Q: iTunes 12 playlists lost when creating new library in Windows 10
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May 21, 2016 9:01 AMby turingtest2,Check the media folder listed under Edit > Preferences > Advanced. It may need correcting to Arthur iTunes. If so make that change, close iTunes and reopen. Media should play now and you can resume from step 7.
Ignore the .xml files for now, iTunes doesn't need them and we can clean up later.
tt2
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May 21, 2016 9:26 AMby artm124,I changed the iTunes Media folder location to Arthur iTunes (C:\Users\my user name\Desktop\Arthur iTunes), but nothing plays. I get the window that the file location can't be found. Should the iTunes media folder location be set to "C:\Users\my user name\Desktop\Arthur iTunes," or to "C:\Users\my user name\Desktop\Arthur iTunes\iTunes Media"? I've actually tried it both way, but the result is the same--file location can't be found.
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May 21, 2016 10:14 AMby turingtest2,Everything done so far is reversible, but I suspect I know what the problem is. See this post on missing tracks:
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, or you've moved a non-portable library to a different path (see Make a split library portable for details). 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. Look on the file 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, or when playing a track, 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, or the library has been moved from OS X to Windows, 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 for an explanation of how it works.
If you want me to try to provide specific advice please post back the following details:
- The location of the media folder under Edit > Preferences > Advanced
- The location of a sample missing track shown under Get Info > File > Location that begins file://localhost/
- The true path to the file whose details you gave in 2.
I think you'll find that the paths in 2 and 3 differ by an additional \Music folder in one of them. This can be resolved either by moving the files to where they are expected to be, or by editing the hidden .iTunes Preferences.plist file in the media folder changing the integer value from 1 to 0 or vice versa.
tt2
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May 21, 2016 12:32 PMby turingtest2,The .iTunes Preferences.plist file in that folder is redundant. The one that does any work is in the iTunes Media folder below.
If you want iTunes to generate an XML file tick the option under Edit > Preferences > Advanced.
There are possibly a few redundant empty folders inside ..Arthur iTunes/iTunes Media/iTunes Media you might want to seek out and remove. If Windows Media Player ever had its mitts on your library there may also be empty (apart from hidden artwork) folders for artists directly inside ../Arthur iTunes/iTunes Media. Ideally all should see inside that folder is a folder for each media kind and the one .plist file.
tt2
