Can't rotate some photos in Windows 7 (but can rotate others)

Anonymous
2011-10-27T10:30:27+00:00

Hi all. I cannot rotate some pictures that I've recently copied from my new iPhone to my hard drive.

I've copied them from my iPhone 4S to my Windows 7 PC, to a Subfolder within Pictures.  I can view them all without problems.  If I highlight any/all pictures that need rotating, right click, 'Rotate Clockwise', then sometimes the images will rotate successfully.  But sometimes I get an error saying 'You cannot rotate this image. The file might be in use or open in another program, or the file or folder might be read-only.'  Before I got my iPhone 4S, I have had no problems rotating images.  I'm a bit doubtful that the new phone / iOS5 is somehow to blame, as it's not attached to the computer, but who knows.

The files are not read only.  I've tried doing a clean boot to minimise the number of running processes, but I still can't rotate some of my images.  Does anyone have any other clues what the problem might be, or how I might investigate it further?  Thanks...

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Music, photos, and video

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Anonymous
2012-02-19T17:17:31+00:00

Just transfer all the pics you took to a a file in windows (as you would if you back up your iphone and ipad to your PC) and open the file in using Windows Office Picture Manager. This program is included as part  the Microsoft suite so it was free for me. I run windows vista  Choose to see the folder in "thumbnail view" the little box with 4 little rectangles on it right under the Shortcuts menu command. You will then see all the pics in the folder. Now you can individually rotate pics or highlight a bunch of them and rotate them at once using the rotate button up on top. Its a button with too little triangles on it. One of the triangles is laying on its side. Then hit "save" and voila! All your pics are now saved right side up! I didn't experience any sacrifice in quality of the pics or any changes. I hope this provides further clarity. These links have some add' info on Office picture manager-

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/about-picture-manager-HP001001721.aspx

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Anonymous
2011-10-28T16:54:23+00:00

If you search the web, many people have this issue only with iPhone 4s.

It appears that the Meta data attached to the picture by iPhone is corrupt and that is why the picture can't be rotated, etc.

It is suggested that the meta data be remove from the picture an then it can be manipulated.

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  1. Anonymous
    2011-10-30T11:43:28+00:00

    Thank you!  This makes perfect sense.  If I look at the image with Windows Photo Viewer, I can rotate the image, but when Windows tries to save it (when I move the next image), I get the following error:

    Windows Photo Viewer can't save changes to this picture because there's a problem with the picture's file properties.

    I've found a program that will strip the corrupt metadata from the images here:

    http://www.steelbytes.com/?mid=30&cmd=download&pid=15

    And this fixes the problem.  Now we have to wait for Apple to issue a proper fix.

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  2. Anonymous
    2012-05-31T22:40:22+00:00

    Here's a simple workaround (I know this sucks) but hey.

    Right click on picture file and then select "Open with " and choose "Paint".

    Save the file (from the Paint application) (Don't change the filename, just "save").

    Then, when you right click on the picture file, you will now be able to "rotate 90%" etc.

    Looks like when the Paint app re-writes the picture file, it "corrects" the file attributes (or whatever) that then allows the picture file to be rotated, etc.

    Go figure.

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  3. Anonymous
    2012-02-19T14:32:37+00:00

    Here's my blog post (complete with a video demo) on the easiest way to solve this rotation problem using the free JPEG Lossless Rotator app:

    http://www.daleisphere.com/easily-rotate-locked-iphone-4-and-4s-photos-in-window s-7-with-the-free-jpeg-lossless-rotator/

    Cheers... Dale

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