How do I view or retrieve iCloud backup from my Windows 10 laptop?

Visit the icloud drive from a web browser.

This is a way how to view icloud backups without restoring your iPhone—all you need to do is visit the site in your browser.

It allows you to view and restore recently deleted photos and videos that have been synced to iCloud, so you can retrieve them immediately before they are permanently deleted.

Instructions: Open your browser and go to iCloud. Sign in with your Apple ID, then click Photos. In the left sidebar, click Recently Deleted.

If your videos or photos appear in that list, select them and click Restore. They will immediately reappear in your main photo library and sync to your Windows iCloud app.

This way, you how to view icloud backups and recover accidentally deleted media files without having to download any additional software.

This method is suitable for restoring recently deleted photos/videos, verifying backup contents without restoring the entire device, or retrieving media files before they are permanently deleted from iCloud.

libimobiledevice is an open-source, cross-platform toolkit that allows you to view iCloud backups and manage data on iOS devices, including accessing local backups via the command line and extracting content from them.

How to view iCloud backups

1. Install software on your computer using a package manager or by downloading a release from GitHub.
2. Use another tool to download the backup to a local storage location.
3. Open a terminal or command prompt and navigate to the backup folder.
4. Use the software's command-line interface to list and view the contents of the backup.
5. Run the extraction command to extract specific files from the backup.

Finally, I’d like to discuss how to view icloud backups. It offers a way to examine backups at a granular level, making it ideal for directly accessing iOS backup data.

OneDrive is a Microsoft cloud storage service, and it offers a straightforward way to recover deleted files, similar to the steps you’d take to retrieve icloud backup.

It allows you to restore accidentally deleted files from its Recycle Bin, making it a reliable solution when you need to recover cloud data.

First, visit the official website and sign in with your Microsoft account.

Next, locate and click the Recycle Bin option in the left-hand menu. Browse through the deleted files to find the ones you want to recover.

Once you've selected the files, click the Recover button to restore them to their original locations within the software.

It works for most standard file types, but similar to the process of retrieve icloud backup, there is a retention period, so files won’t remain in the Trash forever.

If you don’t want to use additional recovery software, you can use this built-in feature. It’s a simple and official way to recover files, but you should act before the retention period expires.

Disadvantages

• Deleted files are retained in the Recycle Bin for 30 days; restore them before the retention period ends.
• Restoring large files or a large number of files may take some time; please ensure you have a stable internet connection.
• Files that have been manually deleted from the Recycle Bin cannot be restored using this method.
• If you use the software on multiple devices, the restored files will be synced to all linked devices.

iphone_backup_decrypt is a completely free, open-source Python tool designed specifically to decrypt and extract files from encrypted iPhone backups . Unlike the iCloud for Windows app, it can open the encrypted backup file and pull out specific files by name or type.

There is one critical detail you need to understand before proceeding. This tool works with local backups stored on your computer, not directly with backups sitting in iCloud's servers . This means you must first download your iCloud backup to your Windows 10 laptop. Once that backup exists as a local folder on your hard drive, iphone_backup_decrypt can open it and extract whatever you need.

How to retrieve iCloud backup:

bash

pip install iphone_backup_decrypt

python -m iphone_ backup_ decrypt /path /to /backup -- password YOUR_PASSWORD --output ,/extracted _files

How to retrieve iCloud backup? You follow this three-step process: download the backup to your PC using iTunes, install iphone_backup_decrypt, and run a simple Python script to extract your photos and videos. The entire process uses only free, open-source tools and leaves your iPhone completely untouched.

This method can help you retrieve cloud photo backups, and it also serves as a reference when you need to retrieve icloud backup for lost pictures.

How to Restore iCloud Backup

Step 1: Make sure you have enabled Google Photos backup

Step 2: Visit the official website

Step 3: Open the Trash folder

Finally, select the photos you want, then restore and download them

Google Photos offers 15 GB of free storage and a 60-day trash retention period, allowing you to recover photos you’ve accidentally deleted.

Pros

• Deleted files are retained in the Recycle Bin for 60 days for recovery
• Supports automatic photo backup

Cons

• Files in the Recycle Bin will be permanently deleted after 60 days
• A stable internet connection is required to access and download files
• Data that exceeds the retention period cannot be recovered

Actually, the recovery process is the same for all cloud services, so you can definitely use this as a reference.

You accidentally deleted important videos and photos from your iPhone. You have an active iCloud backup, but when you open the iCloud for Windows app on your laptop, you cannot figure out how to browse or restore specific files. This is not your fault. Apple does not design iCloud backups to be browsable on a PC. A backup is not a folder of visible files—it is a single, encrypted archive meant only for full-device restoration .

The traditional method to get anything out of that backup would be to wipe your iPhone and perform a full restore. That is drastic, time-consuming, and risks losing other data. You want a way to retrieve iCloud backup without reset—to reach inside that backup file, find only the videos and photos you need, and pull them out individually.

How do you retrieve iCloud backup without reset:

Step 1: Download Your iCloud Backup to Your PC

Step 2: Download and Install iTunes Backup Explorer

Step 3: Load Your Backup into the Explorer

Step 4: Search for Your Deleted Videos and Photos

Step 5: Preview and Extract the Files

How to retrieve iCloud backup? If your wife has iCloud Photos enabled, you can use the official iCloud for Windows app to download your photos and videos.

How to restore iCloud backups:

Step 1: Open File Explorer

    On your Windows 10 laptop, open File Explorer (the folder icon on the taskbar).

Step 2: Find iCloud Photos

    In the left navigation bar, look for "iCloud Photos". Click on it.

Step 3: Select the photos or videos you want

    Browse through your iCloud photo library. Select the specific photos and videos you need to restore.

Step 4: Download them to your computer

    Right-click on the selected items, then choose "Always keep on this device". This will force the photos to be downloaded to your computer in full resolution.

Step 5: Copy them to a safe location

    After downloading, hold down the Ctrl key, drag the selected content to a folder on your desktop or another location on your computer, and then release the mouse. This will create a permanent copy on your computer.