iPhone MTP USB Device driver issue
November 4, 2009 74 Comments
I reinstalled Windows 7 this weekend. This time I have decided not to install iTunes or QuickTime or any software from Apple on my main Windows machine. That said, I do want to access the pictures on my iPhone through Windows. After the reinstall, my iPhone wasnt recognized by the OS and it gave me an error about “Unable to install MTP USB device”. The fix is to go into the Device Manager, Uninstall the “Unknown MTP device” and scan for hardware changes. Windows 7 enumerated the devices and recognized the iPhone without any issues. A day without iTunes is a good computing day!
Shankar's Musings 
Thanks for the tip !
Worked for me, thanks!
Thank you so much, worked a treat.
Okay, am using iPhone 3GS which was fine with Vista but with Windows 7 (Pro version), I got the same old “MTP Device Driver failed to install message”. However, iTunes could recognize that the iPhone was plugged in! The problem was due to pictures contained in the “Camera Roll” folder which were not taken by the phone itself but uploaded or transferred into it. (Note however that pictures synced via iTunes are NOT the cause or problem). Therefore all one needs to do is to remove the foreign pictures in camera roll i.e. those not captured or photographed by the iPhone & hopefully, things will work out for you as it did for me. However, under Explorer, Windows will then recognize the iPhone as “camera” but you do get to retrieve pictures & videos taken with the iPhone.
@ BenShah
So I uninstalled the driver and I’m now seeing my iPhone as a “camera” under Explorer but I can’t retrieve photos or videos like you said. If I remove all foreign photos and videos (or if I have to, all photos and videos), will the device install the needed drivers and work properly once I reconnect?
It’s unclear what I should expect to happen after doing this? I’m concerned it will never work as it should. Can you explain what happens after removing foreign pictures before I go take the time (couple of hours since I have over a thousand photos) to do this?
Thanks so much! 🙂
Wow… that is so wierd! That was exactly my problem. I had saved some images from the web and because of these, the driver wouldn’t install (not on windows 7, not on mac either) even though iTunes could recognize the device.
How on earth is this related :S
worked for me!!!!! just removed foreign pics and windows 7 recognized my iphone as camera
Does not work. It will reinstall the MTP Device.. Fucking frustrating.
@Pablo,
To be certain, why don’t you remove/delete all files i.e. pictures & videos from the camera roll folder & try hooking the iPhone to the computer again. If necessary, you may need to backup the photos by emailing them to yourself.
i got same problem, but vista and xp no problems, how would deleting pictures work? and deleting them all will take ages, why can’t i download drivers XP and Vista works why doesn’t 7?
thanks
Thanks, it works !!!
Thanks alot man, worked!
Hi and goodmorning to you……..
The solution provided worked out fine.
Thanks for the tip and assist.
Jor
Thanks – worked for me too!
@ Jim
Sorry about the delay but didn’t ‘noticed’ the notifications until just now! Anyway, since it’s been over a month since you posted your comment, I reckon you may have the problem rectified. Or not.
I didn’t have thousands of photos or videos in my iPhone’s camera roll folder but I emailed the photos to my email account. I think you could be kinda restricted in respect of the videos as iPhone allows videos to be emailed in smaller segmented files.
FYI, I didn’t bother uninstalling the device drivers, just went straight to getting rid of the alien files in the camera roll folder & voila! things went back to normal when I synced the phone to my lappie.. and till today, there has been no prolems of that sort.
Therefore, with Win 7, we must now never store or transfer photos & vids straight into the camera roll folder i.e. that folder is dedicated just for the iPhone to store or save its own photos & videos taken by us, in the format it recognizes & we should just transfer those files to our iPhones the conventional way i.e thru iTunes… until & unless, someone makes a patch for that of course!
Thank you SO MUCH !!
This solved the problem of my PC not recognizing my iPhone.
Now I can acces my camera roll.
Thanks again !
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS!!!!! I just bought a new netbook and I was having this problem with it. Not any more!!!!
Hi,
Right i have uninstalled the unkown…. device in device manager, but it hasnrt worked… what else should i do?
I had the same problem on an iPod touch. Your solution worked right away. thanks!
thanks man, worked great.
Apple wanted me to go through a whole routine of stuff just to do what you simple fix did in seconds. Screw Apple Your Fix Worked For Me!!!!!!!!!
Thanks, it worked for me too. (Iphone 3g, Windows 7 Ultimate 64)
Thank you! you save my life! (well, you saved my 250 pictures)
Out of all of the searching for a fix it was right in front of my eyes. Thanks for the advice it worked great and I wanted to say thanks.(iPhone 3G, Windows 7 Ultimate 64)
Thanks a lot, it worked just like you said!
Thanks it works…..
I have the same problem, and the MTP USB Device doesn’t install. But, there is no “Unknown MTP device” in my Device manager! What should I do? or, maybe I’m stupid and what section of the device manager is it in? However, I’m fairly sure it isn’t there.
mine neither, it doesnt show up at all as a device, I need help!
Well I tried deleting pictures first… that didn’t work… and a lot of deleted pictures later I found your blog post… a couple clicks and it worked! Thanks!!!
I love you!!! I looked forever for a fix, so simple!
Thanks for this.
Ok… ive tried a lot. I have some vids and pics I dont want to erase so erasing all pics is for me not an option.
If this is the same to you… go to the following website.
This worked for me to get my pics and vids of my iPhone and then on my PC
http://www.macroplant.com/iphoneexplorer/
Wow. I can’t believe this worked!
Hello – great post seems to have helped loads of people but not working for me 😦 Have deleted all ‘rogue’ images on camera roll, uninstalled the MTP Device in the device manager and scanned for new hardware, but then I just get the same error about the MTP USB device not installing properly. Any ideas? thanks so much
wow it works i back up all my pictures before i remove it on my iphone 3g. now the MTB USB DEVICE is installed properly, thanks thanks thanks I love internet all help you can found it here and everybody is doing a nice job and effort to share what they’ve found out to help others thanks more Blessing to all of us
i mean i have a “3gs” not 3g lol
God I love the internet.. You people are genius!!
solution:
update your bios
thanks worked for me as well
That worked a treat – has been bugging me for days since I got my new iPhone4 and wanted to transfer my pics from my old 3G – funny how such a thing can cause such a headache!
Thanks a lot!
Worked for me too!!!
Cant really understand that this is actually was the cause, but it worked to remove “foreign” imgs.
Thanks a lot!
Hi to all,
Thank u for your input, unfortunately all these things didnt work for me.
I’m using a dell studio XPS 435MT with W7 ultimate 64, latest Itunes and 3G, 3GS and 4G Iphones. The problem was the same an all phones !!
I tried the camera roll stuff, deleting drivers, scan hardware change and all those ideas and nothing worked.
I FINALLY found what to do.
The MTB USB problem is due to the fact that Windows chooses that driver instead of usb iphne driver.
BEFORE DOING THIS MAKE A BACKUP OF YOUR REGESTRY. (in regedit, File >> export)
To “tell” windows not to chose MTB USB driver do the following :
– run regedit
– find “{EEC5AD98-8080-425F-922A-DABF3DE3F69A}” under hkeylocalmachine > system>current control set>control>class
– click on the “{EEC5AD98-8080-425F-922A-DABF3DE3F69A}” on the left side of the window.
– appears on the right side differnt things. Right click on “upper something” and click delete.
– unplug iphone (have at least 1 photo on your iphone)
– restart computer
– plug in Iphone and the camera roll apears !
Hope this helps !!
What on earth is “upper something”? I have Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit too, but it got no suck thing as “upper something” in that key in any of its properties. Can you verify that your information is correct, please. I’m stuck with this same problem as yourself… Cheers!
No upper for me either. W7 64bit.
thanks man, this worked like a charm..
Yay, worked for me! He meant “Upper********”. Dont remember the last bit 😉
Thanks a lot. It works for me.
Hi Dear,
Thanks a lot it works 100%…. 🙂
Why didn’t I find this an hour ago….
WORKED GREAT !!!!
THANK YOU !!
I couldn’t get my iPhone recognized as a camera on Windows 7 (unknown MPT USB device), then I read some people solved it by removing images not taking by the phone from the camera roll.
Apparently this also includes iPhone desktop screenshots! When I removed the screen captures from my camera roll (I made them by accident once), suddenly the phone was recognized. Retarded but true!
thanks for the tip Shankar, now I can copy the photos off my iPhone 3G.
@onur baran gürbüz, he’s right.
Windows 7 users update your bios as it is most likely a hardware issue. I bought a new Asus P7P55D motherboard less than a year ago, around the same time I got an IPhone 3Gs. They’ve never worked together until I read another Asus user was having the same issue. Asus released a bios upgrade to fix. I don’t recommend using the broad stroke recommened by this article, nor the other article floating around the web saying to go into the registry, current control set, ‘delete upper something’. Who knows dependencies your breaking w/ these – don’t try it. It’s hardware people. Update your system’s chipset drivers and mobo bios. If your manufacturer doesn’t support it, it’s time for an upgrade. And I don’t mean buy an Apple, don’t reward them for shoddy integration w/ Windows 7. They’ll never go there as it’s not in their best interest. Regardless, latest hardware and firmware upgrades are the fix.
Thankx.
Hello. I have the same problem. Could you give me an advice? What I need to do if there isn’t “Unknown MTP device” or something like that?
Thank you SO much! I am not an Apple person and it was frustrating me to no end!
Delete “UpperFilters” in “{EEC5AD98-8080-425F-922A-DABF3DE3F69A}”. Worked for me. 3gs, win 7 x86
I solved this problem by changing the USB -> Iphone cable. It worked immediately.
Delete “UpperFilters” in “{EEC5AD98-8080-425F-922A-DABF3DE3F69A}”. Worked for me. 3g, win 7 x64. Thanks!
Hi, What if “upperfilters” is not in {EECD5AD98…} but in the “Critical Device Database *CPQ something…? Is it still safe to delete, to resolve the ‘MTB Device’ issue?
Have a look here: http://daniellang.net/mtp-usb-device-failed-connecting-iphone-and-windows-7/
That helped me connection my iPhone…
Two years later, this still helped me. Thanks!
Thanks alot. It saved my day and I was able to finally charge da phone over the laptop when mobile.
thanks alot ben Shah…worked great for me too once I deleted the transfered pictures from the camera roll folder!
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Folks,
I had this problem with my PC (windows 7, 64-bit) and my iPad. After messing with it for a long time, I finally found the answer (bad USB driver). The following two step process should help resolve these kinds of problems more quickly.
The first step is to verify that the iPad (or iPhone) is really connected to your computer. This can be (really) checked using a program called USBDeview. You can get this (very small) program from http://download.cnet.com/USBDeview/3000-2094_4-10614190.html or http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/usb_devices_view.html. Don’t worry, it’s not Spyware or Malware.
Just run the program and sort on the ‘Connected’ column. If your iPad or iPhone doesn’t show up as Yes (under ‘Connected’) then your iDevice is not properly connected to your computer. Could be a cable problem. Could be an iDevice problem. Could be a USB hub problem. Note that your iDevice might be listed as what it is (iPad or iPhone) or it might be listed as ‘Apple Mobile Device USB Driver’ in the ‘Description’ column.
Apple has a number of ideas to resolve this sort of basic connectivity issue, including switching USB ports, resetting your iDevice, rebooting your iDevice, rebooting your computer, etc. You will need to try them until your iDevice shows up in USBDeview as ‘Yes’ under Connected.
If you iDevice shows up as ‘Yes’ under connected, it should also be visible in the Device Manager (found in the Windows 7 Control Panel under Hardware and Sound). You might find it under Portable Devices or it might be under Universal Serial Bus controllers.
The iDevice may or may not show up in the Windows Explorer. On some machines it does, on others it does not. Why is not clear.
If the Idevice is properly known to Windows and iTunes can’t see it, then any number of other things could be wrong. Apple has a list. See the very useful page over at http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1538. Testing shows that the Apple Mobile Device service must be running. Check this using Task Manager (started by right clicking the taskbar). Note that the iPod service and the iphlpsvc service must also be running. These services have different names under the Processes table versus the Services tab of Task Manager.
AppleMobileDeviceService.exe – Apple Mobile Device
iPodService.exe – iPod Service
ItunesHelper.exe – iphlpsvc
Step 4 of http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1538 checks if the Apple Mobile Device USB is installed. This is essential and a common source of problems. In at least some cases, Windows will install the ‘MTP USB’ driver. Indeed, Windows will reinstall this driver if you uninstall it. The MTP USB driver is essentially a Windows bug (possibly caused by Microsoft). You must replace the MTP USB driver with the Apple Mobile Device USB Driver. Step 4 explains how to do this. Note that you must use the ‘Have Disk’ approach. Otherwise, Windows will just reinstall the invalid MTP driver.
The Apple doc indicates that you can find the correct driver at C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Apple\Mobile Device Support\Drivers. Perhaps this is correct on some systems. You may find the correct driver in C:\Program Files\Common Files\Apple\Mobile Device Support\Drivers.
iTunes could make this a lot easier by checking if the iDevice is known to Windows (what USBDevier does) and if the Apple Mobile Device USB driver is properly installed for the iDevice. Sadly it doesn’t perform either check. Note that iTunes does if some of the related services (see above) are actually running.
thanks so much! the suggestion perfectly solved my problem!
from November 2009 to march 2012 – still relevant – sifting though all of this- with some permutation of technical summersaults posted – come to find out that among the 2,000 photos I had on my IPhone 3 there were two screen captures in amongst them – once I went through one by one to find them and deleted them wala – MTP drive loads and Iphone can now transfer photos !
IM HAVING THE SAME ISSUE, MTP DEVICE DRIVER SOFTWARE CONTINUALLY FAILS TO INSTALL WHEN I PLUG IN MY I POD TOUCH. I JUST WANT TO ACCESS PICTURES STORED ON IT BUT ITS NOT RECOGNIZED AS A CAMERA BY WINDOWS.
I HAVE THOUSANDS OF PICS ON MY IPOD ALL WOULD BE CONSIDERED FOREIGN PICS BECAUSE MY IPOD DOESNT HAVE A CAMERA, SO DELETING FOREIGN PICS IS NOT AN OPTION FOR ME. I SPOKE WITH APPLE SUPPORT FOR HOURS AND THEY HAVE CONCLUDED THAT THIS IS A WINDOWS DRIVER PROBLEM AND YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO VIEW ANY PHOTOS STORED, HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH FORIEGN PHOTOS OR SCREENSHOTS STORED ON THE DEVICE, DOES ANYONE HAVE AN ACTUAL SOLUTION TO THIS PROBLEM? NOTHING SO FAR HAS WORKED FOR ME. IM RUNNING WINDOWS 7 64 BIT
PLEASE HELP!!!!!
OH AND THIS PROBLEM SEEMS TO BE SPECIFIC TO WINDOWS 7 USERS (MAYBE SOME USING VISTA) AND ANY PORTABLE DEVICES (HAVING DONE A LOT OF RESEARCH THERE SEEMS TO BE THE SAME PROBLEM WITH A NUMBER OF DEVICES- IPHONES, IPADS, IPODS, ANDROID PHONES, SAMSUNGS, CAMERAS ETC.
Hola! I’ve been following your site for some time now and finally got the courage to go ahead and give you a shout out from Humble Texas! Just wanted to tell you keep up the excellent work!
The fix for me was to run itunes installation as administrator!!