macReports

Apple iOS Mac OS X Reports , Help and News

  • How to
  • News
  • Not working?
  • Tips and Tricks
  • Guides
You are here: Home / How to / A Device Attached to The System is Not Functioning, Fix

A Device Attached to The System is Not Functioning, Fix

Last updated on December 22, 2018 By Serhat Kurt 126 Comments

Many iOS (iPhone and iPad) and Windows users are reporting that they have been receiving an error message saying “A device attached to the system is not functioning” (see the image below).

a device attached to the system is not functioning

This error message occurs because your computer is not properly communicating with your iOS device. This could be because of many reasons, for example:

  • Your iPhone or iPad is not connected to your computer properly
  • Your computer’s USB port may not be working
  • Your USB cable may not be working

You may see this error when you attempt to copy and transfer photos and videos from your iPhone or iPad to your Windows PC. This short article explains what you can do to fix this problem.

See also: Easiest Way To Open / Edit a .Pages File On a Windows PC

  1. Reconnect your iPhone to iPad to your computer. Try a different USB port. Try a different USB cable.
  2. Restart your computer and your iOS device. You can turn off your iOS device by going to Settings > General > Shut Down. Then you can restart. Restart your PC also.
  3. On your iOS device, go to Settings > Photos and scroll down, find the “transfer to Mac or pc” section. And select “Keep Originals”. Photos keep originals
  4. On your computer, switch between USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 ports.
  5. Update iTunes to the latest version on your PC. There are two ways to do this depending on your initial installation. If you downloaded iTunes from Apple’s web site, in iTunes, choose Help > Check for Updates. If you downloaded iTunes from Microsoft Store, on your computer, go to Start > Microsoft Store > More… > Download and Updates.

See also: How To Transfer Photos & Videos From iPhone & iPad To Computer (Mac or Windows)

Filed Under: How to Tagged With: Windows

Comments

  1. Vic says

    May 29, 2020 at 12:24 pm

    Omg you are a lifesaver!!! Months of frustration and phone memory being full….. keep originals was the trick! Thankyou

    Reply
  2. Nazreen says

    May 16, 2020 at 12:53 pm

    Before finding this post I was on the the verge of abandoning all hope and just going full hulk from frustration, throwing both iPhone and laptop from my apartment window on the 8th floor.

    So thank you for saving me from all of that.

    By going onto my iOS device and selecting “Keep Originals” under the settings seemed to fix the issue I have been having. Must have been changed when there was a software update or something because I did not have this problem previously when backing up my device.

    Anyways, just thought I would show my appreciation.

    Thank you again 🙂

    Reply
  3. Nicole says

    April 16, 2020 at 7:33 am

    Thank you very much. It really works. Now I can transfer my photos to my computer:)
    I have another problem that my iPhone not show up in my iTunes. My iPhone is 11 pro max, and iTunes version is 12.10.5.12. Could you please advise how to solve the problem? Thank you 🙏

    Reply
  4. Jackie Sullivan says

    April 8, 2020 at 10:27 pm

    Selecting Keep Originals only transfers the audio portion of my video clips. I’m beyond frustrated.

    Reply
    • Douglas Castagnola says

      April 12, 2020 at 1:20 am

      I had the same experience with this as well.

      Reply
    • Brad says

      April 18, 2020 at 6:57 pm

      Yep… while using Keep Originals allows the transfer to PC “work” it does not convert videos correctly and they only have audio regardless of what app I use to play them, including iTunes. Windows prompts me to download the HVEC Video Extensions to play the video. Anyone have experience with this working? Or another way to play and/or the original videos?

      Reply
      • Eric says

        April 21, 2020 at 6:59 pm

        I agree with you Brad. Checking “Keep Originals” caused me a whole lot of new headaches. The rest of the people in this forum must be transferring to Apple devices. I’m trying to transfer to a PC and it does not work. It used to work, but not any longer.

        Reply
      • Katie says

        April 23, 2020 at 2:23 pm

        I had the same problem. Only audio uploaded. I downloaded the 99 cent extension and now it seems to be working. Annoying though.

        Reply
      • Jack says

        July 3, 2020 at 12:08 am

        I seriously feel this is Apple’s way of making compatibility with PC’s very difficult. Everything worked well before, and all of a suddent after the iOS 10 update, the errors started. They either want us to buy a Mac or other accessories to make this work effortlessly.

        Reply
    • Angelica K says

      June 26, 2020 at 12:37 am

      The only time I don’t have this problem is when I open .MOV files with Power Media Player 14. Hope that helps you all, too.

      Reply
  5. Dev says

    April 8, 2020 at 2:24 am

    Option 3. Now the transfers complete successfully. Thanks

    Reply
  6. Ali says

    April 5, 2020 at 6:00 pm

    Thank you so much. Had problem when I want to transfer the photos to my lap top to free some space on iPhon.

    No 3 works for me:
    On your iOS device, go to Settings > Photos and scroll down, find the “transfer to Mac or pc” section. And select “Keep Originals”.

    Perfect!

    Reply
  7. Philip says

    April 2, 2020 at 7:22 pm

    thanks a lot, by changing the “keep originals” it works perfect. I wonder how it went wrong….probably an IOS upgrade changed the setting 🙁

    Reply
  8. Mahmoud says

    April 2, 2020 at 10:46 am

    Thanks for helping.
    But keep original affect the size/compatibility of the video.
    Is there a way to use automatic and thrableshoot this issue?

    Reply
  9. Lisa says

    March 29, 2020 at 4:52 pm

    Thank you!!! Trying to transfer some videos for my students and was getting so frustrated! Just changing to “Keep originals” worked like a charm!

    Reply
    • Pads says

      April 14, 2020 at 9:25 pm

      THANK YOU! 3 nights of trying and getting annoyed with this and as others have said ‘keep originals’ was the key. Very relieved to have found this. Thanks again!

      Reply
  10. John Smith says

    March 27, 2020 at 2:29 pm

    “Keep Originals” is the key. Works great. Thanks.

    Reply
  11. Steve H. says

    March 23, 2020 at 1:57 am

    Hallelujah! No rebooting of anything required. Just clicking on “Keep Originals” did the trick for me. THANK YOU.

    Reply
  12. Kerokeropiboy says

    March 21, 2020 at 1:20 pm

    Still working on March 2020. Thank you for this

    Reply
  13. Njak says

    March 17, 2020 at 12:53 am

    “keep originals” worked for me
    I was getting pretty frustrated luckily I found this. Thanks!

    Reply
  14. Beth says

    March 17, 2020 at 12:51 am

    My iPhone has 11K images on it, but when i go to import into my pc, only a few hundred are showing up in the DCIM folder. Thoughts on why this may be?

    Reply
  15. Lunar Punch says

    March 15, 2020 at 7:36 pm

    Works like a charm. Thank you very much!

    Reply
  16. Ed Olowo says

    March 9, 2020 at 8:58 pm

    Thanks for providing this solution – it works! I had tried severally before reading your post. Thanks a lot.

    Reply
  17. Mike S says

    March 3, 2020 at 2:47 am

    I have an iphone xR and the latest OS. The keep originals box has always been checked. Now I can transfer maybe 10 to 20 pictures at a time, at best. It seems to go in streaks. I was able to capture a 1000 at a time, now it’s a struggle to get a couple.

    Reply
  18. mohamadblondlover says

    March 1, 2020 at 8:39 pm

    for pc or loptop.Remove the battery on the lip and then unplug all USB sockets and then turn off the lip. Restart the system. Arak Times new movie channel animation..search in persian languge in google this:اراک تایمز آپارات

    Reply
  19. Sean says

    February 29, 2020 at 5:37 pm

    Clicking on “keep originals” allowed me to transfer the videos to my pc that I couldn’t earlier.
    Thank You.

    Reply
    • Affan Najeeb says

      June 14, 2020 at 8:04 am

      Keep original changes the format of some files to heic and if i select automatic data wont copy

      Reply
  20. Chuck Z. says

    February 25, 2020 at 3:34 pm

    I have been getting aggravated for a while because every time I would try to transfer to my PC or any PC for that matter it would error out in just a few seconds. After setting things to where you suggested, it is working perfectly! Thank You!

    Reply
« Older Comments
Newer Comments »

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Follow us

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Got a tip for us? Email us.

Latest Posts

How to Reset “Never for This Website”

iPad Keyboard: How to Type the Greyed-Out Numbers and Symbols

Calendar Shows Wrong Week, Day, or Date

Passwords on Safari: The Spinning Wheel – How to Fix the Lag

iPhone Bluetooth Keeps Disconnecting and Reconnecting? How to Fix

Pages

  • About macReports
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Statement
  • Terms of Use

Tags

AirPods Apple Car Apple Card Apple Company Apple ID Apple Music Apple Pay Apple TV Apple Watch Apps App Store Bluetooth Calendar Catalina FaceTime iCloud iMessage iMessages iMovie iOS iOS 14 iPad iPhone iTunes Keyboard Mac Mac Battery MacBook macOS macOS Big Sur Mail Mail App Messages Music Notifications Pages PDF Photos Safari screenshot Siri Update Wi-Fi Windows YouTube

Search macReports

Categories:

  • Guides
  • How to
  • News
  • Not working?
  • Tips and Tricks

About macReports:

This website is founded by Serhat Kurt. He worked as a Senior Technology Director. He holds a doctoral degree (or doctorate) from the University of Illinois at Urbana / Champaign and a master’s degree from Purdue University.

Stacey Butler

Stacey Butler is a tech writer at macReports covering news, how-tos, and user guides. She is a longtime Mac and iPhone user and holds a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana.

 

This website is not affiliated with Apple.

Copyright © 2021 / macReports