I just tried to charge it on a DirecTV TiVo DVR's USB port (and those ports are technically disabled) and it charged. It's definately hardware and not O/S related. It just needs to have the 12v on the port.
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How do I charge iphone on PC without itunes?
- Thread starter badgerman
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Believe what you want to believe: there's no way of those of us who have charged phones successfully from USB without drivers proving it to you, so as far as I'm concerned you can take it or leave it.
Then explain why a Win2K machine USB ports would not charge the phone, but when the exact same hardware was loaded with XP it charges? Search on the board on the number of people who cannot charge a iPhone on a Win2k machine.....
correct the phone will charge on XP and later OS. No iTunes needed. Win2k is another story.
Regardless of what the operating system is, the phone charges when using any USB 2.0 port. I have both XP and 2K systems at work and have no problem charging. It has nothing to do with the operating system and/or software installed.
The phone doesn't charge, however, when I plug it into my monitor (USB 1.0).
The phone doesn't charge, however, when I plug it into my monitor (USB 1.0).
Nice of you to edit out the last remark. How do I not know what I am talking about? We have 4 or five windows2000 machines at my work. All Dell towers. NONE of them will show the charge icon on the phone when plugged into a usb port on the Win2000 machine. However when you format and replace the OS on the very same machine and not install iTunes, the phone will show the charge icon. Itunes is not suported in WIn 2000.
Now that I search, this makes sense:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/545645/
Windows 2000 must not give the extra power.
I don't know about charging an iPhone without drivers, but someone asked if software could prevent a USB port from charging and the answer in most cases is YES. Try plugging a Motorola Razer phone into any USB port without the proper drivers, and the phone will NEVER charge. This may be caused by a missing trigger to the phone, not the USB port, but the end result is the same.
OK, let's clear up the confusion.....we are talking about 2 different drivers.
First, the drivers for the iPhone do NOT have to be installed for USB charging to work.
It does appears that USB 2.0 is required. Windows 2000 does not have the USB 2.0 stack installed by default. The USB stack must be upgraded. A more drastic solution is to install XP which has the USB 2.0 stack by default, but simply upgrading the stack in Win 2000 would have worked.
So it appears that it is not the fault of the OS, but some USB hardware requires the USB 2.0 stack to be present before turning on 12v output. Devices like the Wii would have this USB 2.0 stack and therefore would charge the iPhone.
First, the drivers for the iPhone do NOT have to be installed for USB charging to work.
It does appears that USB 2.0 is required. Windows 2000 does not have the USB 2.0 stack installed by default. The USB stack must be upgraded. A more drastic solution is to install XP which has the USB 2.0 stack by default, but simply upgrading the stack in Win 2000 would have worked.
So it appears that it is not the fault of the OS, but some USB hardware requires the USB 2.0 stack to be present before turning on 12v output. Devices like the Wii would have this USB 2.0 stack and therefore would charge the iPhone.
I've seen this with Black Berry
I've seen this with my old Blackberry on a Dell Vostro running XP. If I plugged it in, I could see the change icon for about 30 seconds, along with the LED 'heartbeat', and then it would stop charging.
As soon as I installed drivers, it would charge.
Again, with a Windows Mobile 6 Smartphone, the charge indicator for about 30 seconds. Installed ActiveSync and the phone would continue to charge past the 30 seconds.
I suspect it's some sort of power saving (or motherboard self-protection) feature that turns off power to 'unused' devices.
My iPhone seems to mount itself on this machine as an "Apple Camera" (under Cameras and Scanners) and so allows charging without installing drivers.
I've seen this with my old Blackberry on a Dell Vostro running XP. If I plugged it in, I could see the change icon for about 30 seconds, along with the LED 'heartbeat', and then it would stop charging.
As soon as I installed drivers, it would charge.
Again, with a Windows Mobile 6 Smartphone, the charge indicator for about 30 seconds. Installed ActiveSync and the phone would continue to charge past the 30 seconds.
I suspect it's some sort of power saving (or motherboard self-protection) feature that turns off power to 'unused' devices.
My iPhone seems to mount itself on this machine as an "Apple Camera" (under Cameras and Scanners) and so allows charging without installing drivers.
Well, it WAS the best Windows ever made. Everything since then has been downhill IMHO.
I'm just surprised any work places still use Win2k. I connect to a lot of client environments and it's all XP and Server 2003 from what I can see (with a little 2008 thrown in for good measure).
I work at a large company (22,000 employees) and I was just upgraded from 2000 to XP in September of 2008. I'm sure I wasn't the last one, there are likely many 2000 machines around here somewhere.
My employer still is in the process of upgrading to XP from win 2000... My Xp machine should arrive next week, but today im less than 10% battery to last me all day!! 
No solutions then?
I did find this on fixya.com... just cant see what driver to choose!!
No solutions then?
I did find this on fixya.com... just cant see what driver to choose!!
My employer still is in the process of upgrading to XP from win 2000... My Xp machine should arrive next week, but today im less than 10% battery to last me all day!!
No solutions then?
I did find this on fixya.com... just cant see what driver to choose!!
Here's what worked with my girlfriend's Nano on her w2k work laptop...
1) Plug in the nano, be prompted for drivers. No charging.
2) Cancel all driver prompts. No charging.
3) Go in to device manager and DISABLE the device that's prompting for drivers. (It should show up with a yellow issue icon.) Voila! It charges!
Sorry, I have no w2k machine to test with right now, but give that a shot and let us know.
By default, even with no iTunes, Windows XP recognizes the iPhone as an "Imaging Device" and loads a built-in driver. (system32/drivers/usbscan.sys.)
VMWare works though...
This did not work for me. But now THIS is interesting:
As noted by the many, many commenters above charging an iPhone when running Windows 2000 does not work. BUT running an different OS (Windows XP, Ubuntu) in a VMWare virtual machine will make it work!
So if you are still having problems (like me) just install VMWare Workstation and run Ubuntu in a VM.
This did not work for me. But now THIS is interesting:
As noted by the many, many commenters above charging an iPhone when running Windows 2000 does not work. BUT running an different OS (Windows XP, Ubuntu) in a VMWare virtual machine will make it work!
So if you are still having problems (like me) just install VMWare Workstation and run Ubuntu in a VM.
I can charge my IPhone, Motrorola KRZR and my Garmin Nuvi GPS with no drivers installed. Its all up to the USB port.
It may have something to do with YOUR motherboard.
It depends on the hardware if it's software dependent or not.
So everyone's right. In a manner of speaking.
Phazer
Here's the Answer
I have tested this and it DOES work!
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=7469524
The people who are so adiment about that it is OS independent are incorrect. The reason it is OS dependent is because in w2k if there is no known driver for the device, then your USB does not output the voltage required to run the USB device (Hense you plug in your iphone and nothing).
Basically what the article describes as a work around is the following.
1. Plug in your iphone and get the addnew hardware wizard(If you already closed out of this, then go into your device manager and update the driver by going into properties on the device).
2. Select Add new hardware from list (DO not select to search for the hardware).
3. Select other devices from the list of options, it will be the one that has a question mak as the icon about 3/4 the way down.
4. Select Acer corp from the left hand side, then select the item that says "...USB..." (I don't remember the exact description, but select the one that has USB in the device driver name).
5. You will probably get a popup that says this driver is not meant for this device, simply click ok.
6. When done unplug your iphone, then plug it back in and wolla.
Hope this helps everyone.
I have tested this and it DOES work!
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=7469524
The people who are so adiment about that it is OS independent are incorrect. The reason it is OS dependent is because in w2k if there is no known driver for the device, then your USB does not output the voltage required to run the USB device (Hense you plug in your iphone and nothing).
Basically what the article describes as a work around is the following.
1. Plug in your iphone and get the addnew hardware wizard(If you already closed out of this, then go into your device manager and update the driver by going into properties on the device).
2. Select Add new hardware from list (DO not select to search for the hardware).
3. Select other devices from the list of options, it will be the one that has a question mak as the icon about 3/4 the way down.
4. Select Acer corp from the left hand side, then select the item that says "...USB..." (I don't remember the exact description, but select the one that has USB in the device driver name).
5. You will probably get a popup that says this driver is not meant for this device, simply click ok.
6. When done unplug your iphone, then plug it back in and wolla.
Hope this helps everyone.
The other day I plugged in my iPhone into my PC that I built a year ago, that i haven't used in a long time, and it didn't charge it until i opened up iTunes...
Weird