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poit57 Author

Level 1

10 points

Changes to iTunes Media Folder location won't save

I have a couple computers where the original iTunes install is a few years old, but has been updated to the latest version. On these computers, I can change the iTunes media folder location with no issues.

I have a couple computers that were built in the last 6 months with all the preferences configured the same, but every time I close iTunes, the new computers will not save changes to my media folder location. I want to move the media folder from \Music\iTunes\iTunes Media which then causes my music to be stored in \Music\iTunes\iTunes Media\Music. I want the music to store in my root \Music library folder for Windows so I don't have to browse through 3 additional subfolders to find a specific file when using music files in other programs besides iTunes.

This has never been an issue for me until these last couple computers that I have installed iTunes on. Has something changed in permissions to modify the iTunes Library.itl file? I copied my original .itl file from my old computer, and it keeps the same media location in D:\Users\nicho\Music, but even that original file will not allow the preferences to change. If I click the reset button, it changes to the default settings, but when I close and restart iTunes, the folder reverts back to D:\Users\nicho\Music.

I actually want to store music on the new computer in D:\Music, so I'd really like help figuring out what is different between the old computer and new computer in regards to saving changes to the media folder location. If I create a new library by holding the shift key while starting iTunes, then my media folder becomes D:\Music\iTunes\iTunes Media, which then won't save changes when I try to set it to just D:\Music.

Edited to add: I have tried both the Windows x64 stand-alone installer and installing iTunes from the Microsoft Store. Both installs have the same problem saving changes to the media folder location.

Windows, Windows 10

Posted on Jun 8, 2019 7:32 AM

Top-ranking reply

turingtest2

Level 10

275,130 points

Posted on Jun 8, 2019 9:13 AM

There is a bug in the current build of iTunes that is behind this failure to preserve the media folder location. While I'm all in favour of the program working as it has done in the past and still theoretically claims to, and for you to be able to lay things out the way that you wish, there are certain advantages to using the standard layout which I cover in Make a split library portable - Apple Community. It would be trivially easy for you to create a shortcut to the main folder that iTunes likes to use for Music so that you don't have to "browse through 3 additional subfolders" to find a specific item. Perhaps you've not noticed that you can right-click on a track in iTunes and use Show in Windows Explorer from the context menu which saves all of the browsing. Nor does it intrinsically matter where anything is stored as long as it plays when you want it to.

Use Feedback - iTunes - Apple to let Apple know you are affected by this bug. Hopefully it will be fixed in the next release. In the meantime you can set your media folder back to the desired folder then turn Keep Organized off, and then back on again, to have media pop up to the desired level. Make sure that the layout value in .iTunes Preferences.plist in the Music folder is 0 otherwise iTunes will want to inject an additional Music folder, or set the media folder to D: to have Media, Movies, Podcasts etc. at the root of the drive and allow the default layout. See CustomRenamer if you want even more control.

tt2

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Changes to iTunes Media Folder location won't save

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