How To Get IPhone/IPod Working With Windows Server 2003
Posted in
IPhone, Productivity, Tips, Tutorials
Posted on
05-08-2009
19 comments
19
If you try and install iTunes 8.2 or above on Windows Server 2003, you will most likely get an issue during the install where it complains during installation of one of the components (namely, Apple Mobile Device Support). The error looks like “Apple mobile device support requires that your computer is running Windows XP SP2 or newer”.
iTunes will complete its install, but when you plug in your iPhone or iPod, it will not get recognized and as such, won’t allow you to synch.
If you are having difficulty getting your IPhone or IPod recognized by Windows Server 2003, try the following:
Step 1
Download iTunes Setup as usual from the Apple site. Don’t install it at the moment. If you have already installed it, then don’t worry. Follow the rest of the steps through as normal.
Step 2
Open the following location in your web browser:
http://bit.ly/ItunesForWin2k3
That is my personal SkyDrive account and has two files in it. One is the MSI file for the Apple Mobile Device Support for iTunes 8.2 and the other is an .mst file (I found the MST file on the web – thanks to whoever set it up!). Download both of these into a folder on your PC. In my case below, I’ve created a folder on my c drive called ITunes and downloaded both files there:
Step 3
Open a command prompt window and type the following (with an enter after each line):
cd c:\itunes
msiexec /i AppleMobileDeviceSupport.msi TRANSFORMS=w2k3.mst
When you hit enter on the second line, it should start the install process. This will install the Apple Mobile Device Support service on Windows 2003 Server.
Step 4
The last step is now to install ITunes as normal. If you had already installed iTunes, you can re-run the set up and select Repair to re-install the application.
Once complete, you should be able to start iTunes and when you plug in your iPod or iPhone, it should get discovered and displayed in your iTunes
That should be it :) I know the instructions are quite sparse. I’d love to hear any comments you may have around this. If you need me to elaborate on any step further, please let me know.
Thank you!
Great work, than you!
Great info and nice to have it all in one place. Worked great for me. Thanks!!!
@Oddgeir, Firas and Hazmatte, thanks for your comments folks. Its good to see that this is coming in use and interesting to see that a lot of folks still run Windows 2003 Server :)
-dee
Thank you very much! saved my bacon
i’m using win2k3 with service pack 1 and it doesn’t work for me, it still shows the same error :(
Hi Goshko,
Am unsure on Service Pack 1 as all our Windows Server 2003 installations are with Service Pack 2. Perhaps you can try applying that first and then seeing if this method works?
The other alternative is to ditch iTunes altogether and use something like copytrans manager to manage your songs.. However, that does mean that you won’t necessarily be ably to synch via ITunes again as that may wipe out all songs copied via CopyTrans…
I’ll do some digging and see if there is a product out there that behaves with ITunes on Win 2k3
Dee
Thank you. Short and right to the point! Good work.
THANKS MAN!!!!
Interesting … I’ll submit it to a friend of mine!
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is there way to work around the same thing for xp 64 bit too…??? plz lemme know if its possible…!
@sriresh, I’m not too sure mate. I haven’t got 64bit XP machine anywhere to play around with to tell you. Perhaps one of our readers may be able to help here…
Dee
couldnt be simpler and sweeter! thanx a lot for taking time to share!
Hi,
MobileMe is giving the same errors too…..
Hi
Am using the SP 1 version of win2k3. And the Win Installer is erroring out as usual.
Dont know, what to do. Not able to Sync the iPod with more songs.
Pl let me know if you have any workaround to get the Installer work..
Tul
@Tul,
I would suggest moving to Service Pack 2 and then trying the solution above.
Alternatively, there are other products out there like transcender or sharepod that does similar things. However, if you want iTunes, you may just have to update your windows.
-dee-
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After so many attempts to make Itunes work on my old window 2003 machine I happily found your guide. It worked perfectly for the first part of instructions but it was impossible to install the 9.1 version of the software. Fortuntely I downloades another packet with patched msi and from those I installed the 8.2 version. Now everything works!
Many thanks, I’m very grateful to you!
CC
After executing the command prompt, I get no status bars or anything of the sort, so I don’t think the packet installed correctly. Instead, I got a window, not necessarily an error window, that just lists a bunch of commands that are available for use. I hope this makes sense.
My cousin and I have been working on getting iTunes to work for days to no avail, and my iTouch went crazy on me and deleted all my music.
Hope you can help Dee, I just wish that I’m getting the same results as these people on this thread :(
I am new to Windows Server 2003 and trying to expand my knowledge in this area. This is the easiest and only way to make ipod work with software. This article deserves a 5 star.
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