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iTunes 12.3 breaks iPhone tethering over USB

kfscoll

kfscoll

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Nov 3, 2009
1,147
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I've tried it on two computers -- both my nMP and my rMB, and when I install iTunes 12.3 I can no longer tether my iPhone over USB. Under Network Preferences on both Macs the iPhone USB entry simply says "Not Connected."

I know this happened back with the original iTunes 11 release and the fix back then was to replace the Ethernet-over-USB kext with an older version. Sadly, that fix doesn't work in this case.

Ah, Apple giveth and Apple taketh away. I guess I'll use wi-fi tethering until this gets fixed.
 
Yeh, I have the same problem, after updating to 12.3, iTunes cannot recognize my iPhone 6 anymore. What can we do to make it recognize my iPhone again? I want to update my iPhone 6 to iOS 9.
 
Evren Carven said:
What can we do to make it recognize my iPhone again?
Click to expand...
My computer recognizes my iPhone just fine; only USB tethering doesn't work. Until or unless someone comes up with a workaround, we'll have to wait until Apple fixes this via an update to iTunes.
 
kfscoll said:
My computer recognizes my iPhone just fine; only USB tethering doesn't work. Until or unless someone comes up with a workaround, we'll have to wait until Apple fixes this via an update to iTunes.
Click to expand...

Same issue here and I have tried all of the previous fixes for this issue. Still broken.
 
I don't even know what's wrong with my iTunes right now. I launched it after upgrading and it just sits there. I can't click on anything. I can move the window around but I can't get into different sections. It just has the Apple Music splash page. Ugh.
 
USB tethering broken on both iPhone 6 and iPhone 5S after iOS 9 and iTunes 12.3 update. I've been seeing mention of problems with the kext file for USB tethering. Anyone have an idea when Apple is going to fix this? WiFi tethering isn't practical or allowed in some of my customer job sites.
 
I got home and tried to replace my Ethernet-over-USB kext from Time Machine and rebooted - that didn't fix the problem.
 
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Mine is broken too, two machines, running Yosemite, and using the Verizon network "Personal Hotspot". It does prompt to confirm I only want to use USB tethering, but the iPhone never shows up as connected in System Preferences/Network. Wi-Fi tethering does still work, though.

However, after booting up the El Capitan GM, USB tethering works. iTunes 12.3, iOS9, iPhone 6.
 
HenryAZ said:
Mine is broken too, two machines, running Yosemite, and using the Verizon network "Personal Hotspot". It does prompt to confirm I only want to use USB tethering, but the iPhone never shows up as connected in System Preferences/Network. Wi-Fi tethering does still work, though.

However, after booting up the El Capitan GM, USB tethering works. iTunes 12.3, iOS9, iPhone 6.
Click to expand...


I am tethered right now to Verizon Personal Hotspot on a 5S with iTunes 12.3 on El Capitam GM and iOS9. I don't have any issues on my end. I did have to make sure that I have USB + {whatever-it-says} selected when I set up my tether connection instead of wifi. Also, wifi is turned off on the phone and on the computer.
 
A temporary solution I did try was to disable kext signing:

sudo nvram boot-args=kext-dev-mode=1

And then restart. USB tethering came back. However, be warned about installing drivers from unknown sources while kext signing is disabled.

Seems that this problem occurs only with Yosemite, not with El Capitan GM.
 
roligtroll said:
A temporary solution I did try was to disable kext signing:

sudo nvram boot-args=kext-dev-mode=1

And then restart. USB tethering came back. However, be warned about installing drivers from unknown sources while kext signing is disabled.

Seems that this problem occurs only with Yosemite, not with El Capitan GM.
Click to expand...
This solution worked for me
 
After encountering the same issue, i resolved it in the simplest way.

1) Make sure you dont have an iTunes 12.3 .dmg file sitting around. If you do, delete it.
2) Go to http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/ and download the latest iTunes
3) Install it like the CHAMPION you are!
4) Enjoy USB tethering like the good ol' days

Love ya!



kfscoll said:
I've tried it on two computers -- both my nMP and my rMB, and when I install iTunes 12.3 I can no longer tether my iPhone over USB. Under Network Preferences on both Macs the iPhone USB entry simply says "Not Connected."

I know this happened back with the original iTunes 11 release and the fix back then was to replace the Ethernet-over-USB kext with an older version. Sadly, that fix doesn't work in this case.

Ah, Apple giveth and Apple taketh away. I guess I'll use wi-fi tethering until this gets fixed.
Click to expand...
 
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element_of_truth said:
After encountering the same issue, i resolved it in the simplest way.

1) Make sure you dont have an iTunes 12.3 .dmg file sitting around. If you do, delete it.
2) Go to http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/ and download the latest iTunes
3) Install it like the CHAMPION you are!
4) Enjoy USB tethering like the good ol' days

Love ya!
Click to expand...

thank you, it works!
I wonder why Apple did not give any info on this new version...if it weren't for this post, I would never have discovered it and would still be struggling with no USB tethering...
Anyway. Thank you ! :)
 
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ploni-almoni said:
thank you, it works!
I wonder why Apple did not give any info on this new version...if it weren't for this post, I would never have discovered it and would still be struggling with no USB tethering...
Anyway. Thank you ! :)
Click to expand...
exactly!
 
blueruck said:
Didn't work on my machine - I will wait until for the next fix
Click to expand...
It didn't work for me either. I even manually moved the dodgy kext to the trash and watched iTunes install the newer version and still no go.

However, allowing unsigned kexts to be loaded (i.e. the "
sudo nvram boot-args=kext-dev-mode=1" command) posted above DID work. So, I can only conclude that for some reason my system is still loading the old unsigned driver, even after installing the latest version of iTunes. I tried loading an even older version of the kext from a Time Machine backup but that didn't work.

So, given all of this, does anyone have a clue as to how to get this resolved for those folks for whom a new iTunes installation isn't working?
 
Last edited:
kfscoll said:
It didn't work for me either. I even manually moved the dodgy kext to the trash and watched iTunes install the newer version and still no go.
Click to expand...
If you get info on the AppleUSBEthernetHost extension, what version does it show?
 
kfscoll said:
It didn't work for me either. I even manually moved the dodgy kext to the trash and watched iTunes install the newer version and still no go.

However, allowing unsigned kexts to be loaded (i.e. the "
sudo nvram boot-args=kext-dev-mode=1" command) posted above DID work.
Click to expand...

Yeah, none of these things worked for me. I tried multiple times, multiple restarts. I wish Apple would stop breaking USB tethering, it's getting annoying.

Edit: So I went into system/library/extensions and deleted AppleUSBEthernetHost.kext, then reinstalled iTunes with the new install, and everything's fine now.
 
Last edited:
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ploni-almoni said:
thank you, it works!
I wonder why Apple did not give any info on this new version...if it weren't for this post, I would never have discovered it and would still be struggling with no USB tethering...
Anyway. Thank you ! :)
Click to expand...
element_of_truth said:
After encountering the same issue, i resolved it in the simplest way.

1) Make sure you dont have an iTunes 12.3 .dmg file sitting around. If you do, delete it.
2) Go to http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/ and download the latest iTunes
3) Install it like the CHAMPION you are!
4) Enjoy USB tethering like the good ol' days

Love ya!
Click to expand...
I did it, problem solved!!! And as said by "ploni-almoni", I wonder why Apple hasn't come up with an official statement, the published Itunes version is just "the same versión" (12.3) as the one that broke tethering over USB (from update), so there's no way to know that the update is actually different from downloading the published installatiion package and reinstall.
 
MBPUSRCA said:
I wonder why Apple hasn't come up with an official statement, the published Itunes version is just "the same versión" (12.3) as the one that broke tethering over USB (from update), so there's no way to know that the update is actually different from downloading the published installatiion package and reinstall.
Click to expand...

Not only same version, but same build number (12.3.0.44). The download was the same (gross) size, but if you compared the two files using CMD-I for info, you would see a different byte count in the newer version.

It worked for both of my machines. I had deleted the iPhone USB device from System Preferences/Network on one machine, and it didn't work there until I tried connecting once, then clicked the '+' to add a new device, (it showed up in the list), added it, then plugged in again and it worked.

I, too, wonder why there was no announcement. Good that we can get the news via this forum, though.
 
kfscoll said:
Version 7.0.
Click to expand...

Exactly the same problem - still without tethering

I uninstalled the Kext file, reinstalled Itunes, rebooted, checked and I have version 7.


UPDATE - I got it to work

I saw HenryAZ post and went to System Preferences/Network clicked the + - Added Iphone USB interface - clicked apply and my phone is not tethered.
 
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