Q: New laptop, loaded back-up from external drive, iTunes cannot locate any original files?

OK, I've uploaded a new version which should be able to trap the error and continue to the next track. It should produce a comment telling you what item it failed on and then move on to the next track. Might be useful to know in case it is a class of items that need to be skipped.

tt2

I've been having this same issue with my new laptop. I was able to restore a lot of missing songs so thanks for the help! But I'm still missing about 1,300 or so. I think I'm having the layout issue you mentioned. When I do ctrl I, the file location is expecting user/music/my music... but when I search for it, the path is user/my music/my music. Not sure if the extra "my" makes a difference?

Windows has a convoluted system for displaying your music folder as My Music when you look at it, or perhaps Steve's Music when viewed from another profile. IIRC in XP the inital "My " was part of the true folder name, since then it has been just "Music". Either way it ought not to matter, but in some cases it might. If you don't mind it would best if you can post both what iTunes displays (hide your username with <User>) and the true path to a sample track. I may spot something you don't think is relevant, or it might help me work out what other information would be useful.

tt2

I appreciate you taking a look. Here's the path iTunes displays:

file://localhost/C:/Users/<user>/Music/My Music/iTunes/iTunes Music/Sade/Love Deluxe/02 Feel No Pain.m4a

Here's the path to a sample track:

C:\Users\Valued Customer\Music\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Music\Al Green\Al Green_ More Greatest Hits

Can it be the same, currently broken track, in iTunes and as seen from Windows Explorer? Your path is to a different track and omits the filename & ext.

tt2

Sorry about that. Here are the paths for a song that does play properly:

Here's what iTunes displays:

C:\Users\Valued Customer\Music\iTunes\iTunes Music\Al Green\Al Green_ More Greatest Hits\01 Let's Stay Together (Long Version.m4p

Here's where I find it:

C:\Users\Valued Customer\Music\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Music\Al Green\Al Green_ More Greatest Hits\01 Let's Stay Together (Long Version.m4p

We can talk about how to normalise the layout of your library once it is all working, but it seems you may have introduced an additional My Music folder when you copied over your library.

What do you see as the path to the media folder under Edit > Preferences > Advanced?

Do you know where your active iTunes Library.itl file is?

Your media folder appears to be called iTunes Music which suggests your library is of some vintage.

There is also no additional Music folder between <Media Folder> and <Album Artist> which is again, old school.

I still can't compare iTunes' version of the path for a missing track with its exclamation mark, (i.e. the path will begin file://localhost) with the true path for that same track. Only by comparing those two values might I be able to see why iTunes cannot find the file by itself, or why my script might fail to find it.

tt2

Here's the iTunes path listed under advanced preferences:

C:\Users\Valued Customer\Music\iTunes\iTunes Music

I couldn't find an .itl file but I did find .xml files at these locations:

C:\Users\Valued Customer\Music\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Music Library.xml

C:\Users\Valued Customer\Music\iTunes\iTunes Music Library.xml

Which one of the .xml files was updated most recently?

The .itl extension might be hidden.

tt2

Ok, I found the .itl files. Those previous paths were for the iTunes music library.

C:\Users\Valued Customer\Music\My Music\iTunes

Modified 2008

Created 2013 (when I got my new computer)

C:\Users\Valued Customer\Music\iTunes

Modified and created dates are showing today's date.

Ok, that is a solid point of reference. The active library is in:

C:\Users\Valued Customer\Music\iTunes

Normally your media folder would be:

C:\Users\Valued Customer\Music\iTunes Media

with artist folders going down into:

C:\Users\Valued Customer\Music\iTunes Media\Music

but that obviously isn't the case since the media folder is:

C:\Users\Valued Customer\Music\iTunes\iTunes Music

and doesn't show the extra layer.

See my tip Make a split library portable for more on layouts and reorganizing.

I've still yet to see a specific example of a "broken" in iTunes track and its actual location.

One that has been known to happen is that after an upgrade iTunes starts shuffling some tracks from the older layout into the newer one, or vice versa, but my script should find those. In some cases Windows Media Player can also take tracks and move them up to <User's Music>\<Artist>\<Album>

Ah... Do I take it some tracks are at:

C:\Users\Valued Customer\Music\iTunes\iTunes Music\<Album Artist>\<Album>

and some at

C:\Users\Valued Customer\Music\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Music\<Album Artist>\<Album>

and that iTunes isn't seeing the group in the second folder?

If so you would point my script at:

C:\Users\Valued Customer\Music\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Music

when it asks for a folder to search, even if it suggests looking in

C:\Users\Valued Customer\Music\\iTunes\iTunes Music.

tt2

I haven't been able to find the actual location of a broken track which is why I haven't shared And yes, some tracks are at both those locations. Thanks for all the help. I'll give it a go but I'm out of my element so I may need to get some hands-on help to finish the job. My library is better than it was so thanks for that! Wish me luck...

Ah, try searching the entire computer for the filename listed at the end of the file://localhost.... path.

tt2