iTunes Could Not Connect To The iTunes Store

I am also unable to connect to the iTunes store as of April 6. At this time, it is only a problem on my PC that is running Windows XP, but not on my computer that is running Windows7. I can see my iTunes account and my iTunes network diagnostics tells me my link to the store has been verified. When I click on the store link, the status bar loads about half way and hangs there. I don't get any error messages, it just hangs.
I have been reading the forums and have tried ALL of the suggestions including uninstalling and re-installing iTunes, and changing parental controls,etc without any luck. This problem began at the beginning of this week sometime after the newest version of iTunes was released, version 9.1.0.79. Apple support just sent me a bunch of links to the knowledge base articles that I already tried. Guess I won't be making any purchases from the iTunes store.

Good to know that I'm not the only one experiencing this problem. All was fine until April 4 when I downloaded the most recent version of iTunes to my computer. I have not been able to connect to the iTunes store since then. I ran through all the trouble-shooting tips on the support site and even called a tech rep. He gave me all the same trouble shooting sites even though I told him I tried them all. This is all very upsetting as I am missing out on many great podcasts!

I did fix my problem...for about 60 seconds !
I cannot access the iTunes store from my XP machine. After reading one of the posts, I removed the iTunesPrefs.xml file from my computer running XP, and restarted iTunes. New prefs file, same problem.

I have a second computer (Acer) running Windows 7 and so far I am still able to access the iTunes store with that one, so I copied the iTunesPrefs.xml file from the Win 7 machine to the XP machine. I restarted iTunes on the XP with the copied iTunesPrefs.xml file and it worked ! The iTunes store loaded and I could see the content, but as soon as I attempted to navigate away from the main page and look at music or anything else (except iTunesU), the system hung and that was the end of it. I could not re-load the storefront or browse. I never got an error message, the page just hung when the status bar was about 1/2 way done. By the way, I did not have the store blocked in my parental controls section of iTunes, so that's not the problem.

Also, the Acer is on the same wired network as the Dell XP machine so the router is not the problem.
If an Apple tech support person reads this and has any ideas about what might fix my problem I would sure be willing to give it a try.

I found something that helped me it was on another thread

open Internet explorer, click tools tab, click internet options, click connections tab, click lan settings, click use a proxy server for your lan! (for me i "un"-checked the proxy server box.)

Good luck

After reading through many posts concerning this issue of not being able to connect to the iTunes store, I finally found a post on another link that actually seemed to correct the problem. I believe this resolution provides some validation to apple support that there is a code problem of some sort in the latest update of iTunes for Windows.
Here, courtesy of another post, is the solution that worked for me:

*--Re: Can't Connect to the Itunes Store*

*Posted: Mar 28, 2010 12:20 PM in response to: bllyrd*


*after many, many attempts to solve this problem (PC)using suggestions from this and other forums, here's the very simple solution that worked:*

*Opened iTunes. Clicked on Preferences and under Parental Controls disabled access to the iTunes Store. I then checked the box to allow access to iTunes U.*

*When I tried loading the store this time, it sent me directly to iTunes U with no problem.*

*I then went back into Preferences and enabled access to everything and tries reloading the store.*

-
Good luck! Now...I wonder how long it's going to take apple support techs to issue a real fix to the software code.

Have tryed this and various other types of fix for this problem, Happend after the latest update no access to itunes store, Ive advised everyone I know who uses Itunes not to do the update yet as it's broken.

I even tryed uninstalling and installing the last version but then it wipes my iphone and complains that the apps ive bought are not allowed to be installed as ive not bought them on this account even when ive given the program all the soghn in details.

Was having the same problem. This is the trick that worked for me. I'm on a Mac....


"after many, many attempts to solve this problem (PC)using suggestions from this and other forums, here's the very simple solution that worked:

Opened iTunes. Clicked on Preferences and under Parental Controls disabled access to the iTunes Store. I then checked the box to allow access to iTunes U.

When I tried loading the store this time, it sent me directly to iTunes U with no problem.

I then went back into Preferences and enabled access to everything and tries reloading the store."

thank your for your post. It worked perfectly!

Well this is THE FIX everyone! (supplied last year by smeone else under this topic, but easily missed.)

1. Open iTunes
2. Click on Edit/Preferences
3. Under Parental Controls, DISABLE access to the iTunes Store
4. Then check the box to ALLOW access to iTunes U
5. Try to log in to the store again through iTunes - it will send you
direct to the iTunes U store
6. Repeat step 2
7. Under Parental Controls nor ENABLE access to the iTunes Store.

Voila! All fixed. Obviously an error in the latest release of iTunes, but getting Apple to fix it seems an impossibility!

Same here, I've tried everything suggested, spoken to apple support with no real answers... it's really starting to **** me off. itunes store works fine on my iphone, so why not on my computer??? Hello, Apple, can you fix this please!?!

The same message "make sure your internet connection is active and try again" occurs for me, and I have tried everything. It seems that the problem mostly happens to windows 7 users with the newest version of itunes. I hope apple fixes this soon.

I have a similar situation after upgrading to iTunes 9.1.0.79. iTunes sits on "iTunes could not connect to the iTunes Store". I am also running Windows Vista on a 64 bit system and have had no trouble connecting until after loading this iTunes update.

Frustrating, especially since Apple is the only one hurting since I can't link to their store to make purchases. You'd think they would be motivated to put some support developers on this issue......

Sure enough. This worked for me as well. Such a simple fix....yet I've somehow spent so much time on this. Thanks very much for sharing this. So much less frustrated now! 🙂 Thank you, thank you!

I completely uninstalled itunes and then went to oldapps.com and downloaded itunes 8.2.1. It works and appears that no spyware or anything has been installed. The only problem is that when you try to run it, a warning appears that says "the file iTunes Library.itl could not be read because it was made from a newer version of itunes". Since my library is on another computer as well as on my ipod, i deleted the file.I am now able to run itunes and it works perfectly. The library will have to be transfered, but I hope this helps.

I just authorized my computer and am transfering my purchases from my ipod without any trouble.