Iphone device not detected

Question

I lost my iPhone 4s and just got a replacement.  When I connected it to my laptop (Windows 7), iTunes recognized it and asked me to register it.  It asked if I wanted to set this up as a new phone or if I wanted to restore the phone from a backup.  I clicked on "Restore" and it wiped out the photos and text messages I had recently stored on the new phone - I was not expecting it to do that.
Is there any way to recover the messages and photos?
Also, now when I connect to my laptop, iTunes will not recognize the iphone.  Nothing shows up under devices, although Windows recognizes it as a portable device and gives me the autoplay options.  What do I need to do to get iTunes to recognize the iphone?

Answer 1

Ok; this should be the steps I did last night. Going to repaste in what I posted before & finsih it so you have it in one post
Before doing anything- BACK UP what you have now to a thumb drive. If you have a password on your windows user account; remove it & reboot before starting- These are the files you need to back up
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Apple\
C:\Program Files\iTunes\
C:\Program Files\iPod\ 
Plug your iPhone in & back up your photos to a thumb drive or "My Documents"
Depending on what you've already done; you can do this a few different ways; either start here iOS: Device not recognized in iTunes for Windows http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1538  or you can back up & start fresh to make sure that nothing was left out.
Let me say again- back up the Apple folders as well as plugging in your Iphone & backing up your photos & whatever else you can access before starting this. Once you delete; it's gone.
Best advice I can give you is to uninstall ALL apple products- updater; bonjour; quick times; safari-  then be sure to check.to make sure there are no files left- I think this is what our problem was yesterday. Because the very last time I downloaded another fresh copy of Itunes; I made sure everything was gone. We had 3 people trying to get this going since late Monday afternoon & I don't know if they checked to make sure there were no remnants. This was my 1st time at this step
Removing and Reinstalling iTunes, QuickTime, and other software components for Windows XP
Use this link - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1925 to make sure there are no files left
In most cases removing iTunes and its related components from the Control Panel will remove all supporting files belonging to those programs.  In some rare cases those files may be left behind. After following the previous steps, you should confirm that the following files and folders have been removed and if any are left behind, remove them now:
C:\Program Files\Bonjour
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Apple\
C:\Program Files\iTunes\
C:\Program Files\iPod\     Note: Follow the additional steps at the end of this article if you receive the alert "Cannot delete iPodService.exe: It is being used by another person or program" when trying to delete this folder.
C:\Program Files\QuickTime\
C:\Windows\System32\QuickTime
C:\Windows\System32\QuickTimeVR
How to restart the Apple Mobile Device Service (AMDS) on Windows
restarting device- http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1567
1- Remove any Windows user passwords & reboot
2- back up locations listed to thumbdrive
3- remove all traces of Apple products
4. reboot
5. check folders listed above to make sure everything is removed. If not; delete & reboot
6. Install iTunes
7. Reboot
8. attach phone; give it a few minutes to install drivers
9. Open Itunes & walk away 5 minutes. I suggest walking away because when I opened itunes; the device was not shown; I got up to answer a text & when I came back; it was showing. ~SMH!
10. You may need to install drivers- I was finding the iphone listed under imaging devices in the device manager. There is no driver CD; so don't go nuts looking for one. It would be too easy to just add a driver at Apple that nontech people can download & install..
11. ADD the correct driver- You will have to go back to the device manager to find the Iphone; then right click it & reinstall driver using the link below. For some reason; it would not work with the default driver the 1st few times. Once again; I stepped away for a few & guess what? Iphone shows up in itunes. I wonder how many people are not waiting long enough for them to pair?
iOS: Device not recognized in iTunes for Windows
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1538
Update the Apple Mobile Device Driver
Right-click the Apple Mobile Device entry in Device Manager and choose Update Driver Software.
Select  "Browse my computer for driver software."
Select "Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer."
Click the Have Disk button. Note: If the Have Disk option is not present, choose a device category such as Mobile Phone or Storage Device if listed, and then click next. The Have Disk button should then appear.
Click the Have Disk button. Note: If the Have Disk option is not present, choose a device category such as Mobile Phone or Storage Device if listed, and then click next. The Have Disk button should then appear.
Click the Browse button and navigate to  C:\Program Files\Common Files\Apple\Mobile Device Support\Drivers.
Note: If using a 64-bit version of Windows Vista or Windows 7, navigate to  C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Apple\Mobile Device Support\Drivers.
Double-click the "usbaapl" file. (This file will be called "usbaapl64" if you have a 64-bit version of Windows. If you don't see" usbaapl64" here, or if there is no Drivers folder, look in  C:\Program Files\Common Files\Apple\Mobile Device Support\Drivers instead).
Click Open in the Have Disk window. Then, click Next and then Click Finish. Windows will install the driver.
Note: During installation, if a message appears stating that the software you are installing "has not passed Windows Logo testing," click Continue Anyway to continue installing the drivers.
Good luck everyone & be careful with your iphone backup in itunes because there is an issue where Windows is putting a password on it & people are losing their backup. Get into the habit of backing your phone up so that you have multiple backups