I've imported my song library onto my new lap top, but iTunes has not found all the file locations. When I locate a file, iTunes doesn't include the remaining 500+ 'lost' files even though they are all saved in the same location! I don't want to be forced to have to find them all individually! Is there a solution? Please help!
iPod classic 160GB (Late 2009), Windows 10
The "missing file" error happens if the file is no longer where iTunes expects to find it. Possible causes are that you or some third party tool has moved, renamed or deleted the file, one of its parent folders, or the drive it lives on has had a change of drive letter. It is also possible that iTunes has changed from expecting the files to be in the pre-iTunes 9 layout to post-iTunes 9 layout, or vice-versa, and so is looking in slightly the wrong place.
Select a track with an exclamation mark, use Ctrl-I to Get Info, then click No when asked to try to locate the track. (Due to a bug in iTunes 12 you currently have to say No twice!) Look on the summary tab for the location that iTunes thinks the file should be. Now take a look around your hard drive(s). Hopefully you can locate the track in question. If a section of your library has simply been moved, a folder renamed, or a drive letter has changed, it should be possible to reverse the actions. If the difference between the two paths is an additional Music folder in one path then this is a layout issue. I can explain further if that is the case. If everything is where it is supposed to be try Repair security permissions for iTunes for Windows.
In some cases iTunes may be able to repair itself if you go through the same steps with Get Info but this time click Locate and browse to the lost track. It may then offer to attempt to automatically fix other broken links. Although it says something like "use the same location" I think it expects to find the tracks in the same artist & album layout they were in previously, with one systematic change to the path.
If another application like Windows Media Player has moved/renamed the files then the chances are that subtle differences in naming strategies will make it hard to restore the media to the precise path that iTunes is expecting. In such cases, as long as the missing files can be found somewhere, you should be able to use my FindTracks script to reconnect them to iTunes. See this post for an explanation of how it works.
If you want me to try to provide specific advice please post back the following details:
tt2
I have sorted out the problem. However I'm not sure what the cause was. I disconnected the hard drive and directed iTunes to the back up library on drive D and everything worked perfectly. So then reconnected hard drive and ran synctoy to replicate the library from D back onto the hard drive F. Redirected iTunes back to F and everything is as it was.
What I don't understand is I previously ran synctoy to correct the library on F and it didn't work ?
Any how now it works as it should, thankfully because you helped me set everything up correctly in the first place with a portable library and everything backed up with synctoy.
Many thanks, Alex
Great news. 🙂
tt2
Hi There. Unfortunately I've got another problem. Yesterday everything was working fine and uploaded some more music in my library. Finally ran synctoy to update the backup and ran out of space in the back up location. Not a problem I thought as I have another external hard drive I can use for the back up location when I get round to it. However in the meantime now when I try to start up iTunes nothing happens. Tried uninstalling and reinstalling iTunes with on success. Also tried opening iTunes in safe mode but once I click on "continue" or "restore library" the little window disappears and nothing happens. Hoping you can help as I've ran out of ideas.
Alex.
Try shift-starting iTunes to make sure that it is opening the library file that you want to use. It should start by showing the location for the currently active library. If that is on the drive that has filled up that might explain the problem.
tt2
That appears to be the case. It is trying to open the library in the back up location on drive D which won't open. What should I do ?
Free up some space by moving or deleting any unnecessary data. Perhaps you have multiple copies of some files that could be deleted, or you could move a couple of large files such as movies to a new location temporarily.
tt2
I have tried opening the library on F drive but that wont open either and that has plenty of space ?
Have you rebooted the computer yet? If not do so.
Will iTunes open a new empty library if you create one on a drive will free space?
If it still won't open test behaviour in a different user profile.
Sometimes it helps to remove C:\Users\<User>\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\iTunes\iTunesPrefs.xml which resets iTunes preferences both for the library and the media folder that open.
See Troubleshooting issues with iTunes for Windows updates for iTunes repair advice in case it really does need uninstalling and reinstalling.
tt2.
Hi. Have removed the item you suggested and iTunes does now open but still can not open any of my libraries after directing to its exact location in the advanced settings. It will however let me start a new library.
How should I now proceed ?
You connect to a different library with shift-start-iTunes > choose, not by changing the path to the media folder.
tt2
Had previously tried that but it won't connect to any of my stored librarys. It will only let me start a new library ?
What do you see when you try to open other libraries?
If you create a new library can you add an album to it, close, reopen, and still see the album just added?
What AV software do you have? (Apologies if we've covered this previously.)
tt2
If I create a new library I can add to it, close, reopen and still see the album added.
If I try to open an existing library what I see is in the screenshots below
Once I click on iTunes Media instead of iTunes Media appearing in the "File name" box it just opens the iTunes Media file as shown below
If I manually type iTunes Media in the box and click on open the same thing happens. If I click on Music the same thing also happens and it opens the music file.
The AV software on the computer is provided by McAfee
When you choose a library you need to select the iTunes Library.itl file as shown in the first image, The .itl file extension is hidden, but that is the file you need to choose.
tt2
Thanks ever so much. I've learned something new. I had no idea that's what I had to click on to. Library intact. Will now tidy a few things up set up another back up on my other external hard drive. Hopefully no more problems !
Regards, Alex
Locating files
