How Do I Transfer My iTunes Library To A New Computer?

You'll make things easier in the long run if you stick to the overall iTunes folder containing media folder layout. What you do inside that folder is up to you. I generally recommend people let iTunes manage the folder because as far as iTunes is concerned the layout doesn't matter, so why bother micro managing it. Of course the thing about good advice is that we don't always take it ourselves. I use a custom version of a script I've written called ConsolidateByMoving that I used to move new and changed tracks into the precise location I want for them. I stick to the general <Artist>\<Album>\## <Name>.<Ext> layout of iTunes, but allow for longer file and folder names, change The Artist and The Album into Artist, The and Album, The so things sort the way that I want them, and have certain genres go to their own folders.

Clearly you're not going to want to consolidate the library or rearrange files, so just take the first steps from my earlier post:

You should be able to manually create a Mangle Jones folder inside C:\Users and move the relevant folders (\Desktop\Music* and \Downloads) inside it so that they are in parallel locations to your original library. Leave the iTunes folder where it is in the active user profile folder. This should allow the iTunes library to reach the content at the expected paths.

*To be specific, create a Desktop folder inside the newly made Mangle Jones folder, then move the Music folder from your desktop into it. You can then press Ctrl+C to copy the Music folder, right-click on your actual desktop and use paste shortcut.

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The core of your library is the iTunes Library.itl file, this holds the record of what has been added to the library, where to find it, what playlists you have and their contents, etc. If your current library is in the standard location of <User's Music>\iTunes\iTunes Library.itl then you should be able to copy it over to the same path on the new machine replacing any empty library you might already have there, otherwise having copied it to your selected destination you would shift-start-iTunes to choose it. Ideally you would copy the .itl and its supporting files and the Album Artwork folder as described in the user tip, but at a push everything gets rebuilt from the .itl if necessary.

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You need to be a little more precise. Do you mean desktop computer, or the Desktop folder in your user profile? What do you see in iTunes for the media folder listed under Edit > Preferences > Advanced? The active library file is usually in the iTunes folder one level up from here but it could be elsewhere. The active library gets updated each time you open and close iTunes.

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Have you used the same user name on both computers? Assuming you have copy the contents of the Downloads folder on the old machine into the Downloads folder of the new machine.

Where is your active iTunes Library.itl file? I would expect to find it at C:\Users\Mangle Jones\Music\iTunes\iTunes Library.itl. Check file modification dates to make sure this file has been updated recently. Assuming that is the correct file then you also need to copy the iTunes folder from the old machine to the new one. Delete the iTunes folder on the new machine (with its empty library) rather than merging the two folders together.

When you run iTunes now you should find your content listed.

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You should be able to manually create a Mangle Jones folder inside C:\Users and move the relevant folders (\Desktop\Music and \Downloads) inside it so that they are in parallel locations to your original library. Leave the iTunes folder where it is in the active user profile folder. This should allow the iTunes library to reach the content at the expected paths. Assuming that works use Edit > Preferences > Advanced > Reset to change the media folder to C:\Users\<User>\Music\iTunes\iTunes Media where <User> is your current profile folder. Say no if iTunes offers to copy files at this point, then go into File > Library > Organize Library... and tick Consolidate Files and the Rearrange Files option if available. Click OK. When the process is complete the Mangle Jones folder should be redundant and can be deleted. Your library should now be in a portable shape making it easier to back up and move around in future.

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Ultimately as long as it works you can keep things wherever you want to, but my advice is to use the standard shape for the iTunes library, an iTunes folder with the library files, containing an iTunes Media folder that contains all the media. You can add a shortcut from the desktop the to the music folder if you wish. In most cases you let iTunes manage the media folder, and use it to play content, so there is no need to poke around inside.

Renaming an existing profile folder in Windows isn't a simple operation, and shouldn't really be necessary.

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See Move your iTunes library to a new computer - Apple Community.

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