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Many of us at least once receive this 3194 error message when we are trying to restore our iPhone in the iTunes during restoring process. It is also obvious that mostly jailbreakers and unlockers are the victims of this error since they might be restoring iPhone for unlock, jailbreak, downgrade or update firmware. At this stage once you receive error 3194 it makes you crazy and troublesome. Message says ” The iPhone “iPhone” could not be restored. An unknown error occured (3194).

Main reason for this iTunes error 3194 is during the firmware restore verification not authorized by Apple or you don’t have the SHSH blobs stored in Cydia.

Common causes of iTunes Restore error include:

• Firewall (it is better to disable it and attempt iphone or ipad restoring again)
• Antivirus (as one option disable it and attempt restoring again)
• Hosts file blocking access to the validation server, below is detailed procedure for updating host file
• Stubborn computer - try a different machine if possible.
• Try this on a Mac (iTunes works almost flawlessly when used on a Mac)

How To Fix iTunes Restore Error 3194

The error can be avoided by changing the hosts file on your computer. Just follow the below steps if you want to restore your device to an earlier firmware and if your SHSH blobs are stored in Cydia. So basically you will be adding the below line in your hosts file.

74.208.151.171 gs.apple.com

Here I have given the ways to find and update your hosts file on different platforms:

Microsoft XP/2003/2000

• Go to Start => Programs => Accessories => Notepad
• Click File => Open
• Browse to: C:/Windows/System32/drivers/etc/ and find the file that’s named “hosts”, if hosts is not visible try next step.
• Now select All Files (*.*)” from the “Files Type” drop-down menu
• Now you need to select the file named “hosts” and click Open.
• Enter this line without quotation marks “74.208.151.171 gs.apple.com ” . Save and close Notepad.

Microsoft Windows 7 / Vista

• Click Start => All Programs => Accessories.
• Right click “Notepad” and select “Run as administrator”
• Click Yes on the UAC prompt.
• Click File => Open.
• Alter the file filter drop down box from “Text Documents (*.txt)” to “All Files (*.*)”.
• Browse to “C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc\”
• Select “hosts” and click “Open”.
• Enter this line without quotation marks “74.208.151.171 gs.apple.com ” . Save and close Notepad.

How To Fix iTunes Restore Error (3194) - Apple OSX 10.4.X Tiger

• Open Terminal (Click Spotlight, or click Command+Space. Now type terminal.)
• In Terminal type, ‘sudo pico /etc/hosts‘, click Enter.
• Put in 74.208.151.171 gs.apple.com.
• Click Ctrl+X, then Y to save.
• Type ’sudo niload -v -m hosts . < /etc/hosts’, click Enter
• Type ‘lookupd -flushcache’, click Enter.
• Apple OS X Snow Leopard & Leopard
• Start Terminal (Click Spotlight, or click Command+Space. Now type terminal.)
• Copy and paste this code into Terminal
• sudo /Applications/TextEdit.app/Contents/MacOS/TextEdit /etc/hosts
• Press Enter
• Enter this line without quotation marks “74.208.151.171 gs.apple.com ” . Save and close Notepad.

• Save by pressing Command+S, click Save.

After completing above steps try to restore again and I hope you will be successful. If your hosts file contains this line already try to remove and save file and retry restore.

Below is another alternative for fixing the error 3194 in iTunes

• Quit iTunes and download TinyUmbrella from our jailbreak download page and open TinyUmbrella as administrator.
• Connect your iphone, ipad or ipod and after selecting your iPhone and click on the “Advanced” tab and uncheck the option of “Set Hosts to Cydia on Exit (If you need a clean restore from Apple uncheck this box)”
• Finally apply the changes.

By applying this tweak you shall remove any blocks created by a previous Jailbreak or similar procedure.

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Tags: 3194 error, error 3194, error occured (3194), itunes restore error, unlnown error