Installed recent Windows updates and now iTunes refuses to run

It will start up the iTunes process and before the window even comes up it quits.

Are you getting an error message at that point? If so, what does it say, Afug? (Precise text, please.)

Odd that it changed like that. But if it changed for you (from error message to error-message-free) after doing a reinstall, that suggests a possibility.

Could you check to see if your QuickTime Player is launching please? Or is it also failing to launch (either with an error message or silently)?

Also, seems like Quicktime isn't running. I didn't get an error message either.

🙂 many thanks! That suggests a possibility that would also be consistent with this cropping up after those particular updates.

In recent times, the error-message-free iTunes and QuickTime launch failures have been indicating that another application has stashed old QuickTime componentry in your system files. (Those sorts of applications often use the Visual C++ runtimes to keep track of the componentry, so it seems consistent that an update to those could cause the symptoms to flare up on a PC.)

So just in case we'll go looking for older QuickTime componentry in the most common locations for it to be stashed.

First we'll need to change some view settings.

In your Start menu, open Computer.

In your Organise menu, select Folder Options.

In the View tab, make sure that "Show hidden files and folders" is selected, and Hide extensions for known file types is unchecked.

Click OK.

Now in Computer, open your C:\ drive (or whichever drive you have your operating system installed on).

Open the "Windows" folder.

If you have a 32-bit Windows 7, open the "System32" folder.

If you have a 64-bit Windows 7, open the "SysWOW64" folder.

What files and folders can you see in there with QuickTime in the title? (In a standard installation of Quicktime you should be seeing precisely two files ... QuickTime.qts and QuickTimeVR.qtx ... and no QuickTime folders whatsoever.)

- QTJava.dll

- QTJava.zip

- QTJavaNative.dll

- quick.ime

Not sure if these ones (↑) are considered Quicktime files though.

Oooh. That's a new development with these. quick.ime is a Windows system file, but the other ones are QuickTime related. (QTJava.zip usually lives in your Java runtime program files.) Haven't see those reported in the system files before.

Let's drag the following items out of your SysWOW64 and onto your Desktop:

The entire QuickTime folder

- QTJava.dll

- QTJava.zip

- QTJavaNative.dll

- QuickTime.cpl

- QuickTime.qtp

- QuickTimeCheck.ocx

Now try launching iTunes and the QuickTime Player again. Do they open this time?

Now for Quicktime I get a pop up saying, "Some of the file types associated with QuickTime applications are currently associated with other applications. Should I restore these file type associations to QuickTime?" /w Yes and No options. What should I do here?

🙂 excellent news. If you're using other video player/editor software, I'd be inclined to say "no" at this point. (Sometimes, even if you aren't using those, clicking "yes" means you get the same message showing up in iTunes ... although I haven't tested that in a while. So "no" would probably be best.)

It should be fine to delete the files/folder on your desktop now, although you might need to restart the PC first. (Sometimes system stuff has hold of the files, but the restart is enough usually to break the grip.)

🙂 You're welcome! Gad to be of assistance. Many thanks for asking about the QTJava things too ... always useful to know what else might be being stashed down in the system files.