My iCloud Photo Stream is not syncing correctly to my Windows 8.1 laptop or my Windows 7 PC.

Question

I have been going through the forums for the last few weeks and nothing has helped.  Both computers are x64 bit.
Problems I am experiencing
A. Windows 7 PC has not synced photo stream since September 25
B. Windows 8.1 laptop has not synced since a little before that.
C. I can't upload any photos (.jpegs) to the photo stream.  An error pops up saying that they cann't be uploaded as they are not in a format supported by iCloud, even though they are jpegs.
D. Photos are syncing ti my ipad 3 perfectly fine, so clearly there is a problem with my computers but I am totally stumped.
I have un-installed, deleted all icloud photo stream folders, restarted and then re-installed the iCloud control panel on both computers, and it has created new folders and re-synced maybe 30 photos before it stopped again.
I have uninstalled every single Apple program on my Windows 8.1 laptop and reinstalled iTunes, iCloud and Quicktime and that didn't help.
I have toggled the Photo Stream on/off button in setting on my iphone, and that seemed to kick start the sync on my Windows 7 PC this morning, so far I've got 70 photos on my Windows 7 PC and that's where it has stopped but its a really random selection, and doesn't include the photos I took yesterday or today.
Two of my colleagues at work where my Windows 7 PC is located - their photo streams are working fine, both using ios7 and icloud control panel, however their computers are x32 bit.
I have also simply logged out and signed in again multiple times, however that doesn't do anything.
I have unticked the "read-Only" permissions on my photo icloud stream folder, but that didn't help either.
I have followed the troubleshooting from here: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3989 - however that also did not help.
I have tried changing the folder path for iCloud photo stream, however that did not help either.
I tried the steps from someone who said they spoke to an Apple rep (steps copied from forum and I put them in italic) on this forum: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5381738
Anyway, the Apple rep had me sign out of iCloud CC on my PC.
Then on each iOS devices Settings/iCloud/Delete Account.
Confirmed all the warnings.
Then re-entered my iCloud id and password on the iOS device.
Things restarted and the iOS Photo Streams got loaded with the number of photos that
iCloud has.
Signed in on iCloud on the PC. It synced the same way.
Tried taking pictures on the iPhone and iPad. They synced everywhere.
So I'm back in business.
I just deleted everything on my iOS devices when I exited iCloud.
My interest is the PC syncing when I take a photo on my iPhone.
ME: Okay so these steps again refreshed the photostream on my iPhone 5.  I can see that the photos I took yesterday and today have been uploaded to the photo stream as I can see them there on my device.  I have also now signed back into iCloud on my Windows 7 PC and it is slowly syncing again, but just recognising the same photos it downloaded previously as per Step 3 which I did just earlier this morning.
I have also just tried uploading photos via the upload folder from my windows 7 PC, and they uploaded perfectly.
This is really, really frustrating.  I've tried everything I can find on these forums but nothing has helped fix the issue 100%.
Can anyone offer something else I can try to reslove this issue?

Answer 1

Hi all.  I can’t tell you how to solve your iCloud 3.x issues.  Heck, I don’t think they’re even solvable.
But if you had a previous version of iCloud that was working correctly then I can definitely tell you how to solve the “iCloud Photo Stream is not syncing correctly to my Windows 7 PC” problem.  …without even a re-boot.
Log out of iCloud 3.0 and uninstall it.
Open My Computer and then open your C:\ drive.  Go to Tools/Folder Options and click on the View tab.  Select the “Show hidden…” radio button and click on OK.
Open the Users folder.
Open your user folder
Open ProgramData (previously hidden folder)
Open the Apple folder – not the Apple Computer folder.
Open the Installer Cache folder
In Details view sort on Name
Open the folder for the newest entry for iCloud Control Panel 2.x – probably 2.1.2.8 dated 4/25/2013
Right click on iCloud64.msi and select Install.
When finished, the synching between iCloud and your PC will be back to working perfectly as before the 3.0 fiasco.  The pictures will be synched to the same Photostream folder as before the “upgrade”.  Now all you need to do is wait until Apple/Microsoft get this thing fixed and working before you try the 3.x upgrade again.
I think the iCloud 3.0 software was written by the same folks who wrote healthcare.gov with the main difference being that healthcare.gov might eventually be made to work.
For those of you who hate to go backwards, think of it as attacking to the rear.  Which would you rather have, the frustration of no synching or everything working on an older version?
Good luck…