iTunes: The required file cannot be found

Lately, I always get an error message when I try to sync my iPhone in iTunes. The message simply says “The iPhone cannot by synced. The required file cannot be found.”

Unfortunately, iTunes doesn’t say exactly what file is missing. While playing with the sync options in iTunes I found out, that the problem is related to Apple Aperture 3 in my case. If you’re using iPhoto instead of Apple Aperture, you may find a solution in this Apple support note. If you’re getting this error message in iTunes and you’re syncing your Aperture 3 library (or parts of it) to your iPhone, I may have a solution for you.

1. Make sure Aperture, iTunes and iPhoto are closed. Use cmd-Q to terminate them if they’re still open.
2. Open Finder
3. Navigate to your Home -> Pictures folder
4. Right-click the “Aperture Library.aplibrary” folder and select “Show Package Contents”
5. You should see a folder named “iPod Photo Cache”
6. Delete this folder
7. Start iTunes
8. Re-enable photo synchronisation in the photo sync tab
9. Click “Sync Photos” in the dialog that pops up
10. Choose Aperture to sync sync photos from
11. iTunes will say that your iPhone is synced to another photo library. Click yes to overwrite the old settings in iPhone.
12. That’s it! Your iPhone should be syncing without errors now!