Tag Archives: Orca

How to install iCloud on Windows Server

Symptom
iCloud sync stops working, or you get an error message on startup that says: The procedure entry point _objc_init_image could not be located in the dynamic link library objc.dll’ and will not start.

Cause
Apple has configured newer versions of iCloud (version 3+, I believe) to only work on Windows 7 or 8, but there’s no reason you can’t use it on Windows Server operating systems.

Fix
You’ll need about 3 minutes, and two utilities.

  1. Install 7-zip.
  2. Install Orca, a Microsoft-provided MSI editor.
    • Orca is bundled with the Windows SDK, and getting it out of that bundle isn’t straightforward, so I’ve extracted it, and zipped it up so you can get it as a standalone program.
  3. Download the iCloud control panel installer, if you haven’t already
  4. Open iCloudSetup.exe with 7-zip.
    1. Right-click it
    2. Select 7-zip > Open with 7-zip
  5. Extract the appropriate version of iCloud somewhere (usually this is iCloud64)
  6. Open Orca, and open the iCloud MSI you just extracted
  7. Go to the LaunchCondition table
  8. Change this line:
    • From: (VersionNT >= 601) AND (MsiNTProductType = 1)
    • To: (VersionNT >= 601) AND (MsiNTProductType = 3)
  9. Save and quit

You should then be able to install iCloud on your Windows Server OS using the MSI you just modified.