agoraphonics

Q: How to downgrade iTunes 12 to 11.4?

I recently upgraded iTunes to 12.0.1 and want to downgrade back to 11.4. I run the 11.4 installer and it says "A newer version of iTunes is already installed." So I use the terminal to delete it (sudo rm -rf /Applications/iTunes.app/) and also trash the preferences as well as Library/Caches/com.apple.iTunes. Now I'm able to run the 11.4 installer, but when I launch iTunes, I get an error: "A required iTunes component is not installed. Please reinstall iTunes (-42401)." Any ideas on how I can successfully downgrade iTunes to 11.4?

 

It needs to be 11.4 since I share my iTunes library between two macs via file sharing, and one of them is an older mac which is unable to upgrade to version 12.

 

Any help appreciated! Thanks

MacBook Air, OS X Mavericks (10.9.5)

Posted on Oct 19, 2014 8:44 PM

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Q: How to downgrade iTunes 12 to 11.4?

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  • by vmorande,

    vmorande vmorande Oct 20, 2014 5:45 PM in response to agoraphonics
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Oct 20, 2014 5:45 PM in response to agoraphonics

    Its clearly something outside Itunes that it's blocking Itunes 11 to work. I used my time machine backup to get back everything Itunes related, but I got the same message: "A required iTunes component is not installed. Please reinstall iTunes (-42401)."

     

    Apple should receive a Nobel on making things unpleasant for its users...

  • by bnbayer,Solvedanswer

    bnbayer bnbayer Oct 21, 2014 9:45 AM in response to vmorande
    Level 1 (19 points)
    iPhone
    Oct 21, 2014 9:45 AM in response to vmorande

    Got mine fixed! The instructions here are for iTunes 11 to 10, but it worked for 12 back to 11.4 on Mavericks. Very happy camper.

     

    http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/audio/3415214/how-downgrade-itunes-11-itunes-10- in-mac-os-x/

  • by vmorande,

    vmorande vmorande Oct 21, 2014 10:03 AM in response to bnbayer
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Oct 21, 2014 10:03 AM in response to bnbayer

    Looks it's going to work! haven't find appzapper yet, i'll try it later! thanks!

  • by agoraphonics,

    agoraphonics agoraphonics Oct 22, 2014 2:48 AM in response to agoraphonics
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iTunes
    Oct 22, 2014 2:48 AM in response to agoraphonics

    Thanks bnbayer! After much hair pulling, that article did the trick for me. In case the article goes missing, the gist is:

     

    1. Back up your iTunes library

    2. Use AppZapper to remove iTunes: http://www.appzapper.com/

    3. Delete ~/music/itunes

    4. Use Pacifist to install the older version of iTunes: http://www.charlessoft.com/ (this is the crucial step)

    5. Restore your iTunes library to its original location

     

    Not sure why installing iTunes with Pacifist is necessary to insure the overwriting of existing files, but it seems to be the critical factor.

  • by Julien VIEILLEFONT,

    Julien VIEILLEFONT Julien VIEILLEFONT Oct 22, 2014 8:05 AM in response to agoraphonics
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Oct 22, 2014 8:05 AM in response to agoraphonics

    1) Open Terminal and run:

     sudo rm -rf /Applications/iTunes.app 

    This will delete the iTunes 12 application.

    2) If your Music Library is in its default place, also in the terminal:

      open ~/Music/iTunes 

    3) Using Time Machine restore the following files:

    • Album Artwork   <– Folder
    • iTunes Library
    • iTunes Library Extras.itdb
    • iTunes Library Genius.itdb
    • iTunes Library.xml
    • iTunes Library.itl
    • iTunes Music Library.xml
    • Previous iTunes Libraries  <– Folder

    No need to replace your iTunes Music Folder. You may not need to replace all these files but it can’t hurt.

    4) Back in the terminal:

    open /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks 

    Use Time Machine again to restore the following files:

    • AirTrafficHost.framework
    • CoreADI.framework
    • CoreFP.framework
    • DeviceLink.framework
    • iTunesAccess.framework
    • MobileDevice.framework

    5) Using Time Machine restore iTunes 11.4

  • by Bas Brands,

    Bas Brands Bas Brands Oct 24, 2014 9:59 AM in response to Julien VIEILLEFONT
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 24, 2014 9:59 AM in response to Julien VIEILLEFONT

    This solved it for me without having to install any programs! Thanks

  • by Smudge,

    Smudge Smudge Oct 24, 2014 12:20 PM in response to agoraphonics
    Level 1 (124 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 24, 2014 12:20 PM in response to agoraphonics

    In case you wish to downgrade, here is the iTunes 11.4 DMG.  Thanks to The iPhone Wiki for collecting the download links.

  • by AmaBlek,

    AmaBlek AmaBlek Oct 31, 2014 6:11 PM in response to agoraphonics
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 31, 2014 6:11 PM in response to agoraphonics

    Many thanks to agoraphonics and bnbayer! i downgrade from 12.0.1 back to 10.7 ok.


  • by Russell Dohrmann,

    Russell Dohrmann Russell Dohrmann Nov 6, 2014 6:56 AM in response to Julien VIEILLEFONT
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 6, 2014 6:56 AM in response to Julien VIEILLEFONT

    Thanks for posting this. It was easy to do and it worked. I'm back on iTunes 11.4 under Mavericks.

  • by Flexibug,

    Flexibug Flexibug Nov 6, 2014 3:56 PM in response to agoraphonics
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Nov 6, 2014 3:56 PM in response to agoraphonics

    isn't there a way to downgrade without these apps, just using terminal or so?

     

    this new iTunes 12, just like the iTunes coming with iOS 8.1 just breaks airplay with my DENON devices, even with their latest firmware updates. not going to move any other devices beyond iOS 7 or mavericks this way - got too many DENONs in my house - was a perfect choice with iOS 7 and mavericks, though...

  • by Russell Dohrmann,

    Russell Dohrmann Russell Dohrmann Nov 6, 2014 5:02 PM in response to Flexibug
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 6, 2014 5:02 PM in response to Flexibug

    Yes, I followed the post by Julien Vieillefont above and it worked easily.

  • by ellegant,

    ellegant ellegant Nov 12, 2014 6:43 PM in response to Julien VIEILLEFONT
    Level 1 (15 points)
    Nov 12, 2014 6:43 PM in response to Julien VIEILLEFONT

    Your instruction was easy to follow. Downgraded back to iTunes 11 yesterday a.m. This morning the iTunes 12 red icon was back in my dock! When I looked at "Info" for the app it showed that iTunes 12 had installed late yesterday afternoon! Any idea how that happened? I did not install any upgrades. I am going to downgrade iTunes 11 again. Thanks.

  • by bnbayer,

    bnbayer bnbayer Nov 13, 2014 5:17 AM in response to ellegant
    Level 1 (19 points)
    iPhone
    Nov 13, 2014 5:17 AM in response to ellegant

    Apple is insistent about their "upgrades".

     

    Go to System Preferences then select App Store (NOTE: you're not actually in App Store - you're still in System Preferences)

     

    Make sure "Install app updates" isn't checked. I don't know if Apple would consider ITunes a "system data file", but I've unchecked that too.

     

    Pre-Mavericks there was an option in Software Update to "ignore update" but it's gone. As I said, Apple is insistent and doesn't want you to be able to ignore what it's trying to make you use.

  • by ellegant,

    ellegant ellegant Nov 13, 2014 5:33 AM in response to bnbayer
    Level 1 (15 points)
    Nov 13, 2014 5:33 AM in response to bnbayer

    Thank you. I knew there was someplace to do exactly that. I hadn't poked around enough. I initially looked for it under Software Update. I too feel exactly the same about Apple telling me what's good for me. I am no stranger to Apple and Macs. My first was a PowerBook 150. Seems like for every step forward Apple takes in the user control experience it takes two steps back .

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