Getting iTunes to recognize iPad

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17.3.1, iPad Mini 5, Win 10 PC. I'm confused. I've been trying to copy .mp4 videos from my PC to my Mini via iTunes. I've had three results (with a couple of photos):

- success: iPad icon shows on iTunes and transfer goes to AppleTV app on iPad. Happened one time when I booted PC with iPad attached via USB
- large Photos screen opens, shows transfer error message, and when closed iPad icon doesn't how in iTunes, with an error message there too
- Photos doesn't open, or after closing it, then iTunes freezes or the loading circle goes on and on and has to be closed via Win Task Mgr

Anyone help make sense of this, and how to successfully get iTunes to recognize iPad (icon), so I can transfer? Thanks,

 

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Need to update the OP. The first problem was getting the PC to recognize the iPad. That's solved. Now the problem is how to get iTunes to recognize the iPad Mini. The problem is that in the process after opening iTunes, the loading circle runs on and on and then throws up the unknown error shown in the OP. (The other photo shown in the OP is another sign of Windows recognizing the iPad, but the photos screen is MS based, so I close it.)

 

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I uninstalled, rebooted and reinstalled iTunes. The good news so far is no error message and the PC recognizes the iPad. The bad is that iTunes is still not recognizing the iPad. What's next?

 

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Fixed with iOS 17.4. Apparently, I wasn't the only one with the problem.
Btw, found this helpful in checking before I realized iOS had been updated today:
8 Fixes to iPad Not Showing Up in iTunes on Windows 11/10.