Windows 10: iCloud for Windows not syncing photos and photo stream process with continuously excessive CPU

I use iCloud for Windows to acquire photos shared by iPhone family members in iCloud Shared Albums - each named album which a family member has chosen to share with me, becomes a named folder on the laptop and when working well, any photos shared by the family in those albums on any of their iPhones are captured from iCloud onto the PC - I then use Google Backup & Sync to subsequently push them back into the cloud into Google Photos to achieve a single consolidated family photo set - it all happens automatically when its working.




Unfortunately, Windows and/or Apple updates routinely breaks it - the symptoms are that photos don't appear in the Windows 10 folders and the ApplePhotoStream.exe process runs with 50% CPU continuously. Eventually a Windows and/or Apple update subsequently drops in and everything comes back to life. The October Windows update and/or Apple's v7.7 update broke my system a few days ago so I've decided to look for a fix this time and believe I've found it. If you've had similar issues you may want to try this fix.


I observed that when the ApplePhotoStream process is running (with excessive CPU) the Antimalware process is clocking a few percent CPU. If I kill ApplePhotoStream the Antimalware process goes quiet. It seems that Microsoft and Apple haven't got their act together. My fix is to include a number of exclusions for bona fide Apple software in Windows Security Centre:


Go into Windows Settings and select … Windows Security / Virus & Threat Protection / Virus & Threat Protection Settings / Exclusions and add the following exclusions - hey presto, it immediately kicks into life and folders/photos start populating on the PC - I'm pretty sure that this is the fix for intermittent iCloud for Windows failures that I've been experiencing over the last couple of years.

:)

 

icloud sync photo stream

just the icloud for pc it has photo from photo stream and they are in the cloud with windows 8.1 I could see them and after up grade gone in all apps icloud/icloud photo

 

icloud photo library

Hello Don,

There may be several reasons why your iCloud photos are not showing up on your wife's user account. To assist you better with your concern regarding syncing iCloud, kindly answer the questions below:

• When did this problem start?
• Is your iCloud up to date?
• Have you tried syncing iCloud while logged in to your wife's account?

You may refer to this article for steps on how to setup iCloud on Windows. Kindly make sure that you are logged in to your wife's account when performing the steps:
How to set up and use iCloud Photos on Windows 10.

We are looking forward for your reply.

 

Remove iCloud Photos from Devices and Drives View in File Explorer


thank you for this soln gogreen, much appreciated! Here is a quick summary for others if interested -

Reference:

• rANa'S Blog - How to remove iCloud Photo from My Computer (9/21/14)

Steps:

1. Open regedit (Win+R, "regedit")
2. Enter key in address bar
3. Deprecate key
   • Opt A. - delete
   • Opt B. - rename something different (e.g. prefix with "_")
4. Close and re-open to observe result

Key:

• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{F0D63F85-37EC-4097-B30D-61B4A8917118}

thanks!