iTunes Version 12.13.0.9 keeps freezing on Windows 11

@BongooBetty may have the fix! I would not have noticed that because I turned off "Show: List view checkboxes" in Edit/Preferences/General (see picture below).

1. I turned them on, went to Songs under Library (see picture below), did the ctrl-click on the first checkbox, and waited awhile (I have close to the 100,000 song limit in my library).
2. When they were all unchecked, I turned the checkboxes back off, closed iTunes, and waited until the Windows Volume Mixer (right-click on the volume icon in the system tray, see picture below) no longer showed iTunes.
3. When I started iTunes again, the progress indicator at the top right spun for many minutes saying "Making your iCloud Music Library available..." but I could play downloaded songs meanwhile (see picture below). The spinner froze for awhile a few times, but it always came back (similar to File/Library/Update iCloud Music Library).
4. I turned on the checkboxes to make sure they were all still unchecked, and turned them off again. iTunes worked smoothly while I removed and added songs!
5. I turned the checkboxes on to double-check, and realized that all the songs I had just added were checked, so I decided to leave them visible so I will notice when any are checked.
6. However, next time I started iTunes I got a warning: "Unchecked items don't play in a playlist" etc. (see picture below). So I will keep the checkboxes turned off usually, and once a week turn them on to uncheck any that are checked (easy if I sort the Songs view by Date Added).
7. iTunes still stops responding occasionally, but the difference is that I can see in Windows Task Manager (ctrl-shift-Esc, see picture below) that it is working hard, whereas before its CPU% would be zero when it froze, and I would have to select it and click End Task, so I could restart it.

[Edited by Moderator]

Hopefully this might help some of you. I had the same bizarre freezing issue after an update across multiple computers I have.

After searching, I found a solution.

MY SOLUTION/FIX: Do not download & install iTunes Music from the apple website, even if you update from a past build, the freeze will still occurr.

Download ITunes Music directly from the Microsoft store inside windows. This was my fix and worked on all my setups. Good luck!

Lately I have kept iTunes on Windows from freezing in a simple but annoying way: never go to the Apple Music tabs (For You, Browse). This means never running an Apple Music search, never right-clicking a track or album or artist to "Show in Apple Music", never clicking "Show more by" at the bottom of an artist display, etc.

I can add Apple Music tracks to an incomplete album by clicking "Show Complete Album", and I can Delete from my library, as long as I never go to an Apple Music tab.

I can use Apple Music on Android to search, and I can add to my library from there, as long as I do not have iTunes open at the same time (otherwise there is no error, but the tracks are not actually added).

Annoying but effective. The only freezes in the past several weeks have happened if I accidentally went to an Apple Music tab, and did not immediately exit iTunes. If I am desperate to add something to my library (and the Android app will refuse to add while it is syncing my library, which takes awhile as it is large), I can do that and then immediately exit iTunes to avoid the freeze. (I wait until iTunes disappears from the Windows volume mixer before re-opening.)

I had the same problem and noticed that when I do a list of all songs, everything is checked. I pressed CTRl and clicked the first checkbox to uncheck everything and that seems to have fixed the issue.

This started happening to me after a Microsoft update in summer 2023. I can make iTunes freeze by deleting an item from my Apple Music library, but it also happens randomly. I am not using a third-party antivirus tool with Windows 11.

Last I used the Android app, it took forever to load since my Apple Music library is almost 100,000 songs. Also you cannot edit star ratings, smart playlists etc.

So I have been living with iTunes freezing, and waiting for it to check the library for a minute when I restart it. (So far no corruption, but I do File/Library/Export weekly just in case.)

Even if there is music playing, I know it froze because the minute/second timer stops and the progress bar stops, and then the music stops at the end of the track.

I had the same problem. There's a temporary quick fix, if you right click and "run as admin", iTunes runs as it should. I kind of got tired of this so I downgraded to 12.13, waiting for a permanent fix from Apple. If we ever get it, seems like its a major issue happening without an official answer from Apple.

I agree that iTunes has been freezing for me since it was upgraded to 12.9.4 last year (see separate conversation on this issue - search for 'My iTunes 12.9.4 keeps freezing')

It regularly froze for me in Windows 10 since that version, and now on Windows 11 (on a new PC, so clean install) on the updated versions.

It happens randomly, but often when doing anything that requires interaction with the cloud data (e.g. setting up a new playlist, or even just un-checking a song.)

I do use Norton - but have done for years, so not sure that is the issue.

It seems to have gotten worse; just going to any Apple Music (For You or Browse) or Store tabs in iTunes, and then returning to the Library tab, it usually freezes soon after, even if I haven't added or removed anything from my library. On the other hand, if I stay on the Library tab, I can sometimes delete quite a few tracks from my library before it freezes.

Hello from Germany,

Version 12.13.1.3. also hangs regularly.

It is important to mention that these hang-ups cannot be linked to a specific action.

It happens when adding titles to the media library, when marking them as favorites or simply directly after starting the program.

Greetings from the beautiful Palatinate

Rainer :)

Agreed unfortunately, although I believe it is freezing less, it does still happen, especially after adding or deleting songs from my Apple Music library. The fact that the CPU usage is zero makes me think it is NOT related to the size of my library being almost the maximum, but is anyone else here almost at the 100,000 item limit?

marcufuego,

I'm afraid this doesn't work for me - I have always used the Microsoft store since it appeared there. The problems started in the middle of last year for me and got worse with the latest version 12.13.1.3.

Thanks.

That is very unfortunate. Let's hope Apple fixes the issue soon! I'm really fed up with the constant freezes and have been using Spotify more as a result. I really love my music collection and would greatly prefer to be using iTunes instead.

Hello from the beautiful Palatinate,

It's very annoying and I'm annoyed at Apple's inertia. The problem has been discussed in all forums for many months and Apple does what? Apple does nothing! This morning iTunes has already hung up more than 10 times and had to be shut down with the task manager.

Best regards

Rainer :)

I've basically resorted back to using Spotify until this bug gets patched up. iTunes is unusable in this state. I spend more time force shutting down and restarting iTunes than I do enjoying my music.

Experiencing the same issue. New PC and in the process of setting up iTunes' I noticed the program freezing after backing up any device. Need to restart PC to regain control. Real pain!