Content Overview:
iCloud Photos not Syncing on Windows 10?
iCloud Photos is a service from Apple Inc., which allows you to store photos and videos from your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple TV, and even Windows 7/10/11. Generally speaking, you have the iCloud app built-in on your device. However, if you use iCloud Photos on your Windows 10, you have to install iCloud for Windows to sync photos and videos between your devices and iCloud.com.
Sometimes, you might find that iCloud Photos not syncing on Windows 10, and photos not downloading from iCloud to your Windows 10 PC. What's that cause and how to deal with iCloud Photos on PC not syncing? Let's figure it out according to the following content.
Note: If you are trying to upload photos to iCloud, and it has some problems, you can try solutions in iCloud Photos not uploading on Windows 10.
Why iCloud Photos on PC not Syncing?
Why don't my iCloud Photos sync to my Windows 10 PC? There are some potential reasons:
- Unstable Internet connection. If your Internet connection is poor or unstable, iCloud Photos cannot sync photos and videos in time and shows on Windows 10 PC.
- You disabled iCloud Photos on Windows 10 computer. All photos and videos cannot be downloaded automatically to your Windows 10 computer after turning off iCloud Photos in iCloud for Windows.
- iCloud is out of storage, which can be the reason iCloud Photos not syncing to PC in Windows 10.
- You did not upload any photos and videos from your Apple devices in iCloud or you have deleted everything from iCloud so that there is nothing to sync in iCloud to your Windows 10 PC.
- iCloud for Windows problems. An older version of iCloud may be the issue why iCloud Photos not downloading to PC.
- Sign in to the wrong Apple ID.
Now, let's start to fix iCloud Photos not downloading to PC easily.
How Do I Force iCloud Photos to Sync? 12 Ways
To make iCloud Photos sync photos and videos to Windows 10 PC, you have to check the following solutions.
Way 1. Check Internet Connection
First of all, you have to check your Windows 10 Internet connection, it's advised to use a wired Network instead of Wi-Fi to have a stable Internet connection, or you can try the Network troubleshooter to fix it. Now try again to sync iCloud Photos to Windows 10 PC again.
1. Please click the Internet icon from the system tray, and click Network & Internet settings.
2. Press Network Troubleshooter to fix the problem.
Way 2. Check iCloud Storage
Ensure you have enough iCloud storage, or all the photos and videos cannot be downloaded or uploaded due to insufficient cloud space. You have to clear iCloud storage by deleting unnecessary files, deleting duplicate photos from iCloud, reducing the size of iCloud backup, or anything else to get more available space. Of course, you can upgrade to iCloud+ to get more space right away.
Way 3. Sign out And Sign In Again
Sometimes, you can sign out and sign in again to iCloud for Windows to fix the problem.
1. Please sign out for iCloud for Windows.
2. Then go to the C:\Users\yourusername\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MediaStream folder.
Note: You have to enable the Show hidden files, folders, and drives option first. Hit View > Options > View > Tick Show hidden files, folders, and drives, and hit OK to enable.
3. Delete everything in the Media Stream folder.
4. Restart your Windows 10 computer and sign in again to iCloud for Windows.
5. All photos and videos will start syncing again to your Windows 10 PC.
Way 4. Restart iCloud for Windows or Computer
iCloud for Windows freezes somehow, you can restart iCloud for Windows to check if iCloud Photos not syncing on Windows 10. Restart your Windows 10 computer can also fix most of the problems, including iCloud Photos not downloading to PC on Windows 10.
Way 5. Change iCloud Photos Default Location
iCloud Photos not downloading on your Windows 10 for days, so it's better to change iCloud Photos' default location to fix it.
1. Please open iCloud for Windows on your Windows 10.
2. Sign in to your Apple ID, then click Options next to Photos.
3. Hit Change next to Download new photos and videos to my PC.
4. Choose another location as your iCloud Photos default folder.
Now iCloud Photos will sync from scratch and download all photos and videos to the new folder.
Way 6. Enable iCloud Photos for Other Apple Devices
Photos and videos will not be synced to Windows 10 if you did not enable iCloud Photos before on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Mac. So, please check if you have enabled iCloud Photos on these devices.
Enable iCloud Photos on iPhone/iPad/iPod touch:
1. Please go to Settings > your Apple Name > iCloud > Photos.
2. Check iCloud Photos is enabled.
Enable iCloud Photos on Mac:
1. Please open the Photos app on your Mac.
2. Then choose Photos > Preferences.
3. Select iCloud, and tick iCloud Photos to enable.
After enabling iCloud Photos, iCloud Photos not downloading to PC on Windows 10 problem has been solved now.
Way 7. Enable iCloud Photos in Windows 10
1. Open iCloud for Windows on your Windows 10 computer.
2. Sign in with your Apple ID.
3. Tick Photos, and hit Apply to enable iCloud Photos on Windows 10.
Way 8. Download from iCloud.com
If you still cannot download photos via iCloud for Windows, you can go to iCloud.com and download all photos and videos to your Windows 10 computer.
1. Please sign in to iCloud.com with your Apple ID.
2. Select the photos and videos, and hit the Download icon.
3. Choose Unmodified Originals or Most Compatible.
And you have to know, you will get a Zip file with all the photos and videos, uncompressing them from the Downloads folder, and move them to your desired folder.
Way 9. Update iCloud for Windows to Latest Version
An older version of iCloud for Windows might be the culprit for iCloud Photos not syncing on Windows 10, you can install the iCloud latest version and try again to check if iCloud Photos sync is running normally.
Way 10. Check iCloud Photos on Apple System Status Website
You can go to the Apple system status website to check iCloud Photos status is available or outage, if iCloud Photos shows an outage, you have to wait for a few moments. When iCloud Photos status is available and you can sync iCloud Photos to Windows 10 PC again. Now iCloud Photos not syncing on Windows should have been fixed.
Way 11. Close other apps
If you use other apps like Amazon Cloud Sync or other software on your Windows 10, you can't use iCloud for Windows to sync photos normally, so please ensure you have closed all other applications that might prevent you from syncing photos, and running iCloud for Windows only to sync photos to Windows 10 PC.
Way 12. Check If the Correct Apple ID
To check if you use the same Apple ID, you have to check it on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, or Windows 10 PC. Then sign in to the same Apple account if you just signed in to the wrong Apple ID.
Sync iCloud Photos to Windows 10 PC without iCloud
There is another easy solution for you to sync iCloud Photos to Windows 10 computer, try the web-based multi-cloud manager - MultCloud, which allows you to sync iCloud Photos to NAS, and you can view these photos and videos from iCloud on Windows 10 directly.
MultCloud supports more than 30 clouds, including iCloud Photos, Google Drive, NAS, Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Workspace, OneDrive for Business, MEGA, and other clouds in the market.
The steps listed below demonstrate the process of syncing iCloud Photos to Synology NAS with MultCloud:
1. Please sign in to your MultCloud account with the newly created MultCloud account, or you can try to sign in with your Google, Facebook, or Apple account.
2. Tap Add Cloud on the left, then add iCloud Photos and your Synology NAS.
Note: To add Synology NAS, you have two ways to add, via FTP (enable FTP service on Synology NAS), or via WebDAV (enable WebDAV service on Synology NAS), input your Server IP address, port, username, and password to add.
3. Click Cloud Sync from the left menu, then hit FROM to choose iCloud Photos, and hit TO to choose Synology NAS.
4. Press the Sync Now button to sync iCloud Photos to Synology NAS on Windows 10 directly.
Now, you can view all the iCloud photos and videos from Synology NAS now.
Tips:
- You can set up sync modes in Options, like two-way sync, and 7 sync modes of one-way sync, as well as 2 modes of real-time sync.
- The Filter in Options allows you to exclude photos or videos to sync only the certain file types you'd prefer.
- You can run the iCloud Photos backup daily, weekly, or even monthly with Schedule.
- Unlock all features after subscribing, including Filter, Schedule, faster sync speed (10 instead of 2 threads), and more.
- Smart: Easily share cloud files via public, private, or source mode.
- Efficient: One-key data transfer, sync, and backup between clouds.
- Safe: Full-time 256-bit AES and OAuth authorization protections.
- Easy: Access and manage all clouds in one place with one login.
- Extensive: 30+ clouds and on-premise services are supported.
The Epilogue
iCloud Photos not syncing on Windows 10 for days? Try the solutions provided in this post, check your Internet connection, iCloud storage, and iCloud Photos settings, sign out and sign in again for iCloud for Windows, then restart iCloud for Windows or Windows 10 computer, check iCloud photos status could solve your problem. To force iCloud Photos to sync to Windows 10 computer, changing iCloud Photos' default location or downloading from iCloud.com is another feasible option for you.
Besides, you could migrate iCloud Photos to Google Drive or other clouds to clear iCloud storage space. Enjoy the web app or the extension.
MultCloud Supports Clouds
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Google Drive
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Google Workspace
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OneDrive
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OneDrive for Business
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SharePoint
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Dropbox
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Dropbox Business
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MEGA
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Google Photos
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iCloud Photos
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FTP
-
box
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box for Business
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pCloud
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Baidu
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Flickr
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HiDrive
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Yandex
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NAS
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WebDAV
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MediaFire
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iCloud Drive
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WEB.DE
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Evernote
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Amazon S3
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Wasabi
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ownCloud
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MySQL
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Egnyte
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Putio
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ADrive
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SugarSync
-
Backblaze
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CloudMe
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MyDrive
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Cubby
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