Macbook Pro 2021 Music does not see my external HD iTunes .itl file

Question

Level 1

0 points

Macbook Pro 2021 Music does not see my external HD iTunes .itl file

iTunes on my 2011 iMac running 10.13.6 works perfectly with my iTunes libreay on an external drive.

Wheterh I use Settings/file locaton or option-click Music to select a library, every time I clicked choose on the folder on my external hD, it opens up to another folder then to each individual artists folder within. I can't actually just choose the main folder that contains all my songs which was created when I consolidated the file.

Turingtest2 pointed out in a post on Mar 6, 2021 5:23am Playing music from my external hard drive - Apple Community that we need an iTunes library.itl file but it is not evident, or hidden.

Since itunes worked fine with this external drive, I must assume that the .itl file is there. How do I help Music see it?

Posted on Jul 30, 2023 5:23 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

turingtest2

Level 10

278,297 points

Aug 4, 2023 9:29 AM in response to obear

Hi obear,

The .itl file may be located on the internal drive of your old computer, so would need copying over independently, in addition to moving the external drive from one machine to the other. The usual location is ~/Music/iTunes where ~ is your user's home folder. See Move your iTunes library to a new computer - Apple Community for background.

See also Managing your Mac media libraries - Apple Community.

tt2

Reply

Answer 2

bailier

Community Specialist

Aug 1, 2023 8:00 AM in response to obear

Hi obear,

Let's see if you can follow the steps in the following article to locate your music library: Use multiple libraries in Music on Mac - Apple Support

If that doesn't help, we suggest reaching out to Apple Support so that they can look into this with you further. They can be reached here: Apple Support

Take care.

Reply

Answer 3

Shannon_DN

Community Specialist

Jul 31, 2023 4:47 PM in response to obear

Hello obear,

Thank you for posting in Apple Support Communities.

It sounds like we need to tell iTunes where it can find the music library. To do that, follow the steps found here and change the location to the folder: Change where your music files are stored on Mac - Apple Support

We hope that helps.

Reply

Answer 4

obear Author

Level 1

0 points

Aug 1, 2023 7:13 AM in response to Shannon_DN

I have already done that, and it opens up to another folder then to each individual artists folder within. It does not allow me to ultimately Choose a folder or file. Music does not see the .itl file. I did cmd shift period to see hidden files and there is no .itl file in the root of my itunes library folder. how do I force iTunes to make the file?

Reply