Note: the problem changed now. You can read the "Old Problem" if you want, but it's not needed to understand the new one.

New Problem

With a lot of hackery (extracting the .msi's and then Orca) I finally managed to install the Mobile Device Support thingy, and that fixed the old problem. However, another problem arose.

Basically, iTunes won't recognize my iPhone when it's not in DFU or recovery mode. I made the mistake of trying to recover it (by rebooting it in DFU mode so that it gets recognized, and then clicking restore); but as soon as the iPhone reboots itself into normal mode to install the firmware iTunes hangs.. So now I'm stuck with an unusable iPhone for the time being! :( (since the recovery process formatted it, but now I can't install the firmware)

I got tired of it and figured it would be faster to create a 32 bit Windows XP VM than to resolve the problem. Curiously enough, Windows XP has the same exact problem. I tried several times; what's interesting is that it gets stuck at different times (sometimes at waiting for iPhone, sometimes at reinstalling iphone software 1 tick, sometimes 2 ticks, etc)..

Any ideas? This is what I'm going to do as soon as I'm able:

• Try with a different USB cable
• Try with a different computer

Old Problem

I use Windows 7 x64 and, after a format, I installed the x64 version of iTunes. (iTunes.exe appears to be 32 bit though from the task manager, but I've been told below by Randolph Potter (below) that this is normal; however can anyone else confirm that?)

After I plug in my iPhone in all its radiant wisdom it says:

This iPhone cannot be used because the required software is not installed. Run the iTunes installer to remove iTunes, then install the 64-bit version of iTunes.

This is really making me mad, especially because the iTunes I installed (several times now) is x64 (and not x86, yes I am sure).

I tried googling, other people have had the same problem but didn't find any solution so far. Any ideas?

Thanks

Solution

I found the problem. It's apparently tied to the motherboard (I have a P7P55D)..

• http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=10529823
• http://www.theiphoneblog.com/2009/11/07/busted-windows-7-intel-p55-express-iphone-sync-fixed-gigabyte-motherboards-asus-msi-pending/

Gigabyte has issued a BIOS upgrade that fixes it; unfortunately mine is Asus so I guess I have no choice but wait.