Resolved
Hey everyone,
I wanted to post this because I spent almost 5 hours trying to fix this and couldn't find anyone with the exact same issue.
My iPhone wasn't showing up in Apple Devices (or previously iTunes), but Windows was detecting it. Every time I plugged it in, Windows played the USB connection sound, the phone charged normally, and Device Manager could see it. However, it never appeared in Apple Devices or File Explorer, and I never got the "Trust This Computer?" prompt on the iPhone.
I tried pretty much everything I could find online: reinstalling Apple Devices, iTunes, Apple USB drivers, Apple Mobile Device Support, updating Windows and AMD chipset drivers, running DISM and SFC, resetting Location & Privacy on the iPhone, trying different cables, USB 2.0/3.0/3.2 ports, and even testing two different iPhones. Both phones worked perfectly on another Windows PC, so I knew the problem was specific to my computer.
The breakthrough came when I checked Device Manager and PowerShell. My iPhone wasn't using Apple's normal USB driver—it was listed under libusb-win32 devices as "iPhone (Composite Parent)". I had previously used apps like Camo, Iriun, and DroidCam, so I suspect one of them replaced the normal Apple USB driver with a libusb driver.
The fix was surprisingly simple: I uninstalled iPhone (Composite Parent) from libusb-win32 devices, restarted my PC, and plugged the iPhone back in. As soon as I reconnected it, Apple Devices immediately recognized it, the "Trust This Computer?" prompt finally appeared, and everything started working again.
If your iPhone charges, Windows plays the USB sound, and Device Manager detects it, but Apple Devices, File Explorer, and the Trust prompt never appear, check whether your iPhone is listed under libusb-win32 devices. That ended up being the entire problem for me.
Hopefully this saves someone else a few hours of frustration. It definitely wasn't the cables, USB ports, Windows updates, or Apple's drivers in my case. 🚀
Everything I Tried (Before Finding the Real Cause)
I spent nearly 5 hours troubleshooting this. Here's everything I tried before finding the actual problem:
Apple Software
- Reinstalled Apple Devices.
- Reinstalled Apple Mobile Device Support.
- Installed and tested iTunes.
- Reinstalled Apple's official USB drivers.
- Used the Apple Mobile Drivers Installer project from GitHub to reinstall every Apple USB driver.
- Verified Apple Mobile Device Service was installed and running.
Windows
- Restarted Windows multiple times.
- Installed all available Windows Updates.
- Updated AMD chipset drivers.
- Ran:
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
sfc /scannow
- Verified Windows wasn't reporting any USB errors.
iPhone
- Restarted the iPhone several times.
- Reset Location & Privacy.
- Reconnected the phone while unlocked.
- Waited for the "Trust This Computer?" prompt (it never appeared).
Hardware
- Tested multiple USB cables.
- Tested USB 2.0 ports.
- Tested USB 3.0 ports.
- Tested USB 3.2 ports.
- Tested both front-panel and rear motherboard USB ports.
- Verified the phone charged normally every time.
Cross-Testing
- Tested two different iPhones.
- Both phones had exactly the same issue on my gaming PC.
- Both phones worked perfectly on another Windows computer (Surface Pro).
- This ruled out the iPhone, the cable, and the phones themselves.
PowerShell & Driver Investigation
- Checked Device Manager.
- Verified Windows was detecting the iPhone.
- Used PowerShell (
Get-PnpDevice) to inspect the device.
- Used
pnputil to inspect installed drivers.
- Verified Apple's official drivers were installed.
- Eventually discovered the iPhone was attached to libusb-win32 as "iPhone (Composite Parent)" instead of using Apple's USB driver.
The Fix
- Opened Device Manager.
- Expanded libusb-win32 devices.
- Uninstalled iPhone (Composite Parent).
- Restarted Windows.
- Reconnected the unlocked iPhone.
- Apple Devices immediately detected it, the "Trust This Computer?" prompt appeared again, and everything started working normally.