If you can not get onto the Internet or intranet while an Apple iPhone is charging via USB cable on a Windows PC or laptop, there are a few ways to get it fixed.
Quick Fix
A quick fix is to disconnect the USB cable from the USB port on the computing device but this could cause a problem if the battery on the Apple iPhone was low or if important files were being transferred between the computer and Apple iPhone so you should check with the owner of the Apple iPhone before disconnecting if the computer is shared.
Normal Fix
To make sure that you can always use the computing device while the Apple iPhone is being charged via the USB cable, please check the Network Connections area under the Control Panel to see if Apple Mobile Device Ethernet is listed there. When you locate the occurrence, please right-click on it and select disable.
Please note that your account will need to be listed in the Administrator group for you to be able to do so. Otherwise, you will have to contact the owner of the computer or someone with Administrator access such as your IT Department. If you know the password for the iPhone, you can also go into Settings and toggle the Personal HotSpot options so that the computing device will not utilize the connection through the Apple iPhone.
As a safety precaution, you should surf the Internet with an account that is not an Administrator as malware and viruses can spread to all accounts on the PC. When changes are to be made, let the OS prompt you to enter a username and a password to an Administrator account.
Permanent Fix
To make sure that you never have an issue with Apple Mobile Device Ethernet on your PC, check in the Control Panel and see if Apple iTunes is installed. If it is and you are not an Apple iPhone user or owner, then get rid of Apple iTunes and all related Apple software (QuickTime is okay to keep if you know how to patch against the QuickTime exploit discovered in 2016) from the machine.
Why Issues Happens
With the USB cable and Apple iPhone connected to the Windows computer, it is now configured to use the USB tethering mode and the computing device will want to access the Internet and intranet from the iPhone instead of the default Ethernet or Wireless connection for the computer so if you are in a job or school setting, you could find that the Internet works normally (and unblocked) to watch movies but your Intranet sessions (Exchange, Shared Drive, Portal, etc) fails and the reason is due to the Apple iPhone not being able to provide you access behind your job’s or school’s firewall.
Stephan Pringle
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