iTunes Library and Playlists

Did you copy off the entire iTunes folder? If so copy it back into your user's music folder, don't import it into an empty library. See Move your iTunes library to a new computer - Apple Community. If you're missing the original database do you have these playlists on any device?

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With iTunes closed move the three library files and the Album Artwork folder you see in This PC > Music > iTunes to the desktop. Copy the Album Artwork folder, Previous iTunes Libraries Folder, and the iTunes Library files (not the XML) from the external drive into This PC > Music > iTunes. Launch iTunes. With luck that will fix it up.

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Playlists should be stored within the iTunes Libary.itl file, assuming that file was included in your backup. As I said, I would expect to see a Previous iTunes Libraries folder in the main iTunes folder if you've been using iTunes for longer than say 6 months, which makes me think you left something out of the backup, and iTunes has simply created a new empty library for you.

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See Make a split library portable - Apple Community and Backup your iTunes for Windows library with SyncToy - Apple Community.

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Enable hidden files. Is there anything else in the iTunes folder? Do you have any other .itl files? Normally there would be a Previous iTunes Libraries folder as a result of some earlier update to the iTunes library. Ideally your IT department would have ensured that all your user data was captured prior to the reimaging of the computer.

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The "missing file" issue with exclamation marks happens if the file is no longer where iTunes expects to find it. Possible causes are that you or some third party tool has moved, renamed or deleted the file, one of its parent folders, or the drive it lives on has had a change of drive letter, or you've moved a non-portable library to a different path (see Make a split library portable for details). It is also possible that iTunes has changed from expecting the files to be in the pre-iTunes 9 layout to post-iTunes 9 layout, or vice-versa, and so is looking in slightly the wrong place, or that you've been too aggressive when deleting duplicates. See Getting iTunes & Windows Media Player to play nicely if you're trying to access your media with any other media players.

Select a track with an exclamation mark, use Ctrl-I to Get Info, then click No when asked to try to locate the track. Look on the file tab for the location that iTunes thinks the file should be. Now take a look around your hard drive(s). Hopefully you can locate the track in question. If a section of your library has simply been moved, a folder renamed, or a drive letter has changed, it should be possible to reverse the actions. If the difference between the two paths is an additional Music folder in one path then this is a layout issue. I can explain further if that is the case. If everything is where it is supposed to be try Repair security permissions for iTunes for Windows.

In some cases iTunes may be able to repair itself if you go through the same steps with Get Info, or when playing a track, but this time click Locate and browse to the lost track. It may then offer to attempt to automatically fix other broken links. Although it says something like "use the same location" I think it expects to find the tracks in the same artist & album layout they were in previously, with one systematic change to the path.

If another application like Windows Media Player has moved/renamed the files, or the library has been moved from OS X to Windows, then the chances are that subtle differences in naming strategies will make it hard to restore the media to the precise path that iTunes is expecting. In such cases, as long as the missing files can be found somewhere, you should be able to use my FindTracks script to reconnect them to iTunes. See this post for an explanation of how it works. It might need some tweaking if your media is in a non-standard layout.

If you want me to try to provide specific advice please post back the following details:

1. The location of the media folder under Edit > Preferences > Advanced
2. The location of a sample missing track shown under Get Info > File > Location that begins file://localhost/
3. The true path to the file whose details you gave in 2

Note the addition of file://localhost/ (and the flipped direction of slashes in Windows) is normal for a file that isn't quite where iTunes is expecting to find it.

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Lost & Found Playlists

Create a playlist called Found, select everything in Music and drag it into the Found playlist. Create a smart playlist called Lost matching only Music items and the rule Playlist is not Found. Your lost tracks will be in this playlist.

How to repair the broken links for the remaining files may depend on where they are.

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Try Empty/corrupt iTunes library after upgrade/crash - Apple Community.

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The first suggestion is to keep the library in the portable shape. An iTunes folder, that contains an iTunes Media folder, that in turn contains all media added to the library. Your library may already be in this shape. Where you keep it is a matter of convenience. If it will fit on an internal drive great. If you have a desktop computer then it may as well live on a permanently connected external, unless you have plenty of internal storage. The first link should help you get the library into the portable shape if it is currently split, e.g. iTunes folder in <User's Music> and media folder somewhere else.

The second link details a tool that can analyse two parallel sets of folders and copy over the differences between them. This is both an efficient way to backup, as you only copy new and changed files, but also a way to keep a weather eye on the source library. If you preview an update with SyncToy and it says it plans to delete hundreds of files from the destination folder the chances are that something has gone wrong and you want to stop and restore the deleted content.

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For missing purchases see Hide and unhide music, movies, TV shows, audiobooks, and books - Apple Support and Redownload apps, music, movies, TV shows, and books from the App Store, iTunes Store, and Apple Books - Apple Support.

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