iPhone shown as Unspecified in Devices and Printers

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  1. Posts : 2,450
    Windows 10 Pro x64
       #1

    iPhone shown as Unspecified in Devices and Printers


    I have a problem with my iPhone 5s/iOS 9.2.1 in Windows 10 Pro x64 Build 10586.71, as shown in the pictures:

    Although everything works OK, i.e.
    • iTunes v.12.3.2.35 recognizes it, backs it up and syncs it
    • I can see its content from Windows Explorer
    • and in Device Manager has the latest drivers for both Apple iPhone & Apple Mobile Device USB Driver

    the iPhone is shown in “Devices and Printers” under Unspecified Devices.

    iPhone shown as Unspecified in Devices and Printers-devicesandprinters.png
    iPhone shown as Unspecified in Devices and Printers-thispc.png
    Is there any way to fix that?

    Any suggestion is welcomed... except from in-place-upgrade - that goes to my dear friend Shawn Brink, he knows why! :)

    Dimitri
    Last edited by ddelo; 05 Feb 2016 at 14:06.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 50
    Windows 10 Pro X64
       #2

    iPhone Shows as Unspecified Devices


    Hi Dimitri,

    Not sure if this is a help but my iPhone 6/iOS 9.2.1 shows in 'Devices & Printers' as well as 'This PC' identically to your 2 screenshots.....perhaps that is intentional?

    I guess this jars on you (it does with me). I would like to see it suitably listed as say 'Portable Devices' or 'Mobile Devices' and displayed with appropriate custom icons:)

    If it transpires that this is correct, perhaps the forum Gurus could suggest how we might customise Windows 10 to display them in a more 'visibly appealing' format......

    Any thoughts guys???

    PC Pilot
    Last edited by Brink; 05 Feb 2016 at 14:11. Reason: removed quote
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 2,450
    Windows 10 Pro x64
    Thread Starter
       #3

    Hi PC Pilot,
    Since none of the forum gurus (and I've seen quite a few of them, in here) hasn't replied yet.... then the problem is more difficult and complicated than just a Win 10 customization.
    We'll see. If you do come up with any suggestion, please share it.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 50
    Windows 10 Pro X64
       #4

    Hi ddelo,

    Happy to share any developments......

    I am just in the process of adapting the Severn Forums Tutorial (here: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials...tom-icons.html) to see if it works so far as displaying custom icons in Windows 10. Incidentally the Windows 10 Driver Development Kit can be found here: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=526733 ........The Device Metadata Authoring Wizard is located in the Windows 10 Driver Kit (WDK).

    Will give it a try as I have some suitable custom icons....

    Watch this space!!

    PC Pilot
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 50
    Windows 10 Pro X64
       #5

    Tweaking Suggestion


    Hi ddelo,

    I have been doing some experimenting and now have customised icons for both my iPhone and the Apple Mobile Device Driver and both are in the main (rather than the unspecified) section with the former also displaying in 'This PC' which it would appear would resolve your issue.


    This is how I achieved it.......:)

    In order to display a custom iPhone icon in the 'Devices & Printers' and 'This PC' folders of Windows 10 it is necessary to create an appropriate Metadata Package containing the desired icon. In order to achieve this it is first necessary to prepare a number of things in advance.

    1. Create a Restore Point **IMPORTANT**

    2. Your chosen iPhone 5S icon(s). (NB. This MUST include at least the following icon categories in order for the metadata package to accept it)

    256x256 32bit + Alpha, 48x48: 32bit + Alpha, 32x32: 32bit + Alpha, 24x24: 32bit + Alpha & 16x16: 32bit + Alpha
    48x48: 8bit 256, 32x32: 8bit 256, 24x24: 8bit 256, 16x16: 8bit 256,
    48x48: 4bit 16, 32x32: 4bit 16, 24x24: 4bit 16, 16x16: 4bit 16

    A suitable JPEG or PNG image can be used to create suitable Windows icons with an icon creation program such as 'Axialis IconWorkshop'

    3. A copy of the Windows 10 Drivers Kit available from here <http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?linkid=618920>. NB. This download contains the latest 'Device Metadata Authoring Wizard' which is required to create the new custom icon package in 'Devices & Printers' and 'This PC'

    4. Hardware information sourced from the Apple iPhone and Apple Mobile Device Driver 'Properties' dialogue (right click the icons in 'Devices & Printers' select 'Properties' and then 'Hardware' tab. On the 'Hardware' dialogue select 'Properties' and go to the 'Details' tab. In the 'Details' dialogue go the the 'Property' dropdown and then choose 'Hardware IDs'. Make an ACURATE note of the items displayed in the 'Values' box as these will be required later.

    5. Basic information stored in the 'General' settings of your Apple iPhone. To add useful data to your icon package.

    6. Create a Restore Point!!! In case you missed my earlier advice!!

    I started with the icons and used Axialis IconWorkshop to create suitable custom icons for both my iPhone 6 and the Apple Mobile device driver (for this I used the 'Generic' Windows Cell Phone icon but used Axialis IconWorkshop to provide the additional categories required as in 1. above). The iPhone 6 icon was reworked from a Generic Image using Photoshop and then prepared in Axialis IconWorkshop to achieve the required sizes.

    Next I downloaded and installed the 'Windows 10 Drivers Kit'. Once installed navigate to the directory of the installed product (X=Your Drive)

    X:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\bin\x64 (for 64 Bit Windows 10) or X:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\bin\x86 (for 32 Bit Windows 10) and highlight the file "DeviceMetadataWizard.exe" right click and choose 'send to' and then 'Desktop (create shortcut)' which will place an easily accessible shortcut on your desktop whilst working on the metadata package. This can simply be deleted when your project is complete.

    You are now ready to create your 'Device Metadata Package', remember that one is required for EACH device i.e. One for Apple iPhone and another for Apple Mobile Device Driver. The required entries for both are detailed below so please be careful to separate them ...

    Open the 'Device Metadata Authoring Wizard' using the shortcut created earlier. A dialogue box with three choices will appear. From this dialogue select 'New Device Metadata' to commence the creation process. I will deal with each stage (new dialogue) step by step.

    1. 'Package Type' here, select the radio button for 'Device only Metadata' proceed to 'next' step.

    2. 'Device Categories' For this I decided upon the following categories, NB. The chosen 'primary category' radio button (indicated by *) must be selected before proceeding to the next step:

    For Apple iPhone: Communication.Phone * + Communication.Phone.Cell + Component.Controller.USB

    For Apple Mobile Device Driver: Component.Controller.USB * + Communication.Phone.Cell + Other

    3. 'Locales' As I am based in the UK I selected "English (United Kingdom) en-GB" as the 'primary' locale (*). In your case select a locale appropriate to where you reside (and installed Windows??). In your case for example this may be "Greek (Greece) el-GR". Make your choice and select using the radio button and proceed to 'next' step.

    4. 'Device Info' here you will find 5 text boxes 'Model Name', 'Manufacturer', 'Model Number', 'Description 1' & 'Description 2' finally there is a button to 'browse' to the location where you saved the icons created earlier. To complete the text entries you will need to access your iPhone (5S?). In iOS 9.2.1, go to 'Settings' then 'General' and then 'About'. Record the 'Model' Number and together with your device colour & capacity complete the text entries as shown below (NB. First Line for Apple iPhone, 2nd Line for Apple Mobile Device Driver):

    Model Name: Apple iPhone 5S Manufacturer: Apple Model Number: (e.g.) ME4XX X/X Description 1: (e.g.) 64 GB Description 2: e.g. Space Grey

    Model Name: Apple Mobile Device - USB Driver Manufacturer: Apple Model Number: usbaapl64.sys Description 1: USB Description 2: Device Driver

    Once the appropriate text is entered in the five boxes select 'browse' and navigate to your chosen icon and select. Proceed to 'next' step.

    5. 'Hardware Info' here you will use the upper 'Hardware ID's' box by selecting 'Add New ID'. This is were the Hardware Information recorded earlier is to be used hence the earlier reference to ACCURACY!! Please note that the recorded ID MUST be prefaced with "DOID". Below (as an example) is the entry I used in respect of my iPhone 6. NB. The line following it is that for the "Apple Mobile Device Driver"

    Apple iPhone 6: DOID:USB\VID_05AC&PID_12A8&REV_0702&MI_00 **Please note you need to use the appropriate entry for 'YOUR' iPhone here**

    Apple Mobile Device Driver: DOID:USB\VID_05AC&PID_12A8&REV_0702 **Please note you need to use the appropriate entry for 'YOUR' iPhone here**

    Once you have added the appropriate ID for EITHER the 'Apple iPhone' OR 'Apple Mobile Device Driver' depending upon which package you are creating proceed to the 'next' step.

    6. 'Windows Info' here all that is to consider is whether you wish to see the device when disconnected or not (which is the default). Leave or check the 'Show the device when disconnected' check box as desired and proceed to the 'next' (final) step.

    7. 'Finish' here I suggest that you use the 'browse' button to navigate to a suitable 'personal' folder into which to store a copy of the package should you require in future such as in the event of a clean reinstall. Don't forget to put a check in the 'copy the device metadata package to the metadata store on the local computer' check box as without it your changes will not display. A command window will appear identifying that the package has been added.

    Now you can check the 'Devices & Printers' folder to see the changes to the icons and from the 'unspecified' section refreshing and if necessary rebooting to verify.

    I hope that you can follow this tutorial and achieve similar results to me....

    PC Pilot
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 50
    Windows 10 Pro X64
       #6

    Quick correction to the Windows 10 Drivers Kit link which should be http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=526733 please ignore earlier link.....

    PC Pilot
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 2,450
    Windows 10 Pro x64
    Thread Starter
       #7

    Dear PC Pilot.

    Thanks a lot for your detailed tutorial, but it seems that our timing is amazing.
    I just finished my experiments with the results as seen in the picture.

    iPhone shown as Unspecified in Devices and Printers-new.jpg

    As it's a little late in Athens right now, I'll send you more details tomorrow. :)

    Take care and have a good night. Dimitri
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 2,450
    Windows 10 Pro x64
    Thread Starter
       #8

    Hi again PC Pilot.

    Just to add a few things to your tutorial.

    As you stated, before doing anything I created a RESTORE POINT.
    Although after finishing the packages creation and restoring, the only thing that was deleted was the installed Devices and Printers Metadata Authoring Wizard, while, as expected, the new Metadata Packages remained intact in the folder they were installed C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\DeviceMetadataStore.

    Software used:
    1. For icon creation: Photoshop (for the png image) and IcoFX (for creating the icon).
    2. For Metadata Package creation: Devices and Printers Metadata Authoring Wizard from Devices and Printers Metadata Authoring Wizard - Windows 10 hardware dev
    The Devices and Printers Metadata Authoring Wizard, as stated in the original Sevenforums tutorial (Devices and Printers - Change Device Icons with Custom Icons - Windows 7 Help Forums), adds a context menu item for each device “Create metadata package” and I started from there.

    Metadata Package Parameters entered in the Devices and Printers Metadata Authoring Wizard:

    Apple iPhone
    Category: Communication.Phone.Cell (I didn't see the need for more categories)
    Hardware IDs:
    USB\VID_05AC&PID_12A8&REV_0602&MI_00
    USB\VID_05AC&PID_12A8&MI_00

    Apple Mobile Device USB Driver
    Category: Component.Controller.USB (I didn't see the need for more categories)
    Hardware IDs:
    USB\VID_05AC&PID_12A8&REV_0602
    USB\VID_05AC&PID_12A8

    Besides the above, everything else you mentioned in your detailed tutorial I can confirm (for anybody who wants to do the same thing) is extremely accurate.

    Thanks again for your help. :)
    Dimitri
    Last edited by ddelo; 07 Feb 2016 at 08:48.
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 50
    Windows 10 Pro X64
       #9

    ddelo said:
    Hi again PC Pilot.

    Just to add a few things to your tutorial.

    As you stated, before doing anything I created a RESTORE POINT.
    Although after finishing the packages creation and restoring, the only thing that was deleted was the installed Devices and Printers Metadata Authoring Wizard, while, as expected, the new Metadata Packages remained intact in the folder they were installed C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\DeviceMetadataStore.

    Software used:
    1. For icon creation: Photoshop (for the png image) and IcoFX (for creating the icon).
    2. For Metadata Package creation: Devices and Printers Metadata Authoring Wizard from Devices and Printers Metadata Authoring Wizard - Windows 10 hardware dev
    The Devices and Printers Metadata Authoring Wizard, as stated in the original Sevenforums tutorial (Devices and Printers - Change Device Icons with Custom Icons - Windows 7 Help Forums), adds a context menu item for each device “Create metadata package” and I started from there.

    Metadata Package Parameters entered in the Devices and Printers Metadata Authoring Wizard:

    Apple iPhone
    Category: Communication.Phone.Cell (I didn't see the need for more categories)
    Hardware IDs:
    USB\VID_05AC&PID_12A8&REV_0602&MI_00
    USB\VID_05AC&PID_12A8&MI_00

    Apple Mobile Device USB Driver
    Category: Component.Controller.USB (I didn't see the need for more categories)
    Hardware IDs:
    USB\VID_05AC&PID_12A8&REV_0602
    USB\VID_05AC&PID_12A8

    Besides the above, everything else you mentioned in your detailed tutorial I can confirm (for anybody who wants to do the same thing) is extremely accurate.

    Thanks again for your help :). Dimitri
    Hi again Ddelo (Dimitri),

    Excellent work, glad you achieved a satisfactory result!! Sounds as if we both achieved our objective by the same route as well......

    Here is a screen shot of my final result with customised enhancements to my Devices & Printers removing the previously bland generic icons....

    iPhone shown as Unspecified in Devices and Printers-devices-printers-final-07.02.16.jpg

    Just a couple of further observations for anyone contemplating the same customisation, I did encounter some issues with some of my other devices (most notably the 4 keyboards & 3 mice - a mix of USB, PS2 & Bluetooth!) using the full set of Hardware ID's shown in the 'values' box (and hence my reference to accuracy!!).

    By experiment I discovered that by selecting a completely unique ID all worked as intended however (especially with the keyboards/mice) it was apparent that a number of these were shared with other devices and so multiples of the wrong icons appeared on non-related devices.....nightmare!!

    This is the reason why I used a 'single' ID rather than both (which is obviously OK for a lone iPhone) as you did. Not sure if any problems regarding shared ID's might arise if one were to add another iPhone or even an iPad or iPod to the mix!! Perhaps anyone with multiple Apple devices might care to experiment and report back.

    You correctly report that any restore action does not affect files in the C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\DeviceMetadataStore\(your locale) folder, perhaps I shoud add that following my 'experimental failures' I found it necessary to delete the faulty entries from the metadatastore folder for my (en-GB) locale and also those same files found in my personal folder location (as per final step) before performing the restore. In fact in my case I deleted all of the files in the metadatastore (just for my locale) and personal folders starting afresh each time. This at least ensures that no errors are carried forward as your work progresses and in my case I learned a little more each time!

    I suspect you are correct in respect of the category(ies) selected. I took the categories in part from those found on the original hardware profile however, in my case I simply found that whilst using 'Communication.Phone' as the primary this worked whereas the 'Communication.Phone.Cell' as primary did not.....on reflection I think that in my case it was likely that I ommitted the very final step i.e. not putting a check in the 'copy the device metadata package to the metadata store on the local computer' check box..... inept I know but had been experimenting on the other devices for some hours at that point!!

    One final point worthy of discussion is that of using the 'Device Metadata Authoring Wizard' to edit those entries created if minor text changes or even a different (better) icon became available. In this case, from the dialogue box with the three choices select 'Edit Device Metadata' and browse to the C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\DeviceMetadataStore\(your locale) folder and select the appropriate package from the list.

    A useful tip here is that if you cannot recall the date/time of the package creation (here it helps to consult the files stored in your personal folders....you did create a new folder for each device didn't you??!!) simply open at random until you see the correct device/icon displayed remembering to 'cancel' the incorrect ones confirming 'Yes' each time to avoid spoiling existing packages!

    Hope this helps someone undertaking this form of customisation in Windows 10

    PC Pilot

    (NB. All results by experiment not knowledge!!)
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails iPhone shown as Unspecified in Devices and Printers-devices-printers-final-06.02.16.jpg  
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  10. Posts : 2,450
    Windows 10 Pro x64
    Thread Starter
       #10

    Dear PC Pilot,

    I'm glad you achieved the result expected.
    Regarding the issue you mention with the shared ID's I also believe that needs more testing with similar devices.

    And a final note. Once someone creates the package required, this package can be opened with 7-zip and if text changes are needed to be done, they can be done in the appropriate xml file and then repackage everything with 7-zip (just store in zip format and then rename the extension to "devicemetadata-ms").

    Dimitri
      My Computer


 

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