[PLEASE HELP] iPhone 4 4.2.8 iTunes cannot sync apps because they cannot be determined

Question

I have an iPhone 4 Verizon running iOS 4.2.7. When I try to sync the phone with my PC it says something like "iTunes cannot sync because the installed apps cant be determined." This is very frustrating and Ive tried every trick people say fixes it(device manager trick, updating itunes, restarting itunes, different port, restarting cp etc). What can I do? I just want to sync a new album to my phone Please help!

Answer 1

dcjsail wrote:
I am encountering the same problem.  This is a good start but need some guidance:
1.  How do you get to the iTunes files you mention?
2.  What specific files do you need?
3.  Will I lose any data?
Thanks for any help. 
1) The files are in the iTunes folder. The iTunes folder is in your Music folder which is in your home folder (user).
So go to <user home>/Music/iTunes.
2) Any files that end with .xml, .itl, or itdb. Please note that I had upgraded iTunes many times over the years and had several obsolete versions of those files in my iTunes folder. By moving them out and forcing iTunes to create new ones (see steps 3 & 4 above), I was able to determine which ones iTunes actually needed. Those were the files that I copied back into the iTunes folder, overlaying the new empty files.
3) Always make backups before you try tricks like this. I would recommend backing up your entire iTunes folder. I did not experience any data loss. Those files seem to contain your iTunes library information but not the actual music, movies, etc. When I started iTunes in step 3 (see above), iTunes showed an empty library. After performing step 4 (see above), I started iTunes again and it showed all my music, movies, etc. So I assume that the actual media files are stored elsewhere. Again, always make backups before trying something like this. I use Time Machine.
Good luck. Let us know what happens.