The Missing IPhone Folder in PC's Explorer

5 January 2020

The IPhone folder is always there in the PC’s Explorer when I plug the IPhone using the lightning cable. The other day, the folder disappeared suddenly. It disappeared when I was trying to change the default program for IPhone’s picture JPG. This led me to a witch hunt thinking there was something wrong the PC.

What Happened?

When the folder was missing, I unplugged and replugged the IPhone cable many times. The PC would always acknowledged the connection with a sound. The only problem was there was no IPhone folder found in the Explorer’s screen.

The Symptom

The following were the observations:

1. There was no “Portable Devices” folder shown up in the PC’s Device Manager

 

2. While unplugging the IPhone, the "Portable Devices" would pop up momentary. It would show that “Apple IPhone” was not connected. Soon after, the folder would disappear

3. Deleting the “Apple IPhone” before it disappeared would change it to “MTP USB Device”. Deleting "MTP USB Device” again would need one to reinstall this driver at each IPhone plug-in. But, it would always fail to install each time.

What was Suspected?  What was done?

The immediate reaction was to assume that something was wrong with the PC. The drivers or the Operating System might have been corrupted. There were many such incidents reported before.

Tried almost every “tricks” found in the Net. These include uninstalling the iTune and Apple Mobil Device software. Also carried out Registry keys modifications, MTP and Apple USB drivers reinstallation. This witch hunts went for 2 days. None of the “Tricks” worked.

There was even a thought coming up to re-install the Operation System or to do a System Restore.

How It was Solved?

Thinking out of the box, I connected my old OPPO Android Phone to try out if it was the PC's fault. To my surprise, this old OPPO Android Phone was connected to the PC without any hitch. Finally, a simple “Slide to Power Off” and then “Power on” on the IPhone solved the  problem.

Take Aways

1. Like any human dispute, never assume that the 1st party (in this case the PC) is at fault. This was despite the fault occurred when I was fiddling around with the PC;

2. Always find a 3rd party (in this case the OPPO Android Phone) to confirm whose is at fault;

3. Last but the lest, never depend only on “gossips” from the Net to get your problem solve. Always think out of the box.