iPhone USB Tethering without iTunes

Thursday, December 17. 2009

I have spent days figuring this out.

Install AppleApplicationSupport.msi (must be installed before AppleMobileDeviceSupport.msi)
Install AppleMobileDeviceSupport.msi (do not change the installation directory)
Copy QTCF.dll, QuickTime.qts, QuickTimeVR.qtx (from QuickTime) to C:\Windows\System32\

Some people have reported, iPhone USB tethering works after AppleMobileDeviceSupport.msi installation alone (without AppleMobileDeviceSupport.msi). Unfortunately, this is not my experience.

Both AppleApplicationSupport.msi and AppleMobileDeviceSupport.msi can be extracted from iTunesSetup.exe by using 7-zip.

AppleApplicationSupport.msi is to install some files in "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Apple\Apple Application Support" and also to install Visual C Run Time Library (This is to say iTunes is developed using Visual C - my guess). In actual fact, only the Visual C Run Time Library is important. For my version of iTunes, it uses Visual C Run Time Library version 8.0.50727.4053. The Run Time Library will be installed into "C:\WINDOWS\WinSxS\x86_Microsoft.VC80.CRT_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.4053_x-ww_e6967989". Without this library, USB tethering fails to work although iPhone can be detected as "Apple Mobile Device Ethernet", the 2 monitor icon at the system tray just shows "Network cable unplugged".

As stated earlier, install AppleApplicationSupport.msi and then AppleMobileDeviceSupport.msi. Reversing the sequence does not work.

Posted by khngai in Programming at 00:08 | Comments (14) | Trackbacks (0)

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hi - i have been looking all over for a solution to this, i dont suppose you can tell me where i can get the files needed??

thanks,

spencer

#1 spencer on 2009-12-18 00:22 (Reply)

SUPER!!!

This is essential if you have halted the autostart of iTunes every time you plug in the iPhone to charge it or.

Will do a small .msi file to install the stuff - if one need to tether off someoneelses PC

GREAT JOB!!!!

#2 I hate Apple on 2010-01-12 23:05 (Reply)

My copy of itunes.exe does not have the first file mentioned, only the second one. I'm downloading the latest itunes since mine is probably outdated. If someone could place a link for both of them would save the trouble for others who need it. Thanks!

#3 rcollins779x on 2010-01-17 04:29 (Reply)

Hey khngai,

I've posted a link to your Blog under iTunes 9.x on the AppDeploy.com website.

Thanks for saving me from having to work this out myself!

Cheers,
Tuckers

#4 Tuckers (Homepage) on 2010-01-24 14:13 (Reply)

Very thanks for this post.
Now can i use thering without itunes.

Ciao

#5 stoni on 2010-03-25 05:01 (Reply)

I got it…!

You don't have to install the QuickTime Files…
If you get the message "cable unplugged" hust turn on and off again Tethering on the iPhone.

#6 marco (Homepage) on 2010-04-15 02:45 (Reply)

With the iPhone or iPod Touch, I can understand the lack of a built in stand as the device is small and most are not using it for extended periods of time. But the whole point of the iPad is to use it for interactive applications like video, share it with others.

#7 used computers (Homepage) on 2010-04-15 12:23 (Reply)

I can confirm that this works excellent on Windows 7 x64 with an IPhone 3GS.

The Quicktime files can be extracted with msiexec so that You do not have to install QuickTime (I hate nagware) either.

#8 Andreas Paulsson (Homepage) on 2010-05-14 21:52 (Reply)

OMG, thank you SO much for this... I've been trying to get iPhone tethering working on my old eee 2g surf, and didn't want to waste the space of an iTunes install since it only has a 2gb hard drive. I did indeed have to follow all 3 steps, including the quicktime files, but that did it. Marco's suggestion (#6) didn't work for me, turning tethering on and off still showed it as unplugged.

#9 Ryan (Homepage) on 2010-05-15 00:16 (Reply)

dude, i did everything but i still get the network cable unplugged message... i noticed that the Visual C Run Time Library u mentioned wasn't installed in the "C:\WINDOWS\WinSxS\x86_Microsoft.VC80.CRT_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.4053_x-ww_e6967989" folder... could it be the problem?

#10 raf on 2010-06-21 09:36 (Reply)

This solution no longer works with the introduction of iOS4

Seriously, what the hell were Apple thinking!?!?

"I know... lets make it AS DIFFICULT AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE for our customers to use internet tethering on the iPhone.
Lets make it so difficult that our customers have to download and install the latest iTunes software package to be able to tether. Each other month we will release a patch for iTunes or the hardware device itself so that our customers use their entire monthly download limit ... {Evil Laugh} Mhah ha ha ha" - Steve Jobs

#11 Tuckers on 2010-06-30 12:58 (Reply)

This solution still works with iOS 4. I have Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit edition and use MyWi 4.1. I downloaded the latest iTunes for 64 bit windows (make sure if you are using a 64 bit OS you download 64 bit itunes), extracted the AppleApplicationSupport.msi and the AppleMobileDeviceSupport64.msi files, installed them, and USB tethering worked great.

Note: 64 Bit OS requires download and extraction of 64 bit itunes. I first tried 32 bit itunes and it did not work.

Thank you for posting this solution, it's great to avoid the entire quicktime and itunes installation on machines that do not need it.

#11.1 jfox on 2010-07-09 01:02 (Reply)

Nice effort, very informative, this will help me to complete my task.

#12 Send Flowers to Italy (Homepage) on 2010-07-19 14:27 (Reply)

i can confirm this works for OS4 and windows7, thanks heaps!

#13 lquify on 2010-08-02 17:08 (Reply)

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