How To: connect to the iPhone via USB using iPhoneBrowser (Win)
iPhoneBrowser is an open source project created by NetMage.SCW and hightowk. It is a Windows XP/Vista/Windows 7 GUI for manipulating files on the iPhone.
First of all, you should download iPhoneBrowser from the project download page (this how-to refers to v1.93) and install it.
These are the requirements:
- Windows XP / Vista 32-bit / Windows 7 RC 32-bit
- Microsoft .Net Framework 2.0
- afc2 service installed on iPhone (otherwise iPhoneBrowser will not show all files) – this is normally installed as part of jailbreaking
- iTunes up to version 8.2 installed and started with iPhone attached at least once
Important Blackra1n note: Blackra1n does not create the afc2 service needed by iPhoneBrowser: you can install (how-to) the afc2add program in Cydia to add the service or you can manually create the service by editing the Services.plist file or using Erica Sadun’s plutil. See here for more info.
After the installation, just connect your iPhone to your PC via USB and run iPhoneBrowser.
This window will appear:
The left panel displays the iPhone folders tree, while the right one shows the files list: if you select a folder, you will be able to see its content listed into the right panel and when you select a file any available information becomes visible at the bottom of the window.
Click on “Preview” to see the preview of the selected file (if any) – click on “Auto Preview Enabled” to enable/disable the automatic preview.
Drag & drop files/folders from your PC to the desired destination folder on iPhoneBrowser interface to copy them into iPhone.
Folders management
Right click on a folder’s name to display the folders context menu:
- New Folder…: creates a new folder into the selected one
- Backup Folder: executes a folder’s backup
- Save Folder In…: saves the selected folder to your pc (you will be asked for the destination folder on your pc)
- Rename Folder…: allows to rename the selected folder
- Delete Folder: removes the selected folder
Files management
Right click on a file’s name to display the files context menu:
- Save As…: saves the selected file to your pc (you will be asked for the destination folder on your pc)
- Backup File: executes the backup of the selected file; you can access your backups by selecting “Functions” -> “View Backup Files” in the main menu
- Restore File: feature currently not available
- Rename File…: allows to rename the selected file
- Replace File…: allows to substitute the selected file with a file which is on your pc
- Delete File: removes the selected file
Whenever you try to delete a file or a folder, you will be asked for a confirmation: in order to deactivate this behavior, just select “Edit” -> “Options” -> “Confirm Deletion” in the main menu.
Moreover iPhoneBrowser performs a backup of each deleted file or folder: in order to see your backups, select “Functions” -> “View Backup files” in the main menu; if you want to disable this option (for the current execution only), select “Edit” -> “Options” -> “No Automatic Backup (this run)”; next time you run iPhoneBrowser, the backup will be enabled again.
Be careful when you disable these options: you won’t be able to restore erroneously deleted files.
There are some other useful features available, e.g.:
- “Go To Location”, which allows you to select the most commonly used folders with a single click (e.g. “Winterboard Themes”, “Fonts”, …)
- “Favorites”, which simply adds your preferred folders to the favorite’s list, so that you can quickly access them; you can also add, remove or organize your favorites
For any issue you can have a look here.
