Updated to iTunes 12.1, now iTunes crashes every time it attempts to access the internet through our internal proxy - cannot access store!

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Level 1

8 points

Updated to iTunes 12.1, now iTunes crashes every time it attempts to access the internet through our internal proxy - cannot access store!

Hi,

Does anybody have any experience of using iTunes with a web filtering proxy? My home is using the Sophos UTM home edition to provide edge antivirus and content filtering. More information available here: http://www.sophos.com/en-us/products/free-tools/sophos-utm-home-edition.aspx

The proxy settings for the computer is set to use an automatic configuration script "WPAD" and the settings are locked by group policy and cannot be disabled or changed.

Now here's the problem, when launching iTunes, the iTunes prompts me to enter login details for the HTTPS proxy. That's all well and good, so I enter the login details and hit okay. But when I go to the store tab, iTunes crashes with javascriptcore.dll. This makes sense because a WPAD proxy configuration file is pretty much JavaScript code. But this should not happen, as now I cannot access the iTunes store.

Prior to iTunes 12.1, iTunes would sometimes freeze when attempting to access the store but it would eventually work.

The proxy logs are not showing that any iTunes requests were blocked, dropped or otherwise rejected.

Does anybody have any suggestions to get this to work again or at least work around the issue?

NOTE: Disabling the proxy is not an option because the proxy settings on the Windows computers are locked through group policy. I can however, edit the WPAD proxy configuration file and add exceptions to the proxy but I don't know where to start!

I will also post this on the Sophos UTM support forums.

Thanks in advance.

iTunes-OTHER, Windows 7, iTunes version 12.1

Posted on Feb 2, 2015 6:15 AM

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Answer 1

Morac

Level 2

205 points

Feb 2, 2015 8:53 AM in response to Someone7272

Go back to 11.4. iTunes 12 does not play well with proxies. iTunes 12 and up crash at my workplace as well.

I've also had some luck with disabling the network adapter, launching iTunes and then re-enabling the adapter, but that's a pain and doesn't prevent random crashes when accessing the iTunes store.

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Answer 2

Someone7272 Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 2, 2015 8:59 AM in response to Morac

Hi and thanks for replying.

Whilst this would seem like a good idea, the problem with iTunes versions 11.4 through to 12.0.1 is that it has a more serious problem, iTunes 11.4 - 12.0.1 crashes when attempting to sync apps to the iPhone (upgraded to itunes 11.4 and now it crashes on every sync) which iTunes 12.1 finally fixed. But now, I've got this issue. Do Apple even test their software first?

I've tried adding an exception in the proxy for the iTunes user agent AND the URLs it is accessing, and this made the store load, but after a few seconds, iTunes still crashes the same way with the same message.

Problem signature:

Problem Event Name: APPCRASH

Application Name: iTunes.exe

Application Version: 12.1.0.71

Application Timestamp: 54c76235

Fault Module Name: JavaScriptCore.dll

Fault Module Version: 7600.1017.6000.1

Fault Module Timestamp: 54b5da5f

Exception Code: c0000005

Exception Offset: 000000000000c046

OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.48

Locale ID: 2057

Additional Information 1: db09

Additional Information 2: db0908941e542631a18495fc8e2bccc7

Additional Information 3: 4a22

Additional Information 4: 4a22efef4e31bf2f6a837e459a61020c

Is there any way to directly report a bug to Apple?

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Answer 3

Morac

Level 2

205 points

Feb 6, 2015 11:48 PM in response to Someone7272

You can report bugs at https://bugreport.apple.com/ which is what I did when 12.0.1 came out, but Apple never responded or acknowledged my report, despite me attaching a complete crash dump file.

The alternative is apple.com/feedback.

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Answer 4

turingtest2

Level 10

272,749 points

Feb 7, 2015 2:25 AM in response to Someone7272

For general advice see Troubleshooting issues with iTunes for Windows updates.

The steps in the second box are a guide to removing everything related to iTunes and then rebuilding it which is often a good starting point unless the symptoms indicate a more specific approach. Review the other boxes and the list of support documents further down the page in case one of them applies.

Your library should be unaffected by these steps but there is backup and recovery advice elsewhere in the user tip.

If the advice above doesn't resolve things you could try this alternate version:

iTunes 12.1.0.71 for Windows (64-bit - for older video cards) - itunes64setup.exe (2015-01-28)

Or roll back to the previous build:

iTunes 12.0.1.26 for Windows (32-bit) - iTunesSetup.exe (2014-10-16)
iTunes 12.0.1.26 for Windows (64-bit) - iTunes64Setup.exe (2014-10-16)

tt2

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Answer 5

Feb 12, 2015 8:36 PM in response to turingtest2

Thanks for the link for iTunes Windows 64 bit for older video cards. This version of 12.1.0.71 worked for me on both a Surface Pro 2 and X1 Carbon Touch with my library on a NAS. I was experiencing both crashing when accessing the Store and audio breakup during playback, now resolved.

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Answer 6

Someone7272 Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 12, 2015 9:15 PM in response to turingtest2

Hi,

Thanks for the support links.

Unfortunately, I had already tried this before even starting this topic, and as I am using a newish video card (Radeon HD 7870, soon to be upgraded to Radeon R9 290), the old video card versions did not solve the problem. This is a programming error by Apple and all I can do is wait for them to fix it (if that ever happens). If I was in charge of their software testing and quality assurance department for the iTunes software, I would have sacked the lot of them and done it all myself.

In the meantime I shall switch to a BlackBerry device until this is resolved as I cannot set up my iPhone without iTunes crashing.

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Answer 7

turingtest2

Level 10

272,749 points

Feb 13, 2015 1:03 AM in response to Someone7272

Did you previously have an issue with iTunes 12.0?

Does rolling back to 12.0 not serve as a workaround now?

Have you submitted feedback or a bug report?

tt2

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Answer 8

Someone7272 Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 13, 2015 5:28 AM in response to turingtest2

Hi tt2,

iTunes 12 previously did not have this problem until 12.1.

But as I mentioned in my second post, it cannot be used as a viable workaround because it will crash every time when attempting to sync an app to my iPhone. This bug existed from iTunes 11.4 all the way to 12.0.1. It's only just been fixed on 12.1.

If I was to roll back, I wouldn't be able to use my iPhone. If I stay with 12.1, I still wouldn't be able to use my iPhone. The only option I see is to go way back to an early build of iTunes 11. But then the library won't be openable in that version.

Bug reporter requires you to be a registered developer.

Interestingly, if I disable the auto-proxy settings and explicitly set the proxy settings in Internet Control Panel, the crash related to the proxy doesn't happen. So it looks like this is a bug in Apple's proxy detection.

Thanks for your help so far.

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Answer 9

turingtest2

Level 10

272,749 points

Feb 13, 2015 5:30 AM in response to Someone7272

Is your media folder on a NAS? I'm assuming that is the sync bug you refer to. If so that can be worked around by using a mapped network share rather than a UNC path. See Make a split library portable for advice on the library manipulations that can help with such a transition. See the tip Empty/corrupt iTunes library after upgrade/crash for information on pulling back an older version of your library to work with an older build of iTunes.

Apple don't generally monitor these forums for technical issues or engage in discussions here. You can report problems via the relevant feedback form, e.g. iTunes Feedback, iPhone Feedback, iPad Feedback, or sign up for a free Apple Developer Connection account and make use of Apple Bug Reporter. They don't generally talk back, but they do claim to read everything. In rare cases they may reach out to you for further information.

tt2

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Answer 10

Someone7272 Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 13, 2015 5:32 AM in response to turingtest2

Yeah, well it's actually a UNC path as we're using roaming profiles to make our library accessible from any PC. We tried changing the library location to a mapped drive which solved the problem once, then the crashes returned. It's been fixed in 12.1 but as the topic of this thread goes, they've introduced yet another bug. I feel Apple's software gets worse with every update.

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Answer 11

Someone7272 Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 20, 2015 1:23 PM in response to TinaSprout

iTunes 12.1.1 has been released. I will test for this issue tomorrow after I apply the update to all of our computers. Not expecting this to be fixed, as this is Apple software... this is definitely a proxy issue, not a hardware or software incompatibility, so if you're not on a corporate network, or running your own proxy server, you're not encountering the same problem as me.

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Answer 12

aliceza

Level 1

9 points

Feb 24, 2015 3:44 AM in response to Someone7272

iTunes 12.1.1.4 doesn't resolve this (not for me at least) 😟 Even tried clearing my keychain file...pretty sure something it is not prompting for the proxy's credentials and iTunes falls over somewhere with something like a object reference error.

Did 12.1.1 work for you Someone7272?

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Answer 13

aliceza

Level 1

9 points

Feb 24, 2015 3:57 AM in response to Someone7272

Try Edit > Preferences > Advanced > Reset Cache.

Just tried this after someone suggested and initial look is that things look a bit better 😕

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Answer 14

Someone7272 Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 24, 2015 4:28 AM in response to aliceza

Hi aliceza,

Just as expected, Crapple have NOT fixed this severe iTunes bug in 12.1.1, and iTunes still crashes without fail everytime when it attempts to communicate with the iTunes store, the error message is exactly the same as the 12.1 crash.

I've tried resetting the store cache and it made absolutely no difference, but thanks for suggesting that.

I'm sick of this, can anybody recommend any third party programs to sync music to the iPhone?

Otherwise I am dumping iPhone and moving to BlackBerry due to Apple's incompetence and for failing to give a **** about Windows users.

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Answer 15

aliceza

Level 1

9 points

Feb 24, 2015 4:29 AM in response to Someone7272

Shortly after I posted that (all of 30mins ago) it crashed again while doing something in the store. Resetting the cache has had an impact for me as I am now at least getting some places in the store.

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