IPhone – For the iPhone, why is the “restore from backup” option not available in iTunes

iphoneitunes

I'm trying to back up and restore my iPhone using iTunes in order to attempt to get my supposedly successful carrier unlock from Chronic Unlocks to work. This is what Chronic Unlocks support recommended.

I have synced my iPhone to my computer in iTunes and confirmed that I have a recent backup.

my iPhone backup in iTunes

I followed the instructions from Apple under "restore from a backup", but when i ctrl-click on my iPhone under "devices" in iTunes, "Restore from backup" is not visible in the contextual menu. It only shows:

  • Eject
  • Sync
  • Transfer purchases
  • Back up
  • Reset warnings

Contextual menu for my iPhone in iTunes

How can I restore my iPhone using this backup I have?

  • Mac OS 10.9.4
  • iTunes 10.7 (update: had to downgrade from iTunes 11 using these instructions in order to have iTunes recognize and back up my iPhone running iOS 5).
  • iPhone 4, iOS 5.0.1

Best Answer

Apologies - to get the picture in, I need to 'answer' rather than comment...

I'm really not certain whether it's because you're on an old version, or that your machine can see no backup, but I get a totally different Backup section enter image description here

I'm not sure I can contribute further, sorry - because I don't remember how iTunes 10 looked & I'm on iOS 7 myself.

There is the possibility that Apple has essentially locked out iOS 5 now - but please don't take my word for it; I've seen posts about it but have no authoritative answer.

(Please don't -1 me for this 'non-answer', folks ;-)

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