Windows not able to inspect iOS 11

https://github.com/RemoteDebug/remotedebug-ios-webkit-adapter/issues/79

I finally got it to work with a lot of failed attempts. Here were my steps for any future users attempting to do the same. I am running Windows 10 with iOS 11 on my device.

1. Following from this StackOverflow post, I installed Node, iTunes, and enabled web inspector on my iPad (Settings > Safari > Advanced). Using Powershell as administrator, install the remote debugger: npm install remotedebug-ios-webkit-adapter -g I attempted to run the adapter: remotedebug_ios_webkit_adapter --port=9000. I saw iosAdapter.getTargets over and over, but the page at chrome://inspect/#devices didn't show any remote targets at port 9000. (This is a recreation of the problem).

Now is the part where I try to make the edit for iOS 11.

1. Download the latest release of https://github.com/google/ios-webkit-debug-proxy/. No need to install scoop. Just get the zip release. I grabbed version 1.8: https://github.com/google/ios-webkit-debug-proxy/releases/download/v1.8/ios-webkit-debug-proxy-1.8-win64-bin.zip

2. Unzip that release. I chose to put it in the same folder as the broken library (to make the edit easier), in %AppData%\npm\node_modules\remotedebug-ios-webkit-adapter\node_modules\vs-libimobile\ios-webkit-debug-proxy-1.8-win64-bin

3. Edit the file %AppData%\npm\node_modules\remotedebug-ios-webkit-adapter\out\adapters\iosAdapter.js. On line 132, it reads: const proxy = path.resolve(__dirname, '../../node_modules/vs-libimobile/lib/ios_webkit_debug_proxy.exe'); Change this location to point to the location of the ios_webkit_debug_proxy.exe you unzipped earlier. I changed this line to say: const proxy = path.resolve(__dirname, '../../node_modules/vs-libimobile/ios-webkit-debug-proxy-1.8-win64-bin/ios_webkit_debug_proxy.exe');

Now try to run again:

1. Re-open Chrome to chrome://inspect/#devices and run PowerShell as an administrator. Run remotedebug_ios_webkit_adapter --port=9000 and make sure Chrome is configured to search for a network target on that port (Discover Network Targets > Configure). Open Safari on your iPad. Hopefully this works.

I also had to unplug and re-plug my iPad before this would work. It appeared Windows hadn't yet configured the drivers properly. I can confirm that I also see the repeated error message mentioned by @taneltm above. Seeing this message may be a good confirmation that things should be working.

...
iosAdapter.getTargets
error.iosAdapter.getTargets.getDeviceVersion.failed.fallback, device=[object Object]
iosAdapter.getTargets
error.iosAdapter.getTargets.getDeviceVersion.failed.fallback, device=[object Object]
iosAdapter.getTargets
error.iosAdapter.getTargets.getDeviceVersion.failed.fallback, device=[object Object]