Welcome screen opens every time

Hi, drlambert100,

Welcome to the Apple Support Communities. I understand from your post that you're seeing the initial "Welcome" screen in iTunes every time you open it. I'm happy to help!

First, make sure that your Windows 10 software is up to date: Update Windows 10, then check for and install any available iTunes updates: Update to the latest version of iTunes - Apple Support. Once you've verified everything is up to date, close iTunes and restart your computer. Then, try again.

If the issue continues, see if it happens in another user account: Create a user account in Windows - Windows Help.

Don't hesitate to respond back if you continue to have trouble.

Cheers!

Three possible approaches to try in turn:

You can try right-clicking the shortcut for iTunes and running it as administrator which may help.

Windows Defender in Windows 10 may block file activity by iTunes that should be allowed. See how to turn off Controlled folder access in Windows Defender or whitelist iTunes in order to allow iTunes to run normally. If you installed iTunes from the Microsoft Store you might want to remove it and download the traditional iTunes64Setup.exe installer instead. See Troubleshooting issues with iTunes for Windows updates - Apple Community for further advice. Direct links to the latest build at the bottom of the page.

In the past this type of issue might have been fixed by deleting the iTunesPrefs.xml file. iTunes 12.5.1.21 introduced a change with the way preferences are saved. It seems that what used to be stored in:

C:\Users\<User>\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\iTunes\iTunesPrefs.xml

is now stored in a number of files spread amongst these folders:

C:\Users\<User>\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\iTunes\Cookies

C:\Users\<User>\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\Preferences

C:\Users\<User>\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\Preferences\ByHost

It may help to delete these folders if they exist to reset them, or create them if they don't.

tt2