Cannot See iPhone in File Explorer

Cr00zng said:

Maybe your system missing the Apple Mobile Device driver?

Well, it's definitely missing something. Thanks for the response and images.

My driver looks the same.


But nothing appears in File Explorer. I'll think about this some more and get back to you guys later. I really appreciate the replies.

RickC said:

Sorry but it's not 'USB drivers' and it's not 'iOS access'. Your 'Device Manager' is showing you quite clearly (in post #3) that Windows needs a 'PTP Mode' driver loaded.

When you plug your iPhone in, do you not see the following 'Notification'?

Attachment 215574

If not then you need to look at Windows' Notifications & actions for AutoPlay (Settings > Systems > Notifications & actions > Get notifications from these senders > AutoPlay) to ensure AutoPlay notifications haven't been switched off.

I didn't know about the "PTP driver", nor do I have it on my system, but thanks for the info...

When I plug in my iPhone to my Windows system, there's no notification, visual and/or sound. This might be due to disabling "AutoPlay":



The iPhone shows up in Windows Explorer, like any other removable device does:



Nor does it need to be ejected, like other USB storage devices require, just unplug the charging cable.

I prefer to use my Mac Book Pro for managing the photos, but occasionally, I do need some images from the iPhone for my Windows system.

OH YEAH! Got it. Windows Media Feature Pack version 1803. Installed it, rebooted, and afterwards the iPhone showed up in File Explorer! Had to "trust" the PC again, but then was able to export photos.



I had a vague memory of installing a Microsoft patch to get this to work after the last Windows reinstall years ago, and did some searching around. No idea why others don't seem to have to install anything to get this working. (Because I have an "N" version of Windows?) I don't even know what the Media pack does, other than solve my problem. Thanks very much for all the advice!!

Cr00zng said:

When I plug in my iPhone to my Windows system, there's no notification, visual and/or sound. This might be due to disabling "AutoPlay"

The 'Device Connect/Disconnect/Failed to Connect' sounds are all linked to hardware enumeration by Device Manager whilst the sound for Notifications is controlled by actions, e.g. AutoPlay. You can see/test/hear the different sounds using Settings > System > Sound > Sound control panel. The 'Windows Default' sound scheme has all 4 different sounds enabled.

I've never worked out why Device Manager displays are often so inconsistent. For example, using Win 10 Pro 1803 x64 on a Dell Latitude E7450 laptop without iTunes installed, if I plug my iPhone 6s in I hear the Device Connect sound and - like you - see it appear in Device Manager under Portable Devices... but have never seen a Universal Serial Bus devices category appear like in your first screenshot in post #20.

Furthermore, my iPhone shows up - like yours - in File Explorer as a removable device but when I right-click and choose Import pictures and videos:


...then I get the following notification... even when my iPhone is laden with photos and videos:


I believe this is because MS apparently only includes native MTP mass storage drivers, not PTP. If you right-click on Apple iPhone under Portable Devices in Device Manager and choose Properties then the Driver tab, the Driver File Details shows only MTP (Media Transfer Protocol) libraries, not PTP (Picture Transfer Protocol):


Hope this helps...

rexnewman said:

OH YEAH! Got it. Windows Media Feature Pack version 1803. Installed it, rebooted, and afterwards the iPhone showed up in File Explorer! Had to "trust" the PC again, but then was able to export photos.

I had a vague memory of installing a Microsoft patch to get this to work after the last Windows reinstall years ago, and did some searching around. No idea why others don't seem to have to install anything to get this working. (Because I have an "N" version of Windows?) I don't even know what the Media pack does, other than solve my problem. Thanks very much for all the advice!!

I should've known this, since my system has the "N" version of Windows as well and seem to recall that you mentioned Japan time zone.

Just keep in mind, if your system is updated to Windows 10 1809, it'll remove the currently installed Media Feature Pack for 1803. You'll need to download the updated version here:

Download Windows 10 Media Feature Pack

RickC said:

Furthermore, my iPhone shows up - like yours - in File Explorer as a removable device but when I right-click and choose Import pictures and videos:


...then I get the following notification... even when my iPhone is laden with photos and videos:


I believe this is because MS apparently only includes native MTP mass storage drivers, not PTP. If you right-click on Apple iPhone under Portable Devices in Device Manager and choose Properties then the Driver tab, the Driver File Details shows only MTP (Media Transfer Protocol) libraries, not PTP (Picture Transfer Protocol):


Hope this helps...

It does help, thanks, I've learned about importing pictures and videos instead of using copy/paste.

While my system does not have the "PTP" driver, just the "MTP", it does allow importing pictures and videos. There's no error message like on yours. It must be working, since it finds duplicate file names for images that had been copy/pasted previously from the iPhone:



Maybe this is just for Windows 10 "N" version, I don't know. It's been a good learning experience and again, thanks for the detailed explanation...

One more note: I did see "No pictures or videos were found on this device" after installing KB4057437, but only until accepting "Yes, I trust this computer" (again) on the phone.

rexnewman said:

One more note: I did see "No pictures or videos were found on this device" after installing KB4057437, but only until accepting "Yes, I trust this computer" (again) on the phone.

I think that's interesting because I saw the message even though I had 'trusted' the computer and made no further changes. It's like the relationship between iOS devices and Windows is consistently inconsistent.

I was getting the "No pictures or videos were found on this device" error too. If I chose to import photos and videos automatically from the device when plugged in, it would say it was having trouble connecting and offer a retry dialog. This is Windows 10 and a iPhone XS on iOS 13.2.3. After unplugging and plugging back in again several times, and letting windows search for new drivers without finding any, I switched to an Incipio cord to see if that helped. Same result. But then I tried opening iTunes to verify it could see my phone. It could see it ok. I then closed iTunes and went back and tried importing photos again and this time it worked. I don't know if opening iTunes did it or if I just needed to wait longer.

In the past with my previous 6s, I had a lot of trouble getting the import utility to recognize the photos. It would run but get stuck before finding files to import. I would just have to keep trying until it worked properly.