iPhone storage not showing all photos on PC

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Level 1

4 points

iPhone storage not showing all photos on PC

I have always made copies of my iPhone photos by connecting my iPhone via USB cable to my laptop. Now, all of a sudden, if I go to Apple iPhone > Internal Storage, it either shows up empty or just shows some of the folders - right now, for example, it is showing from Nov 2019 (when I bought it) to May 2024. I tried importing the photos with the Microsoft Photos app, but even there, I can only see the photos I have access to directly in the folder.

I've already tried doing everything I've seen online. Uninstalled and reinstalled the driver (by the way, the Apple folder in C:\Program Files\Common Files' is empty), changed cable, changed USB port, restarted both laptop and iPhone, I even reset the iPhone's Privacy settings (it worked but only for the first time I plugged my iPhone, and it doesn't seem like the best thing to do weekly)

I have an iPhone 11 Pro, running iOS 26. I have never encountered this issue until now, and I wanted to know if anyone has dealt with it, tried everything like I did, and managed to resolve it.

iPhone 11 Pro, iOS 26

Posted on Nov 16, 2025 12:06 AM

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Answer 1

Nov 16, 2025 6:55 AM in response to APieThrower

I'm not much help with Windows, but are you using the Apple Devices app that Apple recommends?

This is what Apple says:

Transfer photos and videos from your iPhone or iPad to your Mac or PC - Apple Support

Here's what Microsoft says (I can't believe I'm referring to a Microsoft link!):

Microsoft import-photos-and-video s-from-an-iphone-to-pc

Microsoft is a bit slow keeping up with Apple's OSs, so I'd go with the Apple Devices app.

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Answer 2

Nov 21, 2025 1:33 AM in response to APieThrower

APieThrower wrote:

I'm trying to copy photos and videos taken with my iPhone from my iPhone to my laptop, not the other way around. I've always been able to do that and now all of a sudden I can't anymore

A workaround is to save images to Files > USB drive (see above) and then import from that to PC.

Or try to fix it by resetting iPhone via General > Reset > Reset all settings (do NOT reset to factory settings at least yet). Make an iCloud backup or a local backup of the iPhone before doing that, just in case. You then have to set some settings when the iPhone or the PC prompts you to do so. Make sure to "trust" the PC when you connect the awake iPhone to it.

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Answer 3

Nov 20, 2025 8:27 AM in response to APieThrower

Notice that the images you have exported from a PC/Mac to the iPhone via Apple Devices (PC) or Finder (Mac), are then "owned" by the PC/Mac. So File Explorer or Windows Photos (PC) or Image Capture.app or Apple Photos (Mac) does not display such images in the import dialog -- only images shot with the iPhone are displayed in the import dialog.

If you want to retrieve such images, you have to save them in the iPhone to a) Files > USB drive (formatted as APFS, exFAT or FAT) or b) Files > iCloud Drive or c) via iCloud Photos.

And if you want to delete such images from the iPhone, you can a) export an empty folder to the iPhone or b) sync an empty iCloud Photos library to it.

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Answer 4

APieThrower Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 17, 2025 12:56 AM in response to Richard.Taylor

I already have the Apple Devices app installed, and the only thing I use it for is backing up my iPhone. I've tried using the Windows Foto app to import photos and videos, but it will only import the media that is shown in the Internal Storage folder, so if that's only showing some months, or none at all, then the Foto app will import those and those only. I've tried using my brother's laptop (he has Windows 11 and I'm stuck at 10), but the entire explorer.exe process crashes when he tries to open the folder

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Answer 5

APieThrower Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 21, 2025 12:36 AM in response to Matti Haveri

I'm trying to copy photos and videos taken with my iPhone from my iPhone to my laptop, not the other way around. I've always been able to do that and now all of a sudden I can't anymore

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