I am locked out of iTunes on MBP

Sorry Chris, I should have listed that as bullet #1 also. I checked the attributes in GUI on both the files listed and on the parent directory. Just in case, I tried to clear them from the $ (please see the screen shot below). Am I missing something? Can I get to the preferences for iTunes if iTunes won't run? I am assuming that the files in ~/Music/iTunes are the ones being used, they did have change timestamps that would have been appropriate for when iTunes locked up. Might it be using a library file from elsewhere?

Thanks for your help,

Bill

3rd time is a charm I hope. Looks like I cannot paste an image from my clipboard even though the editor shows the image just fine 😕

Message was edited by: Wm Gardner (Bill is fine)

Grrrrr, Screen shot did not stay after I saved the post. Hopefuly it works this time.

I did not know that "sentinel" file so I tried renaming it using the mv command. No problem renaming the file but it did not change my problem. I have seen databases which generate a "lock file" when they are in use. Given the lack of a file extension and the timestamp, I thought this could be a lock file also

Thanks again,

Bill

Sorry Chris, missed one of your questions.......

I have been using DropSync (http://www.mudflatsoftware.com/dropsync.html) for several months now. Never had any problems until now. I use it on both workstations; this one looks to Office Mac for music file changes and Office Mac uses DropSync to keep a couple of portable drives updated with files for Lightroom and Photoshop. That way when I go on the road, I don't have to worry about having the most current music files (on this machine) or image files (on the portable drives).

Thanks again Chris.

Bill

Makes sense Chris. I had actually quit before moving anything via DropSync. The only changes in there should be from when it was trying to add the new music (before iTunes crashed). It is good to keep this in mind though, I would not want the auto-scheduled sync to run while iTunes is still logging and reading session data in that file.

Is there a flag in there I might see in an editing app (like BBEdit or vi)?

Am I to the point yet where I should just delete the iTunes directories (after backing up, of course), re-configure, transffer purchases from my phone, and then just let it find all the files I have in /Media ?

I was hoping for a relatively quick solution....... None of the media is gone and my "real" music and movie library is on the Office Mac. If no one has a solution by tomorrow, maybe that is what I should do.....???

Thanks for your help Chris 🙂

Cool, Chris. iTunes let me back in; that is the most important 1st step since the media iteself was always there. I like what I am seeing so far. I moved the XML file to the directory I use to manage my playlist exports/imports (as I am more inclined to leave that directory alone than to compulsively clean up my desktop 😉 ), that should help me in the future if I get into this pickle again.

I learned a lot (about iTunes) from this. This was a headache I did not have time for, there were lots of other things I should have been doing, but I love having my music, so I got sucked in........ Sorry if I sounded too "snippy" at any point, this got me pretty annoyed because it seemed like it should have been an easier fix, I knew I was somehow to blame for breaking this, and I knew I did not really have time for this problem. The imagination started running wild about losing data from my iPhone when I re-sync, the overall stability of the iTunes application (sorry, I come from a long history of Windows devices and had encountered many upleasant surprises with ActiveSync over the years.......caused some ugly flashbacks), and whether I could really trust it with my growing media library. Regardless, I consider any day in which I learn something new to be a good day. Using that standard, then yesterday/today has to qualify as a great day, thanks to your help.

Have a great day Chris & thanks again!

Bill

This posting is a recap of issue and our final solution(s)

Note: Specific steps performed from a UNIX command line are not provided in detail. General descriptions of the step and sometimes the command itself have been provided. Working from a UNIX command prompt does carry some inherent risk which could adversely effect the performance of your Macintosh computer. Only perform these tasks if you are familiar with how each command works, you understand the potential risk, and you have prior experience performing these tasks.

ISSUE:

• User (me) had been using a 3rd-party application too keep iTunes music (music only, BTW) synced between a Mac Pro (source & primary workstation) and a Macbook Pro (a portable, secondary workstation, which is the one that had the problem )
• 3rd party program was simply copying all "new" and changed files from the music directory on the source computer (Mac Pro) to the MBP (Macbook Pro)
• User would use the menu option File -> Add to Library as the method of adding the new music into the MBP's iTunes database
• During one instance of updating the MBP's library, iTunes locked up
• After approximately 30 minutes and after other attempts to make iTunes respond, user resorted to the "Force Quit" method of ending the iTunes session. At this point the thought was to re-open iTunes and to attempt the library update again
• User was unable to access iTunes, receiving this error message:

TROUBLESHOOTING & SOLUTION:

• After searching several Mac support sites, including discussions.apple.com, user found postings to suggest that problem may lie in directory ~/Music/iTunes
• Through Finder, user verified that the files iTunes Library.itl and iTunes Music Library.xml were not locked and that the user had sufficient rights to these files
• As error message was slightly vague, user also performed mass changes of file permissions on all files copied from the Mac Pro
• When error did not go away, user created this support issue Apple.com's Support Communities
• After receiving input from Chris CA (discussions.apple.com/people/Chris CA), file attributes in directory ~/Music/iTunes were verified in Finder. In an effort to be completely thorough, the UNIX command chflags was used to ensure that there should be no valid reason associated with permissions or file attributes preventing the user (me) from opening the iTunes database.
• When these steps did not resolve the issue, Chris CA suggested trying the steps in Apple KnowledgeBase Article #HT1451, iTunes: How to re-create your iTunes library and playlists
• User performed steps 1-6
• Before attempting any steps impacting the iTunes database content, user modified Preferences->Advanced->iTunes Media Folder Location to match where user actually keeps his media files. This was done to prevent duplication of files on MBP as iTunes defaults use ~/Music/iTunes as the default location and will also copy media files to this location.
• User performed iTunes option File -> Add to Library so that iTunes could "figure out" what media was already available on MBP
• User quit iTunes to ensure all temporary and batch data is updated to iTunes database
• User re-opened iTunes
• User then performed steps 7 & 8 from knowledge base article
• Quit & then re-opened iTunes again
• User connected iPhone, transferred purchases from phone to iTunes
• Synced iPhone

Remaining tasks are not listed as they will vary by individual. In this case, I had to set about finding and removing duplicate media entries in iTunes and I had to re-select which media I want synced with my iPhone. These were easy but slightly tedious tasks.

Thank-you to Chris CA for helping me through this issue!