Photos app freezes upon import / photo importing problems

I decided to contact Microsoft to help resolve this issue. 

Day 1. Chatted with Microsoft Agent for 1.5hrs. They said my recycle bin was full and created the issue. While I strongly doubted the solution, I emptied my recycle bin and followed the steps he recommended. He eventually said the download has started it will take some time, but continued to reassure me it would work. He said in one hour it should download all the pics. 2.5hrs total time invested and it didn't work. Worst case, he

Day 2. Chatted with another agent who made me download a Media Creation tool. It downloaded and installed in several hours and he promised and reassured me that it would solve the problem. Guess what, it didn't! 5 hours wasted.

Day 3. Spoke to a "Windows Specialist" who took me through all the steps already mentioned in this thread and after a frustratingly long hour, he said I need to speak to a Level 2 technician. He scheduled a call back for me in 48hrs and guess what, I never received the call.

To all three techs, I referenced this thread and they all refused to acknowledge it. I truly believe, this is a known problem for which they don't have a solution nor do they care to resolve it.

Microsoft - you have officially lost a customer. Once I figure out a solution to this problem and import my pics, I am done with your OS.

It still doesnt work. I tried every fkn Workaround here ant nothing works. I cant work anymore people are waaiting. What is this stupid software not able to import photos.

Yes, I did. I'm at my wit's end... I have pictures of my daughter I am trying to import to my laptop/external hard drive for safe keeping.

I've been working on a solution for days and believe I have it. Here is what to do...

Importing Photos to Windows 10 PC (FIX)

STEPS:

1. Start PC or Restart (if on)
2. Take the USB cord/cable (USB to iPhone) and only plug-in the USB to the USB port on PC. Do NOT plug-in iPhone yet.
3. Open Photos APP
4. Once Photos APP is open and ready – then plug-in iPhone. (You may have to ALLOW access to the PC and TRUST the PC).
5. An “error” window may pop-up and say “Cannot connect device”. If so, click on “Close” … do not click “Try Again”
6. Then look at upper right side of the Window (Photos APP Window), you should see tab for “Import”. Click Import and you also should see a small Blue dot over the icon for “From a USB Device” option. Choose “From a USB Device”
7. Once Device pop up Window is up; click on “Apple iPhone” for option as the USB device. It is usually the 3^rd^ option
8. Wait for the Photo Image to show [Looking for new photos and videos … XXXX items found so far]. Once the photos load, click on “Unselect All”

…. Then choose Photos only by clicking on each photo manually (blue box/check). Don’t choose any Videos as they will have errors when importing. I usually do a Month at a time. Do not check the Month “Check Box” at the beginning of each set of monthly photos- the APP will crash again. You’ll have to choose your photos manually for each month.

9. Click on “Import Settings” – choose by date, Day. Month), Check box if you want to Delete after Importing. Click “Done” when finished making your choices here.
10. Now you are ready to import your Photos. Click “Import”
11. Wait till ALL photos are done importing and deleted (if you chose that from step 9). A message in a banner across the top will pop up and say: “# items added to your collection. Show Them!”

*WAIT til that message disappears. DO NOT CLICK ON THE “X” to close it out. This may take 30-60 seconds for this message banner to go away.

12. Once that message is gone, the Photos App is ready for another import.
13. Repeat Steps 6 – 11.

Your Welcome!

This did not work for me. I tried it 4 times and it always freezes on the screen where it says XXXX items found.

 Did you see the Blue Dot (over icon for USB device) in the upper right hand corner of the Photo App?

I agree!