Monday, December 17, 2012

How to Fix "iTunes cannot read the contents of the iPhone" or iPad or iPod

Update: Used this again Today and it works in the current iOS 6 and iPhone 5

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When running iTunes and you receive the popup message: 

"iTunes cannot read the contents of the iPhone. Go to the summary tab in iPhone preferences and click restore to restore this iPhone to factory settings”. 

DO NOT RESTOREDO NOT RESTOREDO NOT RESTORE.

It could be one of two (or both) files are corrupt on your iPhone (or other iDevice), they are iTunesDB and iTunesCDB.

There is an easy and fast fix for this, even if your iDevice is NOT jailbroken.

You want to disconnect your iDevice from your computer and close iTunes to ensure you DO NOT RESTORE.

Download iFunBox, a Free Tool for accessing the iDevice filesystem. It has both a OS/X version and Windows version for download.

After you download the version of iFunBox for your OS, you will need to install it and run it. 

After installing and running iFunBox, connect your iDevice to your computer.


You will see a message in the Upper Right of iFunBox  "connecting to iDevice", after iFunbox has connected to your iDevice, click on the tab "iFunbox Classic". 

On the left panel, expand "Raw File System" (click on the +), then expand "iTunes_Control", then click on "iTunes".

In the right panel you will see a number of files, right-click on the file "iTunesCDB" and select rename, place an X after the B in the filename, this will allow you keep the file in case you need it again (you should never need it, but better to be careful than sorry.)

After you have renamed the file, click on your iDevice name on the upper right of iFunBox and select "Device Safe Removal", this will ensure the filename change will be written back to your iDevice. 

After you see your iDevice is closed ("No device connected" will be displayed in the upper right), you should now close iFunBox.

Now run Apple iTunes, it will see your iDevice and you will be able to Sync again.







86 comments:

bronsont said...

Ooops, I hit restore, what do I do now?

:-)

Anonymous said...

Thank you so Much Nethead you fixed my problem, now I dont have to restore. Your a lifesaver!!

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much Nethead you fixed my problem, now i dont have to restore my phone, your a life saver!!!

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much Nethead you solved my problem

Anonymous said...

Wauw thank you so much! I was looking for a fix for ages and this finally works!

Unknown said...

I am facing this problem, and my iphone is not jailbroken... Can I still use this?

Unknown said...

My iphone 3gs is not jailbroken. Will this still work?
My phone works perfectly. Just unable to sync.

tech-man said...

Thanks Man

Anonymous said...

Ifunbox worked great for me.

Anonymous said...

It works great thnx

Oratio Forte said...

Brilliant, thanks. I have restored once, and when the problem came up again, this worked excellently.

Unknown said...

you are truly a genius how the hell do you know this shit

Unknown said...

you are a genius ,, how the fuck do you know this shit ,, works like a charm
thanx thanx thanx

Narendra said...

Thanks a lot!

yeaka said...

Oh Wow! You are my savior! It worked for me and I don't have to restore and lose my jailbreak. I am grateful

yeaka said...

Oh Wow! You are my savior! It worked for me and I don't have to restore and lose my jailbreak. I am grateful

Anonymous said...

help.... I cannot find iFunBox in the App Store.

Anonymous said...

help... I cannot find iFunBox in the iphone's App Store

Krishiram said...

Thanks a lot. Freaked out when i thought i had to restore. Luckily u saved me. Thanks once again!

Anonymous said...

You're a star! Thanks a million!

adrio said...

Worked perfectly, muchas gracias!

Anonymous said...

This worked thanks a lot!!!

Eoin said...

Amazing. Thanks a lot man.

Unknown said...

Thanks a lot..
Had a same problem before..
And i did what u told, and it works..

Anonymous said...

awesome! thanks man worked perfect

Anonymous said...

thank Nethead. this really helped and i hope it helps other too.



Thanks alot.

Anonymous said...

You are the best!!!!!!Thank you!!!!!Respect

Anonymous said...

Thank you so Much Nethead you fixed my problem (and my Life ;)))!!

Anonymous said...

i cant see the ITUNES_COntrol folder help meeee

Nethead said...

Follow the steps as outlined and you will see the iTunes_Control folder.

Anonymous said...

Thanks.. worked for me on iphone5

Unknown said...

Nethead,

This worked well and saved all the bother of a restore. My wife and filled her iPad and then got this error. She deleted about 20% of her data (unwanted videos, photos) from the iPad, and then we did as you said.

We were using the OS X version of iFunBox, and some of your steps were not quite as described. There's no "iFunbox Classic" view that I could see and no "+" to click on to expand the directory. There's also no "Device Safe Removal". Although this confused me at first, I presume all three of these things are Windows specific, and I found just using the OS X equivalents works fine.

Anonymous said...

THANKS!!!!

Anonymous said...

THANKS!!!

Anonymous said...

Hey worked great! Thanks! This problem was really frustrating me. Already restored once last week and lost a bunch of stuff that I hadn't backed up.

Craig Grummitt said...

same as previous post, there was no 'device safe removal'. I just unplugged the ipad and plugged back in. Now iTunes says:
'Welcome to Your New iPad' - 'Set up as new iPad' or 'Restore from this backup' hmm... which to choose... Neither sounds appropriate...

Anonymous said...

THANKYOU SO MUCH!!!!!ive looked all over the internet for a solution to this and there all fakes making me download stupid thingson my computer and this is the only thing that worked!AMAZING!!i dont know how you are this clever to find out that this workes but thank god you did, thank you Nethead you saved me from being musicless on holiday

Anonymous said...

THANK YOU! THANKS YOU! I almost panicked when I got that itunes message. You're a lifesaver!

Anonymous said...

Even though it has changed a little since this was posted, I'm a total n00b and fixed it using your method, thank you!!

Anonymous said...

Awesome!!!

Unknown said...

It's reoccurring though.... every time i fix it..... it happens again.... how do i permanently stop it?

Omaima said...

i can't find the itunes folder in the raw file section in ifunbox...please help

Omaima said...

i can't find the itunes folder in the raw file section in ifunbox...please help

Omaima said...

thanks man, you are a life saver!! thanx thanx thanx a billion times

Anonymous said...

Worked quickly and perfectly. Thanks.

Rachel said...

Amazing! Thanks so so much! Worked like a CHARM!

Anonymous said...

had been looking for s solution for ages! thanks!! you're a lifesaver

Anonymous said...

there is no itunes_control folder.

Unknown said...

Thank you so much!!!!! This worked like a charm!

Unknown said...

Thank you so much!!!! This worked like a charm!

Anonymous said...

Beautiful!!!! Worked perfectly.

Iphone 5, iOS 6.1.4

Anonymous said...

OMG, you don't understand how much I live you right now!

Storm said...

Worked like a charm! Respect.
Thank you very much!

Anonymous said...

Awesome, man! Thanks a lot.

Agata said...

Omg omg omg! I works! Thank U!!

Anonymous said...

Thanks!!! It really helped. I was so near to hit the restore button.....

Unknown said...

it worked.... but it still continues to happen..... where is the itunesDB file? i'm only seeing tne itunesCDB file... i'd like to change them both

Unknown said...

it worked but it still continues to happen on itunes prompting me for the restore.... where is the itunesDB file? i'm only seeing the itunesCDB file... i'd like to change them both

Anonymous said...

Huge thanks, saved my butt!

Used iPhones Bloomington said...

This is my first time i visit here. I found so many interesting stuff in your blog especially its discussion. From the tons of comments on your articles, I guess I am not the only one having all the enjoyment here! keep up the good work.

Anonymous said...

Phew thanks!!1 it worked :)

Unknown said...

This is a really excellent read for me.As you say, this advice is hugely relevant for thanks for your useful post iphone repair

Anonymous said...

hey, bro, thanks for the post. Apple support guy was pretty cool about giving me a heads up that there was a solution to this online, but he couldn't direct me to it. This worked, got my pics off the phone and saved them, then updated to IOS 7. Thanks. Tim

Anonymous said...

Freaking awesome!! Thank you!!

WOOP WOOP said...

You Sir, Are A LEGEND.

Anonymous said...

I tried the method you gave but still in vain, couldn't sync with my iTunes, pls help me. I am having iPhone 3GS

Wheeler Reviews said...

iFun won't recognize my iPod! What now?

Anonymous said...

Thanks, worked really well and quickly too.

Woody

Anonymous said...

THANKS ALOT!

SATISH RAUT said...

thanx alot thanx thanx thanx thanx :D it really really works

Anonymous said...

For me function but I needed rename both files iTunesDB and iTunesCDB.

iTunesDBXX
iTunesCDBXX

Good Luck

Thanks

Shravan said...

Brilliant !!
It works for me. Many thanks for your help my friend

Anonymous said...

Thank you. This worked perfectly.

Unknown said...

hi. i cannot find the device safe removal. i changed the file name but iTunes still had the
error message. Any tips?

Unknown said...

Hi. I cnaged the file name but couldn't find the device safe removal button. tried unplugging it and replug but iTunes still had that error message. Also, I have a backup file of that too. Do i need to change the name too?

Anonymous said...

Thanks a lot
i am a 12 year old and didn't want to wreck my iphone 5s

Unknown said...

Thanks it worked

Radhakrishnan said...

i install ifunbox. after install even ifunbox page also not detect my ipod shuffle. what to do?

Anonymous said...

It worked !! Thanks a ton.

Anonymous said...

IT WORKS!!! THANK U!!!!

Miianah said...

Does this remove your music?

Miianah said...

I don't see itunesCDB. I only see:
.itunes_library_app.lock
artwork
backup
ctm_backup

Help, please?

Anonymous said...

I couldn't sync my iphone. This worked.

Anonymous said...

thank you so much!!!!!

Anonymous said...

thank you man you saved me from restore

Anonymous said...

I used this for my iphone 6+ on an app called iexplorer for windows 8.1 PC. It worked very similarly except however u go to the tab Name's iphone, then to "Media" then "Itunes_Control" at the bottom. then click on the iTunes folder. Within that is the iTunesCDB file you speak of. Thanks for the post.
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