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Transfering photos to Windows PC via Photos app

I am having problems downloading my iPhone 8 pictures to my Windows 10 PC, used to work just fine but now I keep getting an error. All the error says "Something went wrong" try again but it keeps failing. So I am not sure if this is an Apple or Microsoft issue. Additionally, I can see the data files from the iPhone via File Manager but if I try to copy is says device is not accessible. Any advice would be apricated. Thanks!

Windows, Windows 6

Posted on Feb 26, 2020 7:48 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Feb 26, 2020 8:26 AM

I’m sorry, but iCloud photos is out of my wheelhouse. I do know that when you enable iCloud Photos, the photos are stored in full resolution in iCloud, but not necessarily so on your devices. That’s done to save space on your devices.


This will provide you with some more information about how it works.

Set up and use iCloud Photos - Apple Support


I would urge you to download the photos to your PC from iCloud so that you have copies on your computer. Bear in mind that iCloud is merely a syncing service and not archival storage. If you delete a photo anywhere that you use iCloud photos, you delete it everywhere and that’s why you should backup the photos to the PC.


Is your phone totally updated to iOS 13.3.1?


4 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Feb 26, 2020 8:26 AM in response to Bombay1945

I’m sorry, but iCloud photos is out of my wheelhouse. I do know that when you enable iCloud Photos, the photos are stored in full resolution in iCloud, but not necessarily so on your devices. That’s done to save space on your devices.


This will provide you with some more information about how it works.

Set up and use iCloud Photos - Apple Support


I would urge you to download the photos to your PC from iCloud so that you have copies on your computer. Bear in mind that iCloud is merely a syncing service and not archival storage. If you delete a photo anywhere that you use iCloud photos, you delete it everywhere and that’s why you should backup the photos to the PC.


Is your phone totally updated to iOS 13.3.1?


Feb 26, 2020 7:56 AM in response to Bombay1945

How are you trying to transfer the photos and the files? Are you using iCloud Photos and iCloud Drive? Or are you trying to import the photos with the cable and the files via file sharing and iTunes?


I assume that you have connected the phone to your PC with the cable, but I want to clarify. If you are using the cable, have you tried quitting everything, rebooting both devices and starting over? Have you tried another Apple cable and another USB port?

Feb 26, 2020 8:13 AM in response to Demo

So, yes all devices have been rebooted, different cables and USB port tried.

At first I used just the cable connection, once USB detected the phone it would start Windows Photo App and all was good. That stopped working with said error. I tried the iTunes sync with cable and WiFi, no improvement. So now I enabled upload to icloud, not idrive which works but I have concerns that that process is reducing the quality of the pictures.

Feb 26, 2020 8:41 AM in response to Demo

Thanks, yes IOS is current. I really did not want to use icloud as a storage place anyway but seems to be the only way for me to get my pictures to my PC. So I just tried my wife's iPhone and if fails using Photo app (just like mine) but I was able to access the iPhone data file and copy files that way, as where my phone fails with "cannot access device". So I am thinking the issue is with my phone but also the Windows Photo app.

I did download my pictures from icloud to PC and that is how I found that the same files are reduced by an average of 75% - I want to make sure that the quality is not reduced in any way - storage space is not an issue for me. Thanks for your ideas.

Transfering photos to Windows PC via Photos app

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