No more iTunes after last update!

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 above steps haven't helped try installing:

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

which is a 64-bit installer for a 32-bit core program, similar to previous 64-bit releases of iTunes.

Or roll back to:

• 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)

as appropriate.

tt2

Did you compete all of the steps in the second box that I referred to, including reading the notes below it where appropriate?

tt2

That is EXACTLY what happened on my computer and I spoke with a Apple reps for 3 hours this morning and they can't figure out what to do. We even went deep into windows programs to remove any traces of iTunes and there is one apple program that cannot be removed- it remains as a ghost in my programs file. I tried installing an older version of iTunes-11.1- but it said I already had a newer version installed so it would not let me continue. We tried system restore but it won't let us go any farther back than last week. I am totally discouraged.

What is this ghost in your programs file?

tt2

It is Apple Application Support. I also looked and we had not uninstalled ipod so I tried to do that and it said it was unable to delete because the folder or a file in it was open in another program.

See the notes below the second box of my user tip. They detail how to tackle the difficult tasks, e.g. shutting down services, working in safe mode, using a tool called unlocker etc. If you work through it methodically you really should be able to get all remnants of the previous iTunes installation removed, after which the next install usually goes smoothly.

tt2

Microsoft Fix It removed the ghost files but then I restarted my computer and tried to remove Program Files/Common Files/Apple but it said the file or folder was open in another program. I then tried to install iTunes and still got the error messages that workingman1 explained in his second post. (I have no clue how to do a screen shot so I can't show you.)

You really need to remove all of the folders that the user tip mentions before attempting to reinstall. As before shutting down services, rebooting into safe mode, or the Unlocker tool may help.

You can drag & drop an image onto a reply or use the camera insert tool.

tt2

Ok, I removed all the programs with the help of Unlocker but when I tried to install iTunes again I got the following messages:

Does iTunes still exist in the Programs & Features control panel even though you've removed all traces in Program Files?

If it is still listed if you try to select and remove it Windows may offer to remove the entry as no longer required.

How familiar you with RegEdit? I suspect you have a couple of keys left behind to the iTunes installer and the Windows Installer Service is trying to use these to remove the old copy of the software before the new copy is installed, but the old installer isn't where the registry says it should be. If you confident using Regedit you could run it from the start button, search for "iTunes64.msi" in values. Export the key it is a part of, then delete that key and try again.

If that sounds daunting then perhaps the Microsoft Program Install and Uninstall Utility can force through the installation, or you could try the steps listed in the the section Install missing components which I've explained a little further here: Re: iTunes Error 7 (Windows error 193), or you may need to use a registry cleaner like the free version of CCleaner.

tt2

I can't find any trace of iTunes anywhere in my programs. I already went through RegEdit with Daniel at Apple and removed everything we thought could possibly be associated. I will try to force the installation tomorrow, right now I'm exhausted with messing with this for over 12 hours.

FWIW I found this section in the registry on my computer which makes me suspect that removing the key highlighted in red might do the trick.

However checking on another computer that has iTunes installed I couldn't find the same key, or any entry that contained the value iTunes64.msi, so I'm not so convinced that I understand what goes on now. 😕

tt2