My itunes won't open

I double click on my itunes icon, the hour glass comes up, and nothing. I've downloaded itunes twice now and even quicktime to my hard drive and still nothing.

starting to check through the usual suspects with an error-free launch failure.

some preliminary questions

do you have Norton Internet Security 2005 on that PC?

does your QuickTime launch properly, or do you get an error or some other unusual behavior if you try to launch it?

I'm having exactly the same problem. I removed iTunes via the add/remove programs wizard and reinstalled it and still have the same problem. In response to the above post, Quicktime opens normally (I guess, I never actually use Quicktime anyway), and yes, I have Norton Security 2005.

Additionally, when I open task manager, iTunes.exe is running in my processes, but not in applications, and is using 0 system resources. Any time I attempt to open itunes, I can't thereafter restart my computer from the start menu; I have to manually reboot it by turning off the power.

I hope all that info will give someone an idea of what's going on here.

I'm having exactly the same problem. I removed iTunes via the add/remove programs wizard and reinstalled it and still have the same problem. In response to the above post, Quicktime opens normally (I guess, I never actually use Quicktime anyway), and yes, I have Norton Security 2005.
Additionally, when I open task manager, iTunes.exe is running in my processes, but not in applications, and is using 0 system resources. Any time I attempt to open itunes, I can't thereafter restart my computer from the start menu; I have to manually reboot it by turning off the power.

Ph0EnyX37, that does sound like a problem with NIS 2005 suppressing your itunes. (it's the most common thing associated with that persistent itunes.exe process too ... sometimes folks can't even end that process in Task Manager if they have the NIS 2005 thing.)

let's try giving the trusty Lorraine M technique a whirl:

Lorraine M: NIS/itunes problem rectified

Yup, NIS was the problem. Thanks!

🙂 excellent. glad to be able to point you in Lorraine's direction.

Same exact problem, and I am not running Norton. Very frustrating. I did get it running briefly by uninstalling and deleting the installation folder, but as soon as I closed iTunes and started it again, same problem.

I figured it out. Go to
C:\Documents and Settings\"loginname"\Application Data\Apple Computer

and delete the iTunes folder. Then start iTunes, and answer the questions, (I unchecked everything and said no to everything), and it still found my library.

I figured it out. Go to
C:\Documents and Settings\"loginname"\Application Data\Apple Computer
and delete the iTunes folder. Then start iTunes, and answer the questions, (I unchecked everything and said no to everything), and it still found my library.

many many thanks for the report, IRIGHT1256!

what you ended up doing there was deleting one of the two itunes preferences folders, and then rebuilding that folder (and the preferences files inside it) when you launched itunes again.

skunky preference files and folders have been linked to several different kinds of itunes launch failures in previous versions of itunes ... but i hadn't seen it cause an error-message-free itunes launch failure before. you've given us something else sensible to try with these.

Ok so I tried that and actually thought I was on to something when it said windows was configuring itunes, after I tried opening it. But then nothing happened. Still no itunes opened. In fact, the itunes folder I originally deleted was reinstalled in the same folder. What is the deal here?

dang. i had high hopes for that one in your case, jcw.

okay, let's keep checking through the possibilities.

try doing a selective startup with just the itunes and quicktime background processes enabled, as per:

Using MSCONFIG to troubleshoot conflicts in Windows

does itunes launch after the selective startup?

Hi everyone,
Well i have nearly all the symptoms described here, have tried everything described on the forum, but no luck.Itunes works once i uninstall everything and quicktime and resinstall it but when i start up again it comes up on the processes running for a second and dissappears, i have no norton or anything,Help please. Itunes suddenly stopped working

pentium4 Windows XP

hmmmmmmmmm.

even though iTunes didn't start after the selective startup, i'd like to have a closer look at the contents of your startup tab in MSCONFIG. sorry, but this is going to be a pain.

can you head back in there and have a look, and reply with a list of all the startup item names in there? exact spelling and capitalisation, please.

replying to al

but when i start up again it comes up on the processes running for a second and dissappears,

hmmmm. the following issue isn't usually linked with that symptom, but we'd better check on it anyway:

iTunes for Windows doesn't open after upgrading