iTunes cannot read the contents of your iPhone [solved]

I received the above message (without the [solved], funnily enough) this evening when plugging my iPhone into my laptop. I think I may have disconnected mid-sync. last time I connected the two, so my bad.

I was worried. So I did some research. And I solved the problem thus:

Downloaded i-FunBox which gives you control of the iPhone’s file system from your computer
Searched the file system for a file entitled iTunesDB. It appeared as 0 bytes and resides in a folder ending iTunes_Control\iTunes
Delete it
Disconnected the iPhone from the PC
Reconnected

Bob was indeed my uncle and the job was a goodun. This was the main source of my research. Thank you.

June 22, 2010 | Filed Under General, Life, Tech stuff

Comments

204 Responses to “iTunes cannot read the contents of your iPhone [solved]”

rpn on June 24th, 2010 00:25

Thanks a whole lot man, this worked on my iPhone 4
!
Ryan on June 25th, 2010 04:45

Thanks for the tip. ON Iphone 4, the file was entitled iTunesCDB. Removing that fixed my shit.
chris on July 12th, 2010 13:32

hey – this worked great (Ryan’s version) but all my music is missing now! Any tips for that?
Dan on July 12th, 2010 13:34

It blanks out your iPhone database but you can restore it by re-sync-ing to iTunes.
cheerios on September 3rd, 2010 23:04

omggggg thankkkkk you iphone 4 works now.. just lost music only atleast all my apps and everything else remained wowwwwwwwww
raja on September 8th, 2010 16:35

Perfect!!! Worked like a charm on my 3gs 4.0.1
Thanks a lot dude.
Usama on September 18th, 2010 11:55

WOW>> I REALLY WORKED WITH ME. I was trying to restore it and was getting an error, and now i am DONE. Thanks so much.
Immy on September 22nd, 2010 09:39

Brilliant….works perfectly and didn’t lose anything part from my music. Not a major issue – its better than losing my contacts.

thanks all
Steve P on October 3rd, 2010 17:26

I got this error message too.

Since the phone works perfectly, it is apparent that some tiny database item somewhere got corrupted.

So I started CopyTrans (the free version), which unlike Itunes can see the phone fine, did some trivial config change (deleted one song), saved the changes to the phone, and after that Itunes is OK.
Alfonso on October 20th, 2010 15:12

I cannot erase it, I can see iTunesDB but whenever I highlight it my delete option is not highlighted, any help ?
Rob on November 3rd, 2010 04:09

THANKS SO MUCH. This worked and I thank you. Having a message saying I should restore my iPhone to factory settings is NEVER fun. Thanks again!!

Phone used: iPhone 4
Anil on November 16th, 2010 16:04

It only worked for me after deleting 3 more files named iTunesControl, iTunesCDB, iTunesPrefs. They reside in the same folder(iTunes_Control\)

Thanks a ton for the tip
joe on November 21st, 2010 09:47

wonderful man……..great job
CeSinge on November 23rd, 2010 21:42

Thank you so much, Steve P. “So I started CopyTrans (the free version)…” (see above).

For a non JB phone, this is a clean working solution. Stupid iTunes!
DK on November 29th, 2010 02:19

thanks a bunch!
Scott on December 9th, 2010 02:19

just has this problem with my iPhone 4… tried a tried I found on another forum. use copytransmanager to make a small change to your iPhone library (eg delete one song), make sure you sync the library successfully and then gracefully eject the iPhone. it now mounts fine in iBloat.
peishan on December 21st, 2010 10:34

I’ve tried your way to find itunedb but just couldn’t find any. i’ve just bought my iphone4 version 4.2.1. tried connecting to itunes but it just couldn’t read my content..please help me i don’t wish to delete any application or contacts away..thanks
T on December 22nd, 2010 02:00

WORKED!! I have to admit I was so nervous about trying it,
but it worked and in less than 45 seconds I was up and running.
Thanks!!!!!!!!!
Eunice on January 14th, 2011 18:34

Thank you very very much… it worked for my iphone 4!!! remove the iTunesCDB and it works for me… thank you!
Zeee on January 16th, 2011 12:35

Great work… did it… but now I am missing my music files… But is there a way to restore the files or delete them from the iphone, cos even if I cant see them on the iphone, they are taking up space…???
Edward on January 22nd, 2011 02:46

THHANK YOUUUUU!!!
maraluksina on January 23rd, 2011 13:49

Thank you very very much… You are genius! Great job!
Zane on January 26th, 2011 05:05

I have the same problem as “peishan” I have a new iPhone4 and I can’t seem to find the file after using the program. Searching the name doesn’t work and looking through the folders I can’t seem to find it either. PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Zane on January 26th, 2011 05:10

PEISHANE I may have figured it out, go under the bottom folder, select the music folder, delete the DB file type right at the first by ruight clicking and hitting delete then go to the other folder thats at the bottom when not in the music one and click tell you find one with a DB in it too and delete it as well. I didnt even lose my music
vee on January 26th, 2011 10:09

my iphone4 is not jailbroken, so once i find itunesdb in funbox i cant delete it!!

is this a retarded question – but how do i get this file deleted without jailbreaking my phone
zane on February 7th, 2011 04:49

My Iphone 4 is not jail broken either and it worked for me…ONCE….now I follow the same procedure, becuz I am having the same problem, and now it doesn’t help…Quite frankly I am sick and tired of Apple making such shitty software and every other company making extremely easy to use, non-disfunctional software and hardware. Now that this doesn’t work anymore I don’t know what to do….Anyone else have any suggestions??????????????????????????? Looks like I’m going to have to spend an hour on the phone tomorrow with Apple
Koby on February 8th, 2011 20:27

3GS with 4.2.1 jailbroken
Works! Great and thanks!
abed on February 10th, 2011 12:45

Thx dude ur the man
Arvin on February 14th, 2011 07:06

Worked! Thanks!!!!

3GS 4.1 Jailbroken
foobar on February 19th, 2011 08:36

Thanks! Worked on an Iphone 2G OS v3.0.3.
TB on February 19th, 2011 21:25

Success with my new iPhone 4 from Verizon! I had the same problem. Downlaoded i-funbox but couldn’t delete iTunesDB found in search. Followed Zane’s post and deleted the two files he mentions from their location. Worked like a charm. Just synced my phone to itunes without problems. See Zane’s post “Zane on January 26th, 2011 05:10″. To clarify, the two folders he’s referring to are: Raw File System\iTunes_Control\Music, and Raw File System\iTunes_Control\iTunes.
Daya on February 23rd, 2011 04:43

Additional tip to the above, cos i deleted my iTunesDB and it was not worked until i removed iTunesCDB.

var/mobile/itunes_control/itunes -> find and delete

iTunesCDB
iTunesDB

Cheers,
Brock on February 24th, 2011 08:40

Amazing, i was sooo annoyed when i got that message tried this and it worked on my ipod touch 4th gen. thanks so much.
Angel on February 27th, 2011 23:23

Hey !. The solution with the free copytrans manager works incredibly well !!. I have the latest IPHONE 4 4.2.1 version and the 10.1.0.56 i-tunes version. It solved the problem in seconds.
Just open the copytrans manager free version, delete just only 1 song from the IPHONE music library (anyone, you may replace it later), update the change, and then eject the Iphone. (EJECTING IT IS VERY IMPORTANT after updating!)
For getting the free copytrans manager go to their site:http://www.copytrans.net/copytransmanager.php
and download it. The download brings also a group of programs but in which copytrans manager is free. It then is very easy to use.
This solution is light years better than deleting database info files because you do not need to reinstal all the music !
Angel, from Madrid, Spain
Aditya Moghe on February 28th, 2011 14:37

100% success..
Amazingly worked on iPhone 3GS 4.2.1

Little trouble finding the file though, but eventually got it.
In case anybody gets stuck, right click on your iPhone name located in the list on the right and click search. Then type in the file name.

If still confused, go through this path:
raw…./user/media/iTunes_Control/iTunes/

Thanks again.
Willow on February 28th, 2011 18:02

Thank you soooo much for sharing this info! I used Cyberduck & SSH to delete the file, but the result was the same. All fixed up!
Gazra on March 2nd, 2011 02:09

Ok i sceptical but this worked 100% a little bummed about msic going but thanks a over night sync will sort that.

THANK YOU SO MUCH!
Ivanru on March 2nd, 2011 06:48

Awesome, thanks it worked. I had an additional problem that I some how was able to fix. I wish I could mention it here, but I am still not exactly sure how I got it work, it was quite strange. That tool was wonderful.
-Thx
bingboots on March 4th, 2011 22:12

I have an unjailbroken iPhone 4 that would get this error when I tried to restore to a backup. I didn’t see iTunesCDB like some of the other iP4 users but deleting iTunesDB, prefs and Control solved it. Thanks so much
Lau on March 6th, 2011 20:59

I love you thanks a lot, I was loosing my mind
I also had to delete iTunesControl, iTunesCDB, iTunesPrefs
el on March 7th, 2011 21:04

cheers! this worked for my Iphone 4, it came up after connecting an Ipod to my pc for the first time.. annoying!! and the ipod wasn’t even mine I was uploading music for someone!
Jonnym on March 10th, 2011 22:13

This worked for my iphone4… deleted iTunesCDB and iTunesDB. Wiped music, but that’s a lot better than having to start from scratch on apps and all.
Ahmed on March 11th, 2011 21:50

thx man !
texasjrk on March 12th, 2011 21:05

AWESOME! It worked. I have run into this issue before and just always reformatted but this is SO much better! Thanks
Vin on March 18th, 2011 17:51

Thanks man!! I had the same problem with my iphone 4 and it worked like a gun !!
EW on March 19th, 2011 18:38

Dude, you rock! This fix worked brilliantly, thank you SO much! Even Apple were saying i would have to restore which would mean losing everything since my last back up. Thanks a million. Really helpful and I’m so grateful!
Toby on March 20th, 2011 13:33

Hooray! I’ve been having this problem for MONTHS. You rule… Bookmarking this page!
Fausto on March 29th, 2011 01:26

woah thanks man this worked perfectly
Anon on March 29th, 2011 05:36

Thanks very much saved me a whack of nerves and gray hair
Anon on March 30th, 2011 22:22

iPhone 3GS, latest iOS, latest iTunes

Doesn’t work for me un-for-tun@ely.
xchan on April 7th, 2011 02:24

haha!, tnx bro..
Meg on April 17th, 2011 03:16

i deleted itunesdb but then when i reconnected my ipod to itunes, it automatically started syncing and now i have no music or videos on my ipod.. i can’t drag stuff from my library into it either.
help?
Scarface on April 18th, 2011 09:28

I luv u thank u soooooooo much it worked for me although mine was iTunesCDB so i got rid of it and its working perfectly alright now
QB on April 23rd, 2011 00:33

Seems it deleted the music off the iphone but it keeps showing i have Other used space same size as my music .. HELP!
JSDC on April 25th, 2011 01:50

Worked on my new iPhone4 after deleting iTunesControl, iTunesCDB, and iTunesPrefs–thank you so much!
esoterek.. on April 26th, 2011 01:08

thanks JSDC! worked for me also!
richer on May 2nd, 2011 04:21

it worked on my iphone 3Gs 4.3.1
i deleted the itunesDB file and nothing
then i deleted the itunesCDB as well and worked
i used iFile instead of iFunbox

Thanx a lot for the info man !!
i appreciate it
Mitul Patel on May 4th, 2011 21:07

lot of tanksssssssssssssssss

work charm ……….
Curzi on May 10th, 2011 00:17

Found 3 itunesDB files on my iphone but whatever i do it won’t let me delete them.. I am a little slow when it comes to techie stuff please can someone help with step by step instructions

Thanks

P.s it’s a jb 3g running 4.2.1
Mancake on May 11th, 2011 13:56

iph 3gs, 4.2.1, latest itunes and my songs just disappeared.
Daniel Brady on May 17th, 2011 18:35

I fucking love you lol Thanks
Shramit on May 18th, 2011 10:25

Thank you so much….this problem gave me so much headache…now its over….:)
GC on May 19th, 2011 12:10

Ok guys if you have just came across this problem and your iphone is NOT jailbroken here is a very simple solution to make it work.

*THIS METHOD WORKS FOR THOSE WHO CAN’T DELTE THEIR ItunesDB files*

*mine is an iphone 4 by the way*

1. Download I-Fun Box
2. Plug in your iphone
3. Down the left you will now see all the menu’s and sub menu’s of your iphone, navigate to the one that says ‘Raw File system’ and double click
4. This will bring up a sub menu of more folders, click the one that says Itunes_control
5. This will bring up even more sub menu’s the 2 you are need to delte files from are ‘Music’ and ‘Itunes’, first click the ‘Music’ folder and on the right side of your screen in I-Fun Box you will see a display off a lot of folders, in the top LEFT you should see a file called itunes_db_checked, right click this and then select delte.
6. Now navigate back to the ‘Itunes’ folder that we discussed in step 5 and once again you will see folders and files on the right, find the one called itunesDB, right click and delte.
7. Smile that you didn’t have to restore your iphone or lose any music! a very simple easy fix Enjoy!
JM on May 26th, 2011 22:27

iFunbox didn’t work for me because I run a Mac, but I downloaded iPhone Explorer, deleted ItunesDB and ItunesCDB, disconnected and reconnected. All fixed, thank you!
alan on May 26th, 2011 22:58

You Sir are a fricking iphone guru. Thank you very much!!!!
NaNa on May 27th, 2011 04:31

I am having this kind of problems. I have downloaded i-FunBox, but I cannot find the iTunesDB…. I want to know what to do cos iTunes cannot read the content of my phone
NaNa on May 27th, 2011 05:26

Yes I have solved this problem…. Thank GC for your detailed steps and JSDC for telling the iTunesCDB file for iPhone4. I have solved the problem now. but all my music are disappeared also
sushil on May 30th, 2011 09:39

GOD Damn it works …………….thanxxxxxxxx
Braz on May 31st, 2011 15:13

Thanks very much for this fix. I was about to pull my hair out in frustration.

specs: jailbroken 3gs running 4.0.1 with cydia and instalous.

fix: downloaded i-FunBox and deleted itunesCDB from //User/Media/iTunes_Control/iTunes/

it didn’t work with just the itunesDB but when itunesCDB was removed, restarted itunes and it synced fine.

thanks again
Mira on June 3rd, 2011 01:45

OMG Thank you!! I simply couldn’t resort to restoring my iphone to factory settings. Deleting itunes DB was not enough, I had to delete itunesCDB as well but once that was removed, it synced like a charm. )

SO happy I found this page!
Amber on June 5th, 2011 02:08

Although iTunes was telling me that the contents of my iPod could not be read, every time I connected it to my computer it would still offer me the option of downloading photos and would ask me which photo viewing application I would like to use. After reading all of the comments about how to cure the connection problem, (many of which involved downloading a program that would require the deletion of some materials in order to jump start the iPhone) it occurred to me that perhaps if I downloaded the photos I had and then deleted them off the phone as it offers to do once finished downloading, that the iTunes application would recognize it as a change to the system without causing me to lose my downloaded games, music, contacts, etc and allow the phone to connect. I tried it and it works like a charm. If you are experiencing the problem that iTunes won’t read the contents of your phone, but you can still download photos from it to your computer, do so. Then delete the photos. It will allow your phone to connect with iTunes again and you won’t lose anything off your phone and you won’t need to download any stupid hard to navigate programs.
anonymous on June 5th, 2011 12:58

THANKS!!! I WAS JUST ABOUT TO RESTORE MY IPHONE BUT NOW I DONT HAVE TO!!!
Rene on June 8th, 2011 02:31

One deleted picture later and my iPhone is syncing.

I think the problem may have been caused on my iPhone by removing a Cydia App without internet connectivity… maybe.

This is a Jailbroken 4.3.2 iPhone 4.

Thanks Amber!!!
Michigan Nemo on June 9th, 2011 14:40

Thanks for this it was both DB and CDB I had to remove but I wouldn’t have known at all if it wasn’t for this.
juan on June 10th, 2011 20:07

this does not work
Eric on June 10th, 2011 23:22

This worked GREAT!! Thank you!!
Cole K on June 13th, 2011 02:21

Thanks Dude. Getting this f-in I phone going has been a nightmare. Imagine their official solution is to totally restore the system?! WTF happened to Apple?

IPhone$ – Use Funbox, Delete ITUNESCDB, restart the phone, and voila!
Mike on June 14th, 2011 03:54

Followed all the steps and deleted that file, but I still am getting this error; this does not work.
Free on June 14th, 2011 22:12

Thanks sooo much…not sure about the user above but it worked on mine also! Totally agree getting the iphone has been a nightmare! Fingers crossed its smooth sailing from here!
kam on June 15th, 2011 10:24

Mike, you need to restart itunes…I would just like Add that it has worked for me.
tarang96 on June 18th, 2011 06:06

thanx i did it from ifile but how did it work
nissim on June 22nd, 2011 17:14

your the best.. worked perfectly on 3GS 4.2.1, removed itunesDB and itunesCDB. thanks.
Karen on June 23rd, 2011 20:01

THANKS SO MUCH!!! Just got my first iPhone today and couldn’t do a thing with it. I not only got the “itunes can’t read the iphone” message but i got about three more after that. Everything from “required file can’t be found” to “duplicate filename was specified” to “an internal device error has occurred.” This was all during my very first sync attempt. Your i-FunBox solution solved it all! I simply deleted the two files mentioned above and BAM…..I was in business. Thanks again!!
Justin on June 23rd, 2011 21:25

See below: I had the same issue. But after that it worked perfectly. Thank you very much!!

Anil: It only worked for me after deleting 3 more files named iTunesControl, iTunesCDB, iTunesPrefs. They reside in the same folder(iTunes_Control\)
Craig Clark on June 25th, 2011 11:23

Thank You!!!! Ive spent 3 hrs this morning trying to solve this issue on my iphone4. I had to delete 2 files. iTunesCDB and iTunesDB unplugged, plugged in and it now syncs fine. Thanks again!
Thaddaeus on June 26th, 2011 09:59

Thanks bro. This problem has been bothering me all night. Really appreciate it.
CamEdwardo on June 28th, 2011 00:37

Thanks Anil, I deleted those three files via SSH and it worked like a charm.
shb on June 28th, 2011 19:57

you are an angel man, you saved my contacts.
Lagden on June 29th, 2011 05:01

Thanks Amber!!!! Thanks very much for this trick! I just sync photos again!
mosesa on June 30th, 2011 20:10

I jailbreaked my mobile, Iphone 3GS, recently and every time I accessed Itunes, it would error and recommend to restore.
I used i-FunBox, with my mobile connected, today and removed “itunesCDB” from
/Raw File Syetm/User/Media/iTunes_Control/iTunes/
restarted itunes. Bingo.
Thanks a lot.
sahil on July 4th, 2011 14:24

thanks dude…..my i phone finally works…..thanks again…..cheers
armokk on July 6th, 2011 14:54

tested on my iPhone 3gs 4.2.1, had installed mewseek and it had corrupted my iTunes,
deleted my iTunes library manually and all hope was lost of every syncing again,

the ios4 file you need to delete is tunesCDB which is located in /Media/iTunes_Control/iTunes/ reconnect iPhone happy days !
ccaroline on July 8th, 2011 23:56

Holy mother of God, you saved my life – thank you!
suhel on July 12th, 2011 11:25

Great man !!!!!!!!!! it really worked!!!!!!!

THANK YOU SO MUCH………..:)
Charles Collis on July 13th, 2011 23:23

You absolute GODSEND! By the way guys iPhone Explorer is the mac version
Matt on July 14th, 2011 08:30

Excellent info. It worked for me on my iphone 4.
VC on July 15th, 2011 19:48

Thanks, worked like a charm!
karan on July 17th, 2011 18:12

ohhhhhhhhhh GOD… THANKS ALOTTTTTTTT THE PERSON WHO DID SUCH A GREAT WORK I REALLY APPRICIATE …. THANKS … I WAS GOING TO GIVE MY IPHONE TO APPLE SERVICE CENTER BUT THANKS TO ALL THE GUYZ WHO REALLYYY DONE THE GREAT WORKKKKKKKK THANKS ONCE AGAIN …
Evelyn on July 18th, 2011 03:22

Just wanted to chime in with the chorus: THANK YOU! This saved me a lot of hassle. Cheers.
Nas on July 19th, 2011 14:32

really useful info
linklik on July 19th, 2011 22:05

now my ipad 2 is not booting up, tnx stpid
Dan on July 20th, 2011 09:31

Sorry to hear that. The advice clearly states it has worked for iPhones. No reference to iPads. So maybe I’m not the stpid one…
tariq on July 25th, 2011 14:12

It worked for me 2, thanx for the tip.
Hidayat on July 25th, 2011 18:25

hey!

it appears that I have ‘extra’ used up space under ‘others’!
and also, there’s 600+ songs in my iphone when there’s not a single song in it!
can any kind soul resolve this?

Thank you
Niknej on July 26th, 2011 16:19

I take my hat off to you, young man. That must have been very satisfying.
CIO on July 26th, 2011 16:50

thank you very much. It really works!
leetdave on July 27th, 2011 11:51

ty sooooooooooooooo much! this blog help me a lot! muwah!!! =)
Mark on July 27th, 2011 21:17

Brilliant, too good. For iphone 4 it is remove iTunesCDB. Thanks so much, so easy but why does itunes ask to reset factory settings if it’s as easy as removing the file? Typical Apple!
chris on July 29th, 2011 13:35

omg i love you
Bob dillan on July 30th, 2011 15:47

removing the file iTunesCDB from var/mobile/media/itunes_control/itunes fixed my library issue on my iphone 4, thankyou!
BarBar on July 30th, 2011 22:10

Amazing!!! iPhone 4, jailbroken, 4.3.3.
Deleted all suggested files (iTunesDB, iTunesCDB, iTunescontrol, iTunesprefs) through iFunBox and the only thing deleted when synching was the music.
Thanks so much!!!
nima on August 1st, 2011 09:46

it realy worked for my iphone 4
and solved my problem after I deleted 3 files(iTUnesDB,iTunesControl, iTunesCDB).
…..
thank you very much
Yusuf Ziya TURHAL on August 6th, 2011 12:25

For iphone 4 it works well i only deleted the cdb file and it is now working tnx for the tips

Only iTunesCdb deleted made my work done
Kliff on August 9th, 2011 22:40

does diz deletes your jailbroken app on your phone?
Hishaan on August 12th, 2011 15:16

Had to delete itunescbd also to get my iPhone 4 to sync.!
TJ on August 14th, 2011 22:33

Got mine to work fine, here’s the error I had:

iTunes cannot read the contents of the iPhone “Tom’s iPhone”. Go to the summary tab in iPhone preferences and click Restore to restore this iPhone to factory settings.

Here’s what I did…

Connect your iPhone to your computer

1. Download ifunbox
http://dl.i-funbox.com/ifunbox_en.zip and then unzipp
2. Start ifunbox after unzipped
Double click iFunBox.exe to start the program.
3. Click the Raw File System folger
4. Click iTunes_Control folder
5. Click iTunes folder
6. Click the Swith View button top right to see the complete file names
7. Locate iTunesDB, right click rename to OLDiTunesDB
8. Locate iTunesCDB, right click rename to OLDiTunesCDB
9. Not sure if this is needed but I unplugged my iPhone and then reconnected.
10. Start iTunes and it should work as normal.
nirdesh on August 15th, 2011 12:02

thnx. it worked on removal of itunesdb and itunescdb files from the same directory.
Iphone3gs
Gopa on August 16th, 2011 17:28

Thanks a ton for this wonderful Application…!!
Was stuck up exactly on the same error mentioned above, wondering what’s next…
Then found this site and it was a life saver…!!

What I did :

Could not locate the itunesdb file, but after removal of iTunesCDB and iTunespref it worked like a Gem..Disconnected and reconnected the phone and Itunes was able to detect it.
Suze on August 18th, 2011 00:31

Fantastic! I thought the new version of itunes had detected my jailbreaked iphone and that I was hosed. Not the case. Your protocol totally worked and I’m up and running again. Thank you!!
Anonymous on August 18th, 2011 04:29

Thank you SO much for the help.
AGB on August 21st, 2011 16:32

Worked perfectly on Iphone 4. I deleted the iTunesCDB file, re-synched, and itunes recognized my phone.

Excellent tip!
DW on August 21st, 2011 21:21

This worked to get my iPhone 3GS back up and running. THANK YOU for saving me a huge amount of frustration.
ED on August 24th, 2011 03:49

OMG!!!! IT worked! I swear I have tried everything else out there for the past two months. Thank you sooo much!!
Gareth on August 25th, 2011 19:08

Thankyou so much, this worked a treat
Cartieee on August 25th, 2011 19:26

THANK YOU!
Chesco on August 27th, 2011 13:25

Thank you very much this seemed to fix it right up.
Alexander BS on August 28th, 2011 00:24

This worked perfectly. Thank you so much mate.
JOE on August 28th, 2011 20:59

THANKS IT WORKED GREAT I HAD TO REMOVE BOTH FILES ITUNESCDB AND ITUNESDB THEN DISCONNECTED AND RESTRARTED IPHONE 3GS 4.3.3 IOS 10.4.10
Nica on August 30th, 2011 09:31

it worked, the message didn’t appear in iTunes but all my music in my ipod are missing but i checked on the “about” settings of my ipod 4th gen 4.2.1 and has 0 songs but still using the same space when it was 599 songs, (964MB left) , i connect to itunes and the space left [it was 2Gb + ], it’s kinda weird? help me really delete all songs that are not using up space
Chea pisith on August 31st, 2011 17:54

Oh, Thank you. Thanks u guys… millions thanks i fixed it.
david on September 1st, 2011 08:30

thanksssss !! a lot after out of restore mode i find this problem. cannot conect to itunes i do the same procedure i just use another program called WINSCP and go to folder then delete mentioned 3 files thankss again!!!!!
Scott on September 8th, 2011 00:11

Thanks to Daya for the full directory of the files, although with my iP4 there was an extra directory after /mobile…

var/mobile/media/itunes_control/itunes/iTunesCDB
var/mobile/media/itunes_control/itunes/iTunesDB

I just deleted these two and am back in business. Bit of a pain in the arse to restore the music, I can’t even remember what was on there! Saying that, 5 minutes ago I thought I was gonna have to spend the next however many hours restoring it, so it’s a tiny price to pay.

Thank you!
Kimberley on September 11th, 2011 05:51

Could someone pls explain in detail? I downloaded that i-FunBox but I don’t know what you guys are talking about the iTunesDB. Can someone pls help!
Kan on September 11th, 2011 23:01

Kimberley –> http://blog.i-funbox.com/?cat=8

Read “rescue the iPhone if you still need iTunes”

and

“Itunes cannot read the contents of the iphone??”
http://modmyi.com/forums/general/729191-itunes-cannot-read-contents-iphone.html
Kimberley on September 14th, 2011 14:31

Kan: Thanks though! My phone is alright now! Miraculously! (:
Nuno on September 24th, 2011 14:00

Saved my iPad2 from a Restore!
(the problem happened after a sync with almost no space on device). iTunes crashed on my PC, and never allowed to sync again, with the infamous message suggesting restore…
Many Thanks for the info!
zayas on September 29th, 2011 13:27

This happens when you download mewseek app wish transfer your downloaded songs to your iphone ipod!!
MikeC-R on October 4th, 2011 23:08

Amber’s solution of uploading a photo from (in my case) an iPod Touch 4g resolved resolved the problem of “iTunes cannot read the contents…” instantly. Nice one. A whole lot more satisfying than downloading a program and searching for files to delete. Big question, though: Why does Apple not include this simple solution on its website?
Nick on October 4th, 2011 23:33

Thank daya
shabz on October 4th, 2011 23:48

Dont even need to delete iTunesdb file on iphone 4 – just the iTunesCDB file cos I just tested it.

My iphone causes me problems everytime I use alternative software to change/upload a song so I’m going to avoid doing that now!!!

Nice one for solutions anyway!!!
Marco on October 8th, 2011 19:45

Worked beautifully on my iphone 4.
michelle on October 9th, 2011 17:45

boom yeah. thanks… worked a treat.

iphone 3g
x
Snipr on October 10th, 2011 00:17

Thank u ever so much luv u! (No homo) lol :p
Chandan on October 11th, 2011 18:46

THANKS MY PHONE CAN FINALLY SYNC
iPhone 3GS 32Gb with 24gp of apps, non jailbroken! would’ve had to restore if it wasn’t for you, especially with the new software + iphone 4s coming out, you saved me BIG TIME, THANKS again <3

it's backing up atm, fingers crossed i dont get anything deleted! got like 50 songs to put on it (y) x
How to delete things off itunes and my music folder all at once? on October 12th, 2011 05:07

[...] be removed from itunes library? Check out our user posted comments/solutions, or post your own! Gracie_J asks, I was wondering if i delete songs in itunes will they automatically delete from my mu…s">comments/solutions, or post your own! WordPress › [...]
PeterLagarda on October 12th, 2011 16:25

Saved my phone from an unpleasant restore!
Luke on October 12th, 2011 23:46

In the case of my iPad2 it was enough to delete/rename the following file: “iTunes_Control\iTunes\iTunesCDB”

Worked like a charm!!
iphone4 cambodia on October 14th, 2011 15:19

wow wow that worked for me iphone 4 4.3.5 i deleted 3 files.
Pat Shuck on October 18th, 2011 21:22

Help!!! I deleted both. Now my phone won’t sync at all. I have a 3gs with the new iOS5 just installed. Now I know why I was so hesitant to update it.
Mark on October 19th, 2011 00:46

Tahnk you so much!
I have an ipod touch 2g. It is not jailbroken. I used ifunbox and it worked fine. I first tried deleting only iTunesDB and it didn’t work. I then deleted iTunesCDB and it worked again. All of my music was gone, but I had all of that on my computer already. My concern was the app data and it was all still there.
Thanks for the help.
Nicole on October 21st, 2011 18:23

THANK YOU SOOO MUCH. You are my iPhone’s lifesaver!!! TOO AWESOME!!!!
Emma on October 23rd, 2011 13:45

iphone 3GS jailbroken!

i had to delete itunesCDB
thankyou so much <3
Rafal Chmiel on October 23rd, 2011 21:45

I’m a software geek and dev and I have no idea how this solved the problem. Thanks!
KPats on October 24th, 2011 08:51

I need URGENT help.

My iphone 3GS was working fine but when i go on cydia to update sources it kept giving me an error. I gave it to my friend to fix which he did and updated all fiels but when it asked him to beboot device, the iphone would not switch on. All that would appear would be the apple icon and freeze on that.

Please can some advice me what i can try to fix this issue.

Thanks
Ali on October 25th, 2011 16:38

I have done that but the search result was more than three files Called itunesdb, well i’m not sure about which one i should delete
Ali on October 25th, 2011 17:04

Thanx man It worked for me– )))((((-

Thank you
pirateledgend on October 26th, 2011 03:13

i got it fix but it keep happening. can u help me with that. X(
Jordan on November 1st, 2011 02:39

It worked great on my iphone4 thanks…
Sarah on November 7th, 2011 02:07

I had the exact same problem after I downloaded the most recent iOS. I exited iTunes and restarted my phone and it worked perfectly. A whole lot easier than some of the other options posted above.
Vampire on November 11th, 2011 20:00

You are genious buddy… 100 Solved after doing that!!! I’m lucky to find my iPhone +its applications and media back!!!
dryade on November 17th, 2011 14:08

It works! Thank you so so so much !!!
damn4real on November 28th, 2011 02:36

..thanks dude for sharing, i thought i need to restore again my ipod touch to be able to connect it again, thanks a lot..
HelpMePLEASE on December 3rd, 2011 01:03

For some reason i had 2 of each file i had 2 iTunesDB, and 2 iTunesCDB so i deleted both. and now it says no content on my ipod touch 2g.firmware 3.1.3(7E18), but on my computer it says that my ipod is full. IF it means anything i also use mewseek to download music and import them to my library.
HelpMePLEASE on December 3rd, 2011 02:54

nvmd i found it easyest to delete the whole itunes control folder, restart springboard, then resync all my songs back
Pradeep on December 10th, 2011 20:24

Today I bought Ipod 4G. I got very tense, when itune was not detecting the iphone. At last it worked for me. Thanks, You rock.
Veritas on December 14th, 2011 20:34

Awesome! It was the iTunesCDB file on iPhone4 like they said! Thanks!
Elahe on December 15th, 2011 17:58

Thanks!!when delete 3files on directory worked on ipad2 .
but when connect on iTunes say Restore from last backup .
Jonathan on December 17th, 2011 13:40

PEOPLE I DID THE COPYTRANS MANAGER (FREE)STEPS AND IT WORKED GREAT JUST DOWNLOAD IT, INSTALL IT, CONNECT YOUR APPLE DEVICE, DELETE ONE (1) SONG (YOU CAN COPY IT AGAIN TO iTUNES LATER), SAVE THE CHANGES (SYNC), EJECT (THIS STEP IS VERY VERY IMPORTANT), CLOSE COPYTRANS MANAGRE (FREE), OPEN iTUNES AND THATS IT, YOUR iDEVICE WILL BE FULLY WORKING WITHOUT THE NEED OF RESTORING IT!!!
Luke on December 17th, 2011 18:39

After I did this I had to restore my ipod. um.
Tunga on December 27th, 2011 23:55

THANK UUUUUU MAN )))))
Sidcool95 on December 28th, 2011 05:08

it works 100%!
thanks mate!
Isaac on December 29th, 2011 03:40

This happened to me on my iPod, and I think that I unplugged it when I shouldn’t have. I’m trying what you said to do, but I can’t locate the iTunesDB file.
Isaac on December 29th, 2011 03:44

Now I’ve found a file called iTunesCDB on my iPod. Is that it, or do I keep searching for iTunes DB?
Isaac on December 29th, 2011 03:58

I just got on iTunes, and it recognized my iPod, and I just synced it, and it worked. I didn’t delete anything or restore it. ????????
Phil on December 29th, 2011 20:55

Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also, if you find more than one itunesDB or itunesCDB, delete them all.

Plus you can do this via iFile
Jo on January 3rd, 2012 08:33

Thank you so much for posting this! I didn’t think anything was going to work and I thought I was going to have to do a full restore and loss everything! You helped me out more than the apple specialists who were trying to blame it on my old pc and couldn’t fix it. You saved me such a headache and so much time! Thanks again!!!!
Faulkner on January 8th, 2012 17:32

Lad Nice one Worked On my iphone 4 Im going amsterdam in 5 days i was just hoping i dont have to restore it Thankssssss
Sibilur on January 12th, 2012 10:14

OK. I am very pleased you took the time to figure this out. THANK YOU. Fixed mine however, needed to delete iTunesControl, iTunesCDB, iTunesPrefs in the var/mobile/media/itunes_control/itunes/… folder… your the best.
Minnie on January 22nd, 2012 02:06

Wow, it worked. I did the iFunBox thingy suggestion and itunes then recognized my ipod touch (64gb 4th gen) The only thing is that what’s on the ipod and what’s in itunes is all different….weird
muji on March 8th, 2012 14:20

i owe you big time was cracking for awhole week
excellent thks a zillion times
Brad on March 16th, 2012 02:30

Hey-such a great fix. Im normally tech-useless, but this works a treat. Thanks heaps for the advice
danielday on April 2nd, 2012 13:42

thank u very much.. every website that i was serching sed that i need to do a restore thanks for your help
/private/var/mobile/Media/iTunes_Control/iTunes
mxh on April 8th, 2012 18:33

Thanks! It was called itunesCDB on my 3GS
Lucas on April 24th, 2012 02:10

itunesCDB and works great! Thank you
Grateful on May 1st, 2012 13:03

This works. Thank you so much! =)
Allan on May 3rd, 2012 07:55

I tried to download the “International Download (Version 0.7.0125, Mac OS X 10.6+)” but it (ifunboxmac_en.dmg) would not load properly – says that it quit unexpectedly. Asked me to relaunch and then asked the same thing again. Can anyone help my Macbook recognize an iPhone. You would think it simple.
Jo on June 20th, 2012 18:57

After trying everything else, using this method and deleting that ish off my ipod worked! thank you, thank you thank you!!!
Jae on September 8th, 2012 15:33

omg thank you SOOOO much for this. thought for sure i was going to have to Restore. you saved me from that! <3
Laura B on November 12th, 2012 06:46

Thank you so much!!! It really worked on my iPhone 4…
So easy and quick fix
Angela on November 17th, 2012 06:41

THANKYOU!! for months I’ve been trying to find a way to backup my iphone so I don’t lose everything. iCloud wouldn’t backup and it was unrecognizable, now it’s fixed and it took maybe 4 minutes! THANKYOU!!!
Danna on November 26th, 2012 23:08

thank you very much!!!!i delete only iTunesCDB(iPone 4s)and start works in few seconds
jim on November 28th, 2012 11:01

thanks for the quick tip.. worked like a dream!
Anes on December 2nd, 2012 21:44

thanks man….
i thought i had to restore my iphone 4s…
^_^
Shay on December 19th, 2012 03:19

For my iphone 4s, I was panicking because there was no ItunesDB but it turned out I had to delete ItunesCDB. Cheers for the post man, saved me from restoring.
Andrea on December 22nd, 2012 22:31

I LOVE YOU FOR THIS! Worked out on my iPhone 4s, thank you so much!
Bebe on December 26th, 2012 19:09

This worked great on my 4S! Thanks!
mark on January 10th, 2013 18:02

Thanks =)
rich on January 14th, 2013 01:59

THANKS. Trying to recover from the iTunes v11 disaster resulted in v10.7 telling me cant read my iphone. Deleting the iTunesCDB on my 3GS fixed it.
Terrific.
r-ni on January 21st, 2013 07:59

Fanx it worked on my iphone 3g ios 4.1 and all ipod contents erased(thats not a big deal)…the problem is that my iphone still shows that they is some space occupied(the free space is the same as b4 deleting itunesCBD and ItunesBD)
Ash on January 21st, 2013 21:15

You absalute legend I thought I lost a months worth of holiday pictures and was just gonna sell the phone but it worked for my iPhone 4 and well chuffed!
pankaj on February 13th, 2013 13:58

it works like charm on my iphone 4s ios 6.1
Dr.V on February 15th, 2013 06:26

Fabulous fix! Worked perfectly well with my iP4S on 6.1. Thanks so much for this post!

Had a lil trouble finding the iTunes_Control folder, but eventually found it. In case anyone’s looking for it, thru iFunbox, navigate to:

Device>Var>Mobile>Media>iTunes_Control>iTunes
then follow instructions as mentioned!

Cheers again! Thanks a ton!
yinka on March 13th, 2013 08:16

thanks man this work for me like a magic
Christopher on March 13th, 2013 23:29

Thanks a lot!