photos, it deletes the albums. Once it has completed syncing photos it will recreate them. Therefore, if you interrupt the sync, you will still have the photos on your device but not the albums.)

The method I used, after deleting iPod photo cache and un-synching photos from my phone I then disconnected the phone and re-booted it before re-synching photos to it. Since then, although slow, synching photos has worked.

If you have the patience, try again but doing a full re-boot of the device before re-synching and I hope it works for you.