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Windows 7 seems to be randomly encrypting entire directories in my iTunes folder on my ext hard drive. This is causing insufficient authorization problem (see If iTunes repeatedly prompts you to authorize your computer - Apple Support). Any ideas of how to prevent this? Is the encryption due to the album having some kind of time-lock?
iPod classic, Windows 7, encrypted iTunes music folder
Sounds like a Windows issue, not an iTunes one. Don't encrypt folders unless they need it. You add a processing overhead to accessing the data inside and run the risk that you cannot recover the data if the operating system crashes taking the keys with it. Also not a good idea for an external drive that you might want to use on multiple computers. See http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/encrypt-decrypt-folder-file#1TC=windo ws-7.
See Repair security permissions for iTunes for Windows for correct permissions to set on the iTunes folders.
Make sure that the SC Info folder mentioned in the document you cited isn't subject to encryption either.
It is perhaps worth noting that iTunes can sometimes issue a request to authorize when a download from the store is corrupt in some fashion. Deleting the affected file and downloading a fresh copy from the store usually resolves that issue.
tt2
Of course I'm not encrypting it on purpose -- the issue is that I'm finding directories that are encrypted periodically, seemingly randomly, by Windows.
I can't unencrypt/decrypt the directory, either. It appears to be owned by Administrator or some user other than my normal user (and running iTunes as Administrator does not fix the problem). I wonder if my company has some kind of security feature that is spilling over into my external hard drive, even though it is supposed to not be tied to my windows user.
The files are not iTunes, either, but general mp3s that I've downloaded myself, so there should be no need to erase and re-download from iTunes, since I downloaded them directly from the artist.
Yes, I do believe it is primarily a Windows issue, but I wanted to post this in case anyone else having this problem finds this page in a search. I spent a lot of time trying to follow the instructions in If iTunes repeatedly prompts you to authorize your computer - Apple Support only to find that the issue was an encrypted directory, which was not a suggestion on that page.
The link I posted on security permissions should allow you to take ownership of the iTunes folders on your external drive. If you're using iTunes on your computer at work you should probably ask the IT department if there is any mandatory encryption software installed.
If your library files are stored on the system drive then once you have resolved the issue with encryption you might want to review Make a split library portable so you can isolate your library from any roaming profile you may have.
tt2
Windows 7 directory encryption on iTunes folder is causing an insufficient authorization problem
