iTunes not recognizing iPhone 13. No way to sync.

Situation:

An iTunes-to-iPhone sync was in progress when Windows 11 automatically started an update on my laptop. The likelihood of this collision was low since the sync usually happens fast, but the collision happened.

Both the iTunes-to-iPhone sync and the Windows update stopped.

According to the Device Manager, some files were migrated. The date of this migration is the date of the aborted sync.

The phone did not work until I visited an Apple Store. They got the phone restored and working fine in 15 minutes.

The iPhone is still recognized by the laptop but...

When opening iTunes, the device (phone) icon that is expected in the upper left-hand portion of the iTunes screen, never appears, so I cannot sync from iTunes.

The same results happen when connecting the iPad to the laptop.

The problem is clearly not with the phone or iPad, but with iTunes on the laptop.

Writing here may be a waste of time since there are several similar questions posed to the community.

I've spent a few hours reading all the support responses and checking the obvious suspects (different USB cable, etc.).

Any ideas? Thank you in advance.