Fixed: Unable to sync iPhone with Calendar/Contacts
iPhone October 15th, 2008
Sometime after upgrading to iTunes 8.0.1 and OS X 10.5.5 (not sure when it started TBH), everytime I connected up my iPhone iTunes error’d with:
“iTunes cannot sync information with the iPhone “Macca’s iPhone” because syncing has been disabled on this computer. Do you want to enable syncing? (y/n)”
Weird, I thought. I haven’t disabled anything. I wondered if this was a problem with Office 2008 as last time I sync’d successfully all of my Exchange based calendar items were triplicated.. but that’s another story.
Anyway. Clicking on Yes (to enable syncing) brought up another error:
“Syncing cannot be enabled on this computer”
So, lo and behold i’ve had out of date calendars and contacts for weeks. Music, photos and video sync’ing was absolutely fine though.
When it happened again this morning, I tried to open iSync this morning and yet another error:
SyncServices: Can’t connect to the sync server:
NSInvalidRecievePortException: connection went invalid while waiting for a reply ((null))
Looks like something funny going on with the local sync configuration.
Fortunately, the fix was easy. I renamed the Local sync folder to Local_bak. iSync then created a new one automatically. I can now sync without any problems at all.
- cd ~/Library/Application\ Support/SyncServices/
- mv Local Local_bak
- Start iSync.
October 31st, 2008 at 6:52 pm
I have precisely this problem, with all these error messages…but I’m too stupid to understand your easy fix. Please describe EXACTLY where I go and what I do to “rename the Local sync folder to Local_bak.” In other words, what do you mean by “cd ~/Library/Application\ Support/SyncServices/” and “mv Local Local_bak”?
Thanks!
October 31st, 2008 at 6:59 pm
Hi Kurt,
They are commands to be run in Terminal.
You can achieve the same results using Finder, it’s just that using Terminal is quicker.
1. Open Finder.
2. Navigate to the folder %Your Username%/Library/Application Support/SyncServices
3. Click on the folder Local.
4. Press Enter and change the folder name.
5. Start iSync.
Hope that helps.
–ian
October 31st, 2008 at 7:49 pm
Thanks, Ian…but when I get via Finder to my username, and then the Library folder, and then the SyncServices folder, there is no Local folder there — only a folder called Schemas.
Again, sorry for my retardation, and thanks for your help.
Kurt
October 31st, 2008 at 7:52 pm
No worries
You need to go Username then Library, then Application Support, then SyncServices.
You’ll see it in there.
–ian
October 31st, 2008 at 7:53 pm
ps. I originally missed the application support folder from my reply..
October 31st, 2008 at 9:35 pm
Works! Thanks so much.
Kurt
November 23rd, 2008 at 1:33 am
Thanks so much!
Everything works fine now
November 24th, 2008 at 4:29 am
Big thanks! I’ve been annoyed with this problem for weeks and hadn’t found a solution. This worked first try. Thanks!
Tadd
January 18th, 2009 at 10:32 pm
Genius! I’ve spent all evening trying to solve the same problem. As soon as I tried this remedy, it worked!! Many thanks.
February 20th, 2009 at 10:30 pm
Thanks! I’ve had sync issues even with the iPhone and my macs. This worked. Thanks again.
April 7th, 2009 at 8:49 pm
Had exactly the same problem, thank you for the help!
/Mattias
May 6th, 2009 at 4:54 pm
Thanks, it worked!
-Carl
May 15th, 2009 at 7:25 pm
This has been EXTREMELY HELPFUL!!!! Thank you so much.
May 21st, 2009 at 5:41 am
Thanks Ian for the great instructions… Worked like a champ…
1. Open Finder.
2. Navigate to the folder %Your Username%/Library/Application Support/SyncServices
3. Click on the folder Local.
4. Press Enter and change the folder name.
5. Start iSync.
Hope that helps.
–ian
June 10th, 2009 at 3:21 am
Thanks Ian it solved my problem.
June 14th, 2009 at 8:55 pm
You are a star! Well done…
July 10th, 2009 at 6:37 am
Wauw super thx!! it worked perfect!
i’m now a happy syncer!
July 17th, 2009 at 5:04 am
Thanks for this!
This worked great, this problem is extremely irritating, thanks for this quick and easy fix! Now, just to understand what caused the problem in the first place…
August 9th, 2009 at 4:31 am
I had the same exact problem… my calendar wasn’t syncing, and I thought it was because I’m syncing between multiple computers and MobileMe now… but no.
Run the commands above in Terminal, reboot, and you’ll be syncing again in no time. Many thanks!
August 10th, 2009 at 5:16 am
[...] is a slightly adapted fix taken from maccarocks.com. The difference being, iSync hanged when I tried to launch without [...]
August 28th, 2009 at 8:34 pm
Boy, a bunch of dead-end searches, then yours solved the problem in 1,2,3 easy steps. Thanks for taking the time to share your expertise.
September 28th, 2009 at 11:20 pm
I’m having the “iTunes canot sync information with the iPhone…because syncing has been disabled on this computer.” problem on a PC running Windows Vista. When I click Yes to enable syncing, I get an error message: “iTunes was unable to load provider data from Sync Services. Reconnect or try again later.” I couldn’t find a folder to rename. Any ideas for a fix?
September 29th, 2009 at 10:38 am
Sorry, I don’t use Vista so can’t help here.
There is, however, a 7 page discussion on the Apple support site which has the same symptoms.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1595916&tstart=0
Maybe have a look through that?
//ian
November 6th, 2009 at 8:13 pm
By the sound of it, I’m not in Kansas any more.
) and having the same problem. I also noticed that the iTunes process seems to be trashing (no real activity, just lots of page faults). My whole computer is so slow, it might be frozen.
I’m not in Windows XP either.
I searched my system disk for a SyncServices folder but could not find one.
I’m running Win XP on a PC (let’s not start any religous wars here
Yours looked like an easy fix. Any idea anybody how to reproduce it in Windows?
Thanks & regards.
November 7th, 2009 at 12:13 am
Sorry guys, I didn’t wait for the search to complete. Actually there is a SyncServices\Local folder. I found it in:
C:\Documents and Settings\’myusername’\Application Data\Apple Computer\SyncServices\Local
I renamed it, and a new one was created. Unfortunately, this did not solve my problem. It actually made things worse. iTunes freezes completely as soon as I plug my iPhone into the cradle. I don’t even get to the ‘cannot sync’ any more.
Any idea?
Thanks again.
November 8th, 2009 at 5:08 pm
Macca I love you !! It works !
November 19th, 2009 at 5:09 am
Saved my day. Went to apple store where the genius said he can’t solve it because my laptop was Windows. Was fearing a long call to tech support, before finding this page, thanks to Bing!
November 19th, 2009 at 11:39 am
Glad to help!
January 24th, 2010 at 12:11 pm
I have searched high n low for an answer to my iphone being completley empty of all contcts, music, etc since restoring!!! Nothing worked then something as simple as corrupt file, rename and a new one is installed by Itunes!!! FANTASTIC I tried restoring iphone, updating software, downgrading software, reinstalling Itunes, etc, etc ,etc – ITS IS SO SIMPLE AND IT WORKS – THANK YOU
January 26th, 2010 at 12:57 am
THANK YOU for this. I’ve had to deal with this issue for about a year! I’ve taken it to the Apple Store and one of the Mac Geniuses insisted that I had a corrupted file in my iTunes library which was causing this problem. I’ve had to deal with this issue for way too long and thanks to this tip, IT WORKS!!!!! THANK GOD!