iPod Classic can't be seen by iTunes 12.7 on Windows 10

Solution 1:

I spoke with Apple Support. The iPod Classic is no longer supported by the software, period. Backwards compatibility is not considered and old versions of iTunes are not provided by Apple. In fact, the support personnel are forbidden to provide an older version. They suggest buying a new iPod.

Solution 2:

The older iPods are no longer supported by the new iTunes 12.9. To get the iPod back on track, it's best to install an old version of iTunes on a Windows PC. To get the older versions of iTunes, search in Google.

Solution 3:

I had this problem and tried everything from all kinds of forums and posts. Although my iPod was registered and visible on one of my computers, it was invisible and did not appear in iTunes on another until I assigned a drive letter to it in: Control Panel\Administrative Tools\Computer Management\Disk Management - and suddenly there it was!

Solution 4:

I feel your pain! I have an iPod Classic 160GB that is suffering the same issue on my Windows 10 PC and tablet as of a couple of weeks ago. However, my iPhone 8 is working perfectly.

Like you, I have followed all the suggestions I can find on the web, including restoring my PC from a month ago and then installing an older version of iTunes with no luck.

Windows currently recognizes the iPod as a USB disk, even when I switch it out of disk mode. When I go through Device Manager to update the driver under Portable Devices to install the same driver as the iPhone is using, it tells me that it is not a valid driver for that hardware. So Windows PnP does not recognize it as a iPod, which is a software issue? So why didn't the recovery work?

I have run all sorts of diagnostics on the iPod with no issues. I have reached the stage where it realizes that it is corrupt, and even tells me to restore it using iTunes, but if Windows doesn't recognize it... I have noticed that Windows hangs when it is attached, and I have had timeouts on the driver install.

I'm planning to go into my local Apple store next week, but I wonder if even their Geniuses understand Windows drivers and PnP. I also plan to hammer it this weekend, since it should be a user solution. I will post any updates.

Slight update: OK, so Windows 10 PnP returns a Device Identification String which it matches to a device in the "Models" section of the INF file. So these must not match! Now the INF file is from the latest Apple drivers, so is the iPod screwed enough to be returning a DIS that matches to a USB device but not an iPod? Going to look at resertting the iPod a few more times.