This iPod cannot be used because the required software is not installed error
April 14, 2008
Problem: Worked on a computer where the client installed the newest iTunes update. Once the installation was finished, they got the following error when plugging in their iTouch
Solution: Came across a few suggestions to uninstall both iTunes and QuickTime, then let the iTunes installer install both. I did that along with uninstalling the Apple Mobile Device Support and then reinstalled and everything worked for me. My theory is that uninstalling the mobile device support is what really did it. I would recommend uninstalling that first and move on to iTunes and QuickTime if it doesn’t work.
Posted in 
June 16th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
I did exactly what you said and it worked… Thank you
June 18th, 2008 at 8:08 pm
You’re welcome, glad to hear it worked. Did you have to uninstall all the apps or just the mobile device support?
August 13th, 2008 at 10:19 pm
Just to let you know. To fix this problem, you must uninstall both Apple Mobile Services and iTunes. Reboot the machine, and reinstall iTunes.
If you only uninstall iTunes (and reinstall it), the problem won’t go away.
If you only uninstall Apple Mobile Services, then attempt to reinstall it using the iTunes installer’s “Repair” mode, the Apple Mobile Services won’t be reinstalled.
So you really must uninstall both, then run the iTunes installer. There is no need to uninstall Quicktime or Internet Explorer 7.
August 19th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
Please Help…
I’m having the same issue and have uninstalled both with no luck. But I don’t see that I have apple mobile services installed, shouldn’t this be apart of iTunes?
August 19th, 2008 at 6:29 pm
Mobile services is part of iTunes but in my experiences, it doesn’t install until you plug in your iPhone and your OS autodetects and installs. If you don’t see the mobile services in your Add/Remove programs then I wouldn’t think that it’s installed. But if you want to make sure try Apple’s instructions on how to uninstall all the programs mentioned, completely. Hope this helps.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1925
Larry
April 1st, 2009 at 10:23 am
bravo..it worked
April 5th, 2009 at 10:00 am
Actually all you need to do is go to add remove programs and double click on APPLE MOBILE DEVICE and choose repair.
July 1st, 2009 at 4:02 pm
my i touch has the same problem and its driving me crazy i don’t know what to do any ideas? i already uninstalled itunes and quicktime and reinstalled it.
July 2nd, 2009 at 9:24 am
@monica. Did you check to see if the mobile device services are installed. If all you’re using is your iTouch then it probably isn’t but check to make sure. Another thing to do is check to see if any apple services are still running after you uninstall everything. Click on start and then run and type “services.msc.” check to see if any apple services are running. If there are, then you have something else that might need to be uninstalled. Good Luck!
July 23rd, 2009 at 11:10 am
thanks man, your a life saver
July 26th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
Hey, im having the same problem but when i go into programes and features, Apple Mobile Device isnt there the only thing that is there is Apple Software Update. I tried uninstalling itunes and re-installing but that didnt work :S
Any help would be appriciated
Thanks, Alex
July 26th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
Okay sorry for the double post but ive found out that AMDS is not installed at all and when i try to extract it and install it separately it gives me an error message saying that problems were encountered before it could finish installing
Ive tried installing older versions of AMDS and still no luck
Any help on how to solve this would be greatly appriciated
Thanks, Alex
August 3rd, 2009 at 4:56 am
Omg, you guys are the best, this has worked
this has saved me alot of time
August 10th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
this is showing up for my ipod touch, i uninstalled mobile device services a couple of days ago and i dont want to unitstall my itunes cause ill lose all my songs is their any other solution?
August 28th, 2009 at 7:41 pm
@Kirsty
actually dont worry about losing all of your songs, uninstalling itunes wont affect or touch and of the songs u downloaded so go right ahead
September 11th, 2009 at 3:24 am
hi,
thank you so much! i just bought my itouch two weeks ago but was unable to download with itunes . it was really so frustrating. thank you so much . before i came to your site , i had tried several others but i think it was really deleting the mobile support that did it. you’re awesome!
thanks!
connie
September 21st, 2009 at 1:50 pm
Thank you very much for the tips. I uninstalled the Apple Mobile Device Support and then uninstalled Itunes and then reinstalled Itunes after a reboot of my PC then it worked. Thank you very much!
September 24th, 2009 at 6:29 pm
Alex
Did you resolve the AMDS problem? I am having exactly the same issue – I have unistalled and reinstalled ITunes numerous times, AMDS was not apearing in installed programs, so extracted it and installe seperately, but get the same error message as you. It looks like its doing OK, but gets to the very end and gives me the message. Grrr! Any ideas anyone?
Rob
October 14th, 2009 at 11:21 pm
I have uninstalled the AMDS and the ITunes, restart the computer and reinstalling Itunes again but still it has not wroked for me. For those who have solved this issue please let me know so I can also start enjoying my silent media player.=(
October 29th, 2009 at 8:09 pm
hi gyz…i tried all the things to get my itouch conected with itunes but nothing happened….the still same problem “the ipod cannot be used becauz the Apple Mobile Device is not Started”….then i Go to Start : Run : type: services.msc
Then go to the service Apple mobile device and press start it was stoped when i click on start “windows could not start the apple mobile device service on local computer
error2:the sstem cannot find the file specified” what can i do now….i m using windows vista ultimate sp2…..
plzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz help….
November 15th, 2009 at 10:15 pm
Larry, after toiling with this for about a year, I did everything you said and it worked to perfection. I am so happy I can’t even express it.
Thank you so much
November 26th, 2009 at 8:27 am
I read this guide all over internet but it does not work for me.
For some reason mobile device support is not installed. I tried installed manually by unzipping itunes installation files with no luck.
Can someone tell me what else to do?
November 26th, 2009 at 8:28 am
FYI my operating system is windows 7 Home.
I have another win7 ultimate installation on other hard drive (same computer) and itunes works perfectly.
November 26th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
Gracias muchas Gracias Thank you
December 15th, 2009 at 2:38 pm
omg dude thank u so fucking much ive been having this stupid issue for the past 4 months with not using any apps on my itouch and now all morning not being able to upload anything THANK U THANK U
December 17th, 2009 at 2:49 am
Thanks so much for this. I checked out many other forums and websites and could not find a proper answer anywhere. itunes is now working perfectly
December 31st, 2009 at 4:03 am
Thank you this really work, I really apreciated it.
January 6th, 2010 at 5:52 pm
Hey guys just wondering if ANYONE can help me because im truly stumped.
Earlier my iphone wouldnt let me restore so after much googling i found something telling me to delete anything to do with apple. itunes, bonjour, apple mobile services and apple mobile device support, basically everything. when i rebooted i got a message saying “AppleSyncNotifier.exe unable to locate component” “The application has failed to start because Core Foundation.dll was not found re-installing the application may fix the problem” which i havent got clue what it is, to top it off i downloaded itunes and once downloaded i clicked the AppleSetup.exe and then went to run and it wont let me download itunes, nothing happens. I went to services.msc and went to look for Apple Mobile Device but it isnt there so im completely stuck any help would be really appreciated, im running Windows XP at the moment if that helps.
March 4th, 2010 at 2:57 am
thanx
u rock 