Photos app freezes upon import / photo importing problems

Greg,

So here is the problem. My iPhone has started storing photos in HEIC format - High Efficiency Image Coding/Format - which requires its own codec which Microsoft fails to supply; it appears to be part of/include the MPEG-H HVEC video codec for which Microsoft charges 99 cents plus tax.

I spent all day looking at what photos had not transferred to me PC since mid-October, and the first one that gave problems was a .heic  Not only did the Photo app cheke on the file, but so did Explorer when I attempted to drag and drop it onto my PC. No nice error message, but an assortment of Catastrophic Hardware Failure messages! I deleted that one file after screen-shotting the image, and then could drag everything else over. I launched the Photo app, which showed blank boxes for the heics, but a link to MS to buy the missing codec. I installed it, and then the images are shown in Photo.

Does this stop the Photo app hanging during imports? No, or at least not yet. It appears that MS were totally unaware of this new format and what they need to include in their updates to handle it, At least now I can drag and drop all my new photos as I wait in hope that someone will fix this issue.

Please forward these details to anyone at MS you are in contact with.

Thank you

As well as plugging in iphone and right click import pictures in my computer, try this as I was still have some issues. On the iphone in settings (use search at top), find transfer to pc or mac option. In there at the bottom, there is the transfer to pc or mac, automatic or keep originals. I found mine was set to default, however changing this to keep originals sorted out the transfer issues. Not sure if this is the issue with the photo app within windows 10, if someone can test.

well then, I'm sorry it wasn't of any help. It worked for the iphone 6s I have. Maybe it doesn't work with just cameras or other iphones? Btw,  have you tried disabling Autoplay? (https://www.techrepublic.com/article/how-to-disable-autoplay-and-autorun-in-windows-10/). Hope this helps

I was unable to import using the photos app as it kept freezing like it does for everyone but this worked for me. Thank you for your help.

To try to fix Photos app Reset and Repair Photos app at Settings > Apps > Apps & Features > Photos app > Advanced Options. Your pictures will be safe in the User Pictures folder.

Wanted to contribute as gratitude, by providing some feedback for others that this (quoted above) fixed my issue with Importing media from my iPhone running IOS 13.3. Prior to applying this fix, Microsoft Photos would stall during the scanning phase, specifically after showing about 399 detected photos, then the animation would stop and the app would not respond to any UI interactions.

If resetting doesn't work, I would recommend folks here to try to change this one setting that fixed a different problem I had importing individual media (that is large in size) -- Go to the iPhone settings for your Photos app, and then scroll to the bottom section labeled "Transfer To Mac or PC". Switch this to "Keep Originals", and this should skip the process of checking the files for compatibility, which has fixed my issues with importing some large GB's sized video files.

Good luck!

I had replied earlier that I have had this problem off and on since I went to an iPhone 8 (from a 5s) two years ago.  It primarily happens when I have a large number (thousands) of photos with videos to upload.  This most recent time it took me working in small amounts, 50-100 pics.  I was able to successfully transfer all of them (eventually).  After trying a couple of small groups and getting the freeze, I would reboot both the Windows PC and the iPhone to transfer more.  I did move the videos by copying from files, iphone.   

I just had to import more photos and videos.  The whole process seemed to work smoother and worked on the first try.  I had 133 pics and 5 videos including live photos.  It worked on the first try.  I do not know if the latest Cumulative update helped or not.  I am still on ios 12.4.1 (waiting for 13 to settle down) and Windows 10 build 1903.  The PC did update with the 2019-12 Cumulative update so maybe, it is working smoother.  

The photos app not keeping track of what photos are new, is an old problem that of course, still persists.  I am just excited if the freeze problem is fixed.