"iTunes Library could not be found" question

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Level 1

4 points

"iTunes Library could not be found" question

This is for iTunes 10 running Snow Leopard on an LED iMac.

I created a new Library and my old one won't open. Both are in an external drive.

When I option, open it I get the "an iTunes Library could not be found" message. All of the music is still in there, I can see it. I'm not sure what's going on but I'm wondering if I could import the songs (about 2000mp3's), artwork, etc., to a new Library. I don't care about playlists and such.

Any other ideas?

Thanks.

Posted on Mar 7, 2012 7:23 PM

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Answer 1

Mar 10, 2017 7:33 AM in response to plutomedia

I resolved this problem by: closing iTunes (if open), deleting the .itl file completely in C:\Users\*....*\Music\iTunes directory and then opening iTunes where it would reset itself and check all your music locations again. Not sure of data loss as your 'Sync' or 'Back-up' should have already saved a cache file.

Windows 7 64-bit

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Answer 2

Limnos

Level 10

411,067 points

Mar 7, 2012 9:06 PM in response to minnesota51

You want that "itunes Library Niki" file about 5 positions above the green that doesn't have an extension but probably should have an ending in .itl

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Answer 3

minnesota51 Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 7, 2012 10:07 PM in response to Limnos

Thank you Limnos for your reply.

As you can see, I added the .itl and I could open Niki's Library. That's good.

Before, I could just select the whole folder and not have to go in and select the .itl. No that this is a big deal but I am wondering why this has changed. I still get the iTunes Library could not be found in this folder", when in fact, it is in there.

I closed iTunes, opened holding the option key and selected the whole folder iTunes Mike's Library and that opened just fine. Any idea why this is?

Any of this have to do with my External phantom drive? Or the fact that the problem's with Niki's Library started as soon as I created Mikes Library?

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Answer 4

Limnos

Level 10

411,067 points

Mar 8, 2012 8:58 AM in response to minnesota51

My immediate thought is if it has to do with the naming of the files. I haven't tested this but I wonder if you kept the name of the actual library file the default name instead of adding "Niki" if it would then work just selecting the folder. In other words, if iTunes has instructions if you select a folder to then check for a specific file inside that folder, and by your renmaing the file it no longer sees exactly "iTunes Library.itl" and doesn't know to search about inside that folder for a library file with any other name.

Somewhere in my references (not sure where) I recall something about library file naming conventions. I'm not sure if they are in:

What are the iTunes library files? - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1660

More on iTunes library files and what they do - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITunes#Media_management

iTunes 9: Understanding iTunes Media Organization - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3847

Image of iTunes folder structure Dec. 2011 - https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3547807?answerId=16923545022#16923545022

see also:

Image of folder structure and explanation of different iTunes versions (turingtest2 post) - https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2741246?answerId=13025536022#13025536022

What are all those iTunes files? - http://www.macworld.com/article/139974/2009/04/itunes_files.html

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Answer 5

minnesota51 Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 8, 2012 12:03 PM in response to Limnos

Your immediate thoughts were right on the money. It was a naming issue times two.

It would work if I selected the iTunes Library Niki.itl. Today, by your suggestion, I renamed the Library as iTunes Library.itl and it opens perfectly. I can now Option open iTunes and select only the Folder and it works.

Thank you for the help!

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Answer 6

Limnos

Level 10

411,067 points

Mar 8, 2012 1:09 PM in response to minnesota51

You're welcome!

(Also in MN -- it used to show under my ID but it looks like they turned that off.)

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Answer 7

Mar 22, 2012 10:45 AM in response to minnesota51

I'm having the same problem, but I only have one library. When I go to select the correctly named (.itl) library, it's grayed out. I can't select it. Now I can't open iTunes anymore.

Can anybody help with this?

Thanks!!!

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Answer 8

Dec 20, 2014 2:42 AM in response to Limnos

Thank you so much Limnos - this also fixed my problem once I'd guided iTunes to the itl file 🙂

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