I’m using Windows 7, trying to transfer photos from my digital camera to my laptop for the second time, but the Import Pictures and Videos wizard won’t let me. After I connect my camera and choose ‘Import pictures and videos’ from the AutoPlay dialog box, I get a message from the Import Pictures and Videos wizard that ‘No new pictures or videos were found on this device’.
Although it would have been simple to just treat the camera as a mass storage device and browse the files in Explorer, I wanted to use the wizard to create a folder for each date. Why can’t we have a button to import the same images again and again, as many times as we want?
Disconnecting and reconnecting the device didn’t help, and deleting the picture files and the folders that contained them from my computer didn’t help, either. Obviously, something on the computer was keeping track of which images had been transferred. So, I started digging around and found this interesting hidden file in my user folder:
C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Photo Acquisition\PreviouslyAcquired.db
I renamed PreviouslyAcquired.db to PreviouslyAcquired.db.old, then reconnected the camera and went through the wizard again, where I was able to import the pictures a second time.
As noted in the comments below, in order to see the PreviouslyAcquired.db file, you first need to turn on Show hidden files, folders, and drives in Windows’ Folder Options dialog box. To do this, open Windows Explorer, click on Organize and choose Folder and search options to open the Folder Options dialog box. Choose the View tab, then choose the Show hidden files, folders, and drives radio button under Hidden files and folders.
Great Information. I am getting exact same messages but with my Canon Camera. Can’t find that particular file….????
Thank you so much. I was having the same problem and this fixed it!
I can’t find this file.
There is photoacquisition file that I can find.
The Photo Acquisition folder is at:
C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Microsoft
Where [username] is the name of the account you’re logged in to.
Open up Windows Explorer, click in the address bar, type %appdata% and hit Enter. That will take you to the Roaming folder within your user profile folder. Just go up one level and then into the Local folder and look for a Microsoft folder.
i tried to look for the files but i can’t find “photo acquisition”. I tried to exploring the AppData and some other folders but i did not find the file that i was looking for. Is there anyway that i can find “photo acquisition” ?
Thanks so much for this…i was pulling my hair out….trying to figure this out…
thank you! this behavior is such a pain in the ass, sometime you start the copying and stop it midway to change the files name and when you restart the damn thing is blind to the files you already copied, and sometime it mistakenly think a file has already been copied, this happened to me a few times, if you don’t check the file count you might lose a couple of files, this so dumb, so microsoft…
Thank you! It’s so annoying when Windows thinks it knows better than me.
Great solution man!! I was having a bad time trying to import my pics from my iphone “again”. Thank you!
Fantastic, what a solution. Worked for me. Couldn’t get any pics on my gen4 itouch, but thanks to you, I now have them on my pc. Thanks again!!!
You need to display hidden files in windows to see some of these files and folders.
Thank you so much for this – it was driving me mad!
I was having this problem with an iPhone 4 and Windows 7. The message appeared even before I imported photos for the first time, so renaming the “previouslyacquired” file didn’t work, nor did deleting it. Also, when I browsed to the phone in Explorer it couldn’t see any of the image files, the folder was just blank.
What I did in the end was go to Start > Control Panel > Auto Play, Devices, and under this iPhone changed the drop down from “Import pictures and videos using Windows” to “Open device to view files using Windows Explorer.” Then the image files appeared, and I could just cut and paste them to the PC.
but copying/pasting doesn’t give you an opportunity to choose different folder/file names cf windows wizard
The fix works but you have to redo it every time you attach another camera. Any suggestins for a permanent fix?
I can’t open db file in order to add “old”. What should I do?
Thanks so much for this information, this worked like a charm! 🙂 To rename the file you can right click on the file and go to “Rename” and then type in the new name.
Great advice!
but to be able to rename the below file I first had to find it. I typed “show hidden” into Windows 7 search.
From there I clicked on Folder Options, the View tab, then selected the option “show hidden files folders and drives”
Once I renamed the below file and my upload worked instantly afterwards.
C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Photo Acquisition\PreviouslyAcquired.db
This was doing my head in. Good advice, although I struggled to find the AppData folder. If you have the same problem, click on ‘start’ and in the search bar type in ‘show hidden files and folders’. In there, change the settings by ticking ‘show hidden files, folders and drives’ and apply. Now from here C:\Users\[username] you should be able to find ‘AppData’ and be able to follow the original instructions given above.
For all those who tried suggestions above with no luck, try this:
1. Go into your camera app
2. Tap the image in the lower left hand corner
3. Tap on the image to make the top and bottom bars come up
4. Tap on the “Camera Roll” option in the upper left corner
5. Tap “Done” in the upper right corner
Then try reconnecting to your PC. It worked for me…no idea why, but I was able to replicate it on 2 occasions.
Hope this helps
camera roll on your phone. If you a
Before doing anything, simply try unlocking your Iphone before plugging it into your computer.
From what I can figure out, if you don’t plug your iPhone (mine is 4s, don’t know if it’s specific to just this model) into your computer the day you take photos but say a day later, you get the message that there are no new pictures or videos when trying to import. In my case, this happened on a pc I just got. So, I was not given the option to import anything but also, being the first time, there was no folder called Photo Acquisition and that meant no file called PreviouslyAcquired.db. I could not use this fix stated here. What I decided to try was just taking a picture with the camera and then plugging it back into my pc. I then got the ability to import pictures because it saw a new photo. After doing that, I now had the photo acquisition folder and db file in it. Still, just taking a new photo might be easier to do. On another note, don’t remove the option that says whether you want to tag your photos or not. If you remove it, it takes away your ability to import pictures. You’ll have to search for a registry hack to fix that problem. Why Microsoft thinks we’re all idiots and won’t let us just browse our phone when we connect it and do what we want is beyond me. Then again, it could be Apple controlling this feature, just don’t know for sure. What I do know is that I really don’t care for the iPhone. It’s one of the most restrictive phones I’ve ever used and definitely one of the worst for using in a business environment. Why my company won’t go with a droid phone is beyond me. Don’t get me started on the Windows Phone.
For the iPhone, the easiest thing is to just unhook the device from the pc, snap another photo, then reconnect.
“Before doing anything, simply try unlocking your Iphone before plugging it into your computer.”
This worked, and I feel like a complete moron. I was going through all of the steps listed above, oblivious to the fact that the iPad needed to be unlocked in order to view the files in Explorer.
Thanks, Frank.
*sigh*
Thank you Frank, unlocking my Iphone before plugging it into the computer worked. Why did I not try that hours ago!!!
Frank, unlocking my iPhone prior to plugging it in also worked! Thanks!!
yea the unlock thing worked for me as well. Doh!
Thanks Mark (comment 24)! That worked for me too! I tried the steps provided on this page, but the folder “Photo Acquisition” does not exist in C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Microsoft, on my machine. Anyways, got it working with Mark’s help 🙂 So weird though!
@ #27 Rusty- Thank you!!! This worked. Although I must say that the need for such a work-around is proof-positive that software engineering is a career path(ology.)
Another thing to take note of : Ensure your password has been keyed in iPhone. Without unlocking the phone with your password, you will continue to face same problem (& no warning will appear that password needs to be put in iPhone)
I am not tech savvy at all so I have no idea what I just did there, but after DAYS of searching for a solution to transfer my 3000 photos to my hard drive with the same annoying pop-up… I finally have success!!! Thanks to you! THANK YOU so much for publishing this how-to. I am so grateful!!!!
how shoul i thank you,but still thanks so much it helped find me my pics and videos which i directly copied to drive “c”, there is no Photo Acquisition folder!still no need to worry you may go to “C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\VirtualStore” if you directly went into coping you files directly to the C drive without any folder they move up to this virtualstore folder.
Hallelujah. Still works in 2013. I was about to drop-kick my pc AND camera out the window!!
In my case advice 24 is working fine! Previously tried everything mentioned before 24.
Answer #25 (by Frank Bendiks) was the correct and simple answer to my problem.
Thanks!
Thanks Frank Bendiks! Easy fix
#25 worked for me!! Simple.. Unlock your IPhone before you plug it in! So easy it’s crazy!
It worked – thanks BUT the problem is I cannot change the DEFAULT NAMING CONVENTION from my Samsung S4 phone. First time it asked about how I wanted files named..now it just does it without asking. The whole reason I wanted to reupload was to change the naming convention!!
Thanks SO MUCH to they guy who said, ‘before you do anything unlock your phone before plugging in’ – voila! Perfect – the simple things we just don’t know! A BIG THANKS AGAIN.
This was very useful I have use it to download pictures from Iphone 4 into Windows 7 multiple times in order to delete the photes when applied the second time. Just need to delete the *.db file in my case there was just one file make a backup just in case it is was needed.
Excellent advice. Now happily transferring photos as many times as I wish. I’m absolutely impressed with how you guys find out this stuff?
I hate to ask the obvious question but how do I unlock my phone? I am searching online and am finding that it costs money to unlock it. I must be missing something. I cannot get the other option to work either. Can I get a step by step process? I have an iphone 5S.
MikeG – Unlock phone means to turn it on/enter passcode
Just wanted to comment, much props to the original poster, finally solved my problem and this solution was hard to google.
Many thanks and happy new year!
Thanks so much for sharing this!! 🙂 I wonder if you knew when you wrote your post that you would still be helping people with this issue over 3.5 years later…
The easy fix for the problem is to first unlock your iPhone. Then connect using the USB cable. When you attempt to import or download your pictures, they will now import. The problem you are having is because you are trying to import photos from a locked iPhone.
Excellent! This worked perfectly. Thank you so very much!!
YES! This worked perfectly!
I HAVE MADE FIRE !!!
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.
Step by step it worked like a charm for my iPhone. Why would Microsoft create a “one time” use file like that?
I should have just googled my problem first before trying to find a solution in Windows support…what a nightmare that is. Thank you so much for this easy fix. I’m not real savvy with troubleshooting but with your instructions at the bottom of your post I was able to figure out how to get to the hidden files. Mine didn’t have the .db extension on it, so I just added the .old and left off the .db when I renamed the file and, voila, it worked beautifully. I was able to download the last 40 pictures that for some reason didn’t download with the other 200 on the first go-around.
Brilliant! Thank you so much for sharing this solution.
Thank you for this info. It saved me a ton of frustration today!
I have a windows 7 and iPhone 4s issue.
I have tried: unlocking the phone first, renaming the extension, using the control panel switch–basically everything above.
My issue is that I HAVE successfully previously imported pics from my harddrive to my phone (how/when it works is a mystery to me) but I have a dozen new VIDEOS (that are taking up all my memory) that I need to get off my phone and they are not showing up. Neither are any of the pictures, or a link to them–I unlock my phone. plug it in, tell my phone to ‘trust this computer’ and I get the message straight away.
When I try to navigate by right clicking and going directly to my iPhone icon in the tree, it shows my previous pics in folders but not any of the new videos.
VERY frustrating!! 🙁
Tried this method 09-13-2015 on an Alienware 14x running Windows 7 while trying to transfer photos and videos from my iPhone 6+ 128GB OS Version 8.02, and it worked the first time.
But received a phone call during the transfer and cancelled the process. Afterwards the transfer process no longer works. Continue receiving the same error.
Tried restoring the previouslyacquired.db file back into the folder, but it still doesn’t work. Changed the file name, still doesn’t work. File isn’t automatically generated again.
At this point I can’t transfer photos from my iPhone 6 onto my PC unless I use my other laptop running Windows8. It allows me to use the PhotoViewer that comes with Window8 to transfer files.
The only other alternative for people still having issues with this is to download and install CopyTrans. It’s a lightweight iTunes alternative and has worked for years.
Although I still would like to get the Windows7 method working because I don’t like to have too many programs on my main PC. Copy and transferring from another PC all the time is time consuming.
worked like a charm, took some reading.
1) turn on hidden folders
2) use the %appdata% trick, and use the up folder option
3) rename the hidden file
4) make sure your iphone is unlocked and then plug it in. thank you!!! can’t wait to get a new 64gb iphone and not deal with this mess.
I got it to work using a different method. As the previous reader said, took some reading.
Since I’ve been reading through countless forums, I went back to one that mentioned having the phone unlocked before plugging the iPhone in.
The automatic transfer method no longer works for me, even after playing with hidden options and renaming. For some reason, now I can explore the photo section of my iPhone just using my Windows Explorer browser.
Wasn’t able to do this before even having the phone unlocked and pressing the “trust this computer” notification on my phone. Strange.
Still nothing in that “photo acquisition” folder. But guess I don’t need it now.
The folders on my iPhone read like “823WGTMA”, “965YOKDJ”. Now I can see all the photos on my iPhone through internet explorer without fighting with this method or 3rd party software.
Perhaps the 2 methods combined unlocked this mode for me.
Thanks all.
This was extremely helpful, thank you! I was having the same problem when attempting to import pictures a second time from my Samsung Galaxy S5 to my laptop running Windows 7. Changing the previously acquired filename worked for me!
Thank you!!!!! so much it was soo annoying this is such a big help thank you!!!
I tried all this and it didn’t work..only to see a post by another user saying try doing it with the phone unlocked – so I did, and it worked!! Simple things lol. I’ll bear that in mind next time!
None of this worked for me. Have to manually change the phone from USB Charging, to File and Photo Transfers. Swipe down from top of screen once the phone is plugged in to find this menu.
hurray for security
Thank you ardamis! This is criminally undocumented and completely non-intuitive for anyone, even a techie like me. Just renaming the previouslyacquired.db file (I navigated there in a DOS window) fixed so many issues importing from my iPhone. Images and movies that had previously failed to import with spurious errors came through fine now, and instead of the 600 or so files I had been able to import, I’ve now got nearly 1,600! Thanks so much.
I’m still not sure whether any original iPhone folder besides “camera roll” is backed up though. I might have to install iTunes anyway.
Thank you, this was very helpful. Now how do you do this so the photos are not in individual folders? I just downloaded over 500 images and each one is in a separate folder! Now I have to go through each folder and copy/move the image to another folder. It’s crazy, I was able to do the same operation on my iphone but not the ipad. Each is using the same IOS version. Soooo aggravating.
Thank you, Brennan, for your message on 02/08/2016. Like you, I tried the previous suggestions (with no success) for my Samsung S5. After a software upgrade for this smartphone, I kept getting the “no new pictures…” message (despite removing the previouslyacquired.db file as suggested). While Windows 7 acknowledged the existence of my Samsung device, I was unable to look at any of the Samsung data via Windows from my PC. To get around this problem, I (like you) figured out how to manually change the “USB Configuration” setting from “Charging” to “PTP (Picture Transfer Protocol)” as follows:
On the Samsung S5 phone, I did the following steps:
1) Go to Apps, Settings
2) Scroll down past the categories of “Wireless and networks”, “Device”, “Personal”,”Motion” and “Account” till you get to the “System” category. Within “System”, select “Developer Options”.
3) Scroll down past the category of “Debugging” to get to the “Networking” category.
4) Within Networking, look for “USB Configuration” (which in my case was set to “Charging”).
5) Select “USB Configuration” and then choose one of the options other than “Charging”. In my case, I initially chose “PTP (Picture Transfer Protocol)”, and this setting seemed to work OK for my photos – but not my videos.
6) Connect your phone to your PC with the USB cable.
7) Your PC should now get the normal prompts that will facilitate the copying of your photos from the phone to your PC.
8) Note that for videos you will need to select “MTP (Media Transfer Protocol)”. This might work for both photos and videos.
I’m not sure why this manual “USB Configuration” adjustment is required, but after my recent Samsung software upgrade it has become necessary for photo transferring. Hope this helps others in the same predicament that I was in.
I am trying to download the photos off of my note5 to my PC, which I’ve done before! But for some reason I am now getting this message about there being no images or videos on this device! I tried all that was stated above…even found the Photo Aquistion folder but there is NOTHING in it! NO files! So I cannot try renaming what was said above. Help! My phone is out of storage room and I need to get the photos off and onto my external harddrive via my PC!
I don’t understand how to find all these folders. I am just astounded that Windows 7 has presumed to allow me to download my own photos only once. I don’t even begin to understand why. Windows XP was more user fiendly for nontechnical people.
An I PHONE In lower power mode ( battery saver mode) wont allow the computer to import
This was hard to find an answer to buy i found out by seeing a small pop up on my phone in the settings
switched off the low power mode and computer grabbed them
Upgraded to iOS 11.2.2. Suddenly importing photos to my Win 7 PC doesn’t work anymore, even though it’s worked for years. “No new pictures or videos were found on this device”. Thanks Apple. So much for making my day easier. How come you don’t consider it important to test these things before you release them?
3 hours later, after trying all the “fixes” in this thread and many others without any success, here’s what worked for me.
Connect iPhone via USB. After a few seconds, the dreaded “No new pictures . . .” message comes up. Close this message.
Open File Explorer.
You’ll see your iPhone listed there, providing you heard a beep when you connected iPhone and the “No new pictures” displayed and was closed by you.
In my case, I see “xxxx iPhone 6” listed on the left in File Explorer along with any other drives I have on my PC.
No twisty (little triangle) to its left (it was there prior to iOS 11.2.2) so I’m guessing that’s why the PC reports that there are no new pictures. I.e. if there is a twisty, then Windows can tell that there are sub-folders within the iPhone.
Click “xxxx iPhone 6” (or whatever your iPhone calls itself) and wait for a few seconds.
When the iPhone sub-folder Internal Storage shows up in the File Explorer panel on the right (or below iPhone on the left if you click the twisty) Right-Click “xxxx iPhone 6” and choose the option “Import pictures and videos”.
Magically, File Explorer returns to its proper behaviour: it can now see all the sub-folders on the iPhone that contain your pictures & videos and begins searching through these sub-folders to find any new pictures or videos.
When it has finished doing this, it asks you (as has done for the last several years) to import new pictures and videos. Click that option and all proceeds as it did before, depending upon the import options you have set up previously. All good.
Sigh! Back to doing my normal work that I expected to have finished 2 hours ago.
As of 3-5-18, I ran into this same issue, I run Windows 7 64 bit and was having the “No New Pictures were found on this device.” However I went into my drives, and found that a New iPhone Internal Drive was there. Then by Clicking on to that, I found all of my photos. There were in 2 files that I seen.
Thank you thank you David Hill!!!!! Your solution worked perfectly. I tried the other options but to no avail. Now I can import my pics and go to bed. Wouldn’t have been able to sleep until I figured it out.
David hill thank you!!!! This worked. I think I have so many photos that it was taking a while to load and I was clicking import before they were loaded. I just waited until internal storage showed up and it worked!! (Along with doing everything stated above with renaming the file. Thanks everyone.
David – if you ever stop back to read this, THANK YOU! I was in the same position as you, and wasting waaaay too much time on this. Your simple solution worked – watching Win7 finally backing up my photos now.