Can't locate files

I run some diagnostics apps lately. They flagged some files that may cause problems. I have tried to locate the files, no luck. Are these file just corrupt file fragments? How can I fine them, to delete?

Which apps? How were they flagged? Normally, you're given paths to those items. Some examples would help. Finally, CMD+F, add S*ystem files included* and *name contains …* to the search criteria, and you should be able to find anything on the boot volume if Spotlight is indexing properly.

Similar Messages

I can't access half of my downloaded music. I get a message, "can't locate file" What is up with that? I dauthorized my computer and reloaded itunes, but it did not solve the problem. Any suggestions? Thank you.

I can't access half of my downladed music. I get a message, "can't locate file." I dauthorized my computer and reloaded itunes, but it did not help. Any suggestions? Thank you.

This 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, or that 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 cancel when asked to try to locate the track. 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, or a drive letter has changed, it should be possible to reverse the actions.
Alternatively, as long as you can find a location holding the missing files, then you should be able to use my FindTracks script to reconnect them to iTunes .
tt2

ITunes can't locate files, even though they never move.

My iTunes is set to copy new files to a dedicated music folder on an internal storage drive and to keep this folder organized. I have never moved this folder or edited anything within this folder.
Now, one day I start my iTunes and I'm greeted with thousands upon thousands of little exclamation marks telling me that iTunes can't locate the files. I made sure that the drive letter didn't change and that every file was still in there. There were too many songs missing to manually locate each song, so I highlighted my entire library and deleted it (while keeping the files, obviously). Several hours after re-adding my music library, everything was good and like it once was.
Not even a day later, I re-open iTunes to find that all the exclamation marks were back and that it could not locate any of my files again. This time I decide to go through all the steps properly by clearing the folder where the xml files are located, uninstalling iTunes, moving my music to an external hard drive and making sure there was no trace of iTunes left.
Ready to start again, I installed iTunes, set where I liked my files to be stored and set my other preferences (including "organize my iTunes folder" and "copy new files to iTunes Folder"). I then re-added my music and spent a day waiting for it to copy to the new iTunes folder. After this I deleted the folder that contained my originals and was left with a fresh install of iTunes and all my music was where I wanted it.
This worked for almost a whole month before thousands of songs went "missing" again. I simply don't know what to do. I can't keeping re-adding my library again and again because a few thousand songs went missing. Each time I do it, it just takes longer and longer and i'm sick of it.
Any help with my problem would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Presumably the location of the iTunes media folder is still correctly set in preferences when this happens?
One thing you can do to investigate this is to select a track that can't be found and go to Get Info>>Summary tab.
This will show you where iTunes thinks it is and the name of the file. Now find the file in Windows Explorer and compare the location and file name are they the same?
A thing that occurs to me is that you have other software on your PC that is able to move/rename files. Do you have anything like that?
Windows Media player has a check box that allows the renaming of files in Options, it's worth looking for that.

Itunes can't locate files after I listen to it on the Ipod

It seems that every time I listen to a song, I notice that Itunes can't locate it anymore. When I go to Itunes and look in my music folder, there is an exclamation point next to the song. When I click on it, the error message reads "cannot locate file, would you like to locate it now". At first it was only one or two songs, now it's over 50! These songs are still on my Ipod,just no longer in Itunes. I know how to recover the music b/c it's in my hard drive, I just don't want to sit there and find all these songs all over again. Help please.

I too have been having the same problem... I am a new ipod owner and same with itunes. And being a new owner and user I got the new itunes. It has done the exclimation point since the first day I got it. But mine is simple to fix. I mearly just exit out of itunes and re-open it. I dont evn have to wait at all. It shows the exclimation point with about 20 of my songs and it hasnt gotten in my way yet. But the main problem that makes me mad is that my ipod is only 2 weeks old but I tried to get some of my friends music and she has the older version of itunes and my ipod ONLY works on the new version. Very frustrating if you ask me.
Hp Windows XP

New Hard Drive-can't locate files

I just moved my library to my new external hard drive. I have switched my preferences to look in the new drive, but itunes gives me the little exclimation point next to my songs and says it can't locate the files. I can go through and locate them all individualy, but there has t be a better/faster way. Someone smarter than me please help!!

If you move files around outside of iTunes, you'll get that !
which means it can't find the file.
So....put everything back the way it was, and follow these directions to consolidate your library onto the exHD.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1364
If I were you, BEFORE you follow thos directions, I'd give the exHD a letter far down in the alphabet like M: or W: so Windows doesn't change the letter on you when you plug other USB stuff into your PC. Use these directions - they are for an iPod but work for an exHD, also.
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1493

Err - iTunes can not locate files

I recently had to reload itunes and start again. Once I downloaded iTunes and started up my external harddrive it almost as if automatically imported all of my files to the library. It took awhile but I was in heaven as I wasn't having to do the work.
Now iTunes is failing to recognize content from my external harddrive. It says it can not locate the files, but if I ask File< Get Info it knows where the files are. I did not move the files. If I locate them manually then the file does work. Is there an easy fix for this? We just finished syncing all our iPods. I don't want to have to start that process over again. Thanks for any help.

Try going to edit-preferences-advanced- then change the location of your iTunes library to your hard drive.
Hope that helps.

ITunes 8.0.1 upgrade can't locate files...AGAIN!!

Undoubtedly I must be a complete moron. This is a common problem and I have read it before, but I can't find the answer. I have been searching for the last hour. It's so common that no one responds.
Here's my issue...I just accepted the automatic upgrade to 8.0.1 and it can't located my original files...I know I know that this is common but I'm losing my mind on this. Even though a get info shows that it is pointing right to the file on my external hard drive (like it has for the last year), it still wants me to locate it manually (Yo Apple...put in a way to do this on multiple files). I tried replacing the library with a previous library to no avail. I don't want to rebuild mine, my kids, and my wife's playlists. It would take hours even days.
Is there a standard thread to point help me with this?

Sorry - got sidetracked by the arrival of the insurance adjuster. Ike damage may get fixed before the first snow! I left out the last possible options besides a total rebuild and loss of metadata. Depending on how many files aren't being found, it might be worth exporting the database as an XML file and editing the LOCATION field of the missing files. If it is a few albums that are affected, a copy and replace using a text editor can fix the problem.
The second option is probably only worth trying if you are using TimeMachine or have a bootable backup with the old iTunes 7 still installed. Otherwise you'd have to revert to iTunes 7 which may not be easy manually. Sometimes reverting to an older version of iTunes is quite unpleasant. Anyway, revert to iTunes 7 and export your entire library and each playlist as an XML file. Return to iTunes 8.01 and start it with no library in the iTunes folder so it starts up blank. Now import the music library and see if your 'missing' music is found. If so, go ahead and import your playlists too.
The more interesting question is why the fouled import? I'd feedback Apple (apple.com/feedback) with an offer to send your library for troubleshooting. Since it doesn't seem to be a widespread problem either your library file picked up something bad along the way or you are using some character or combination of characters in a volume, directory or filename that is causing the trouble.

Can't locate files on itunes

hen I try to open file (music, video, podcast, etc) receive message from Itunes when I click on an item the"cain't locate file. When I click on locate itunes doesn't point me to the file.
Help!

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, or that the drive it lives on has had a change of drive letter. It is also possible that iTuneshas 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 cancel when asked to try to locate the track. 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, or a drive letter has changed, it should be possible to reverse the actions.
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 have to resort to trying to pull back the library from your iPod see Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device.
tt2

ITunes has gone apesh*t! Please help! (can't locate files)

Good day!
I recently installed iTunes 7 (a few weeks ago, I guess.) For the most part, it has been working fine. But tonight, when I opened iTunes, it asked questions as if it had just been installed for the first time.
Now, all my music is stored on an external hard drive (J: Drive), and it defaulted that it was in my "My Music" folder in "My Documents", so I fixed that, and that didn't solve my problem: It can't locate any of my songs. (Here's the weird part, it can play the handful of MPEG files I have, but not the 99% AAC files. Both types are on the external hard drive). It lists them, but can't locate them, and i don't want to tell it the exact location of almost 5000 songs.
I tweaked a bit with my "iTunes Library" music database file, but that didn't help. Does the XML file ("iTunes Music Library") have any purpose?
Help me out!

I'm having the same problem.
iTunes lost about 100+ of my songs. I can manually go through and fix them but I'd rather not go through each one and track it down. I can see what's wrong in the library xml file but fixing them there doesn't do anything.
I tried recreating my library files and iTunes completely lost the songs along with several podcasts and all my playlists. Thankfully I'd backed up the library files before trying this, so I'm back where I started.
The date sounds about right, was that when the update before 7.5 came out? I also noticed that iTunes had reset my library location around that time(caught it and fixed it though).

Big fat library mess: duplicates / can't locate files / etc.

Hi,
I have several issues. Failed to find my answers online in forums here. Help requested.
Recently migrated from another Mac. Moved library manually. 2 issues going on.
1. In the actual media folder where the songs are stored, each artist>album folder has duplicate song files (ending in 1.mp4). These duplicates need to be cleaned up in bulk and mass deleted.
2. I successfully exported my old playlists and reimported them into new system and they show up fine in iTunes. When I click on one of the tunes though I get the familiar "song could not be used because original file could not be found" and the ! icon appears. This is a commonly discussed issue. However common solutions don't seem to apply.
When I click "locate" from this dialog box and manually go to the tune, it plays fine after that. So then, how can I do this for the entire library to avoid doing this 1200 times?
These common solutions don't seem to be the best path.
1. Consolidating library. Library location is already pointing correctly inside of preferences.
2. Opening itunes while holding down option key. When I do this, and then select "Choose library" and navigate to my media folder, I get a notice that the "itunes library file" can't be found.
Any more solutions out there? Why do I hate itunes file mgt. so much? I'm actually a technical person. Have wasted hours on this.
As a nuclear option... Is there a way I can uninstall itunes completely and start from scratch?
Thanks,
Mike

1. In the actual media folder where the songs are stored, each artist>album folder has duplicate song files (ending in 1.mp4). These duplicates need to be cleaned up in bulk and mass deleted.
[Dougscripts|http://dougscripts.com/itunes/scripts/scriptcount.php?sortBy=Name&o p=y] - Many itunes scripts, including various ones for dealing with duplicates in various forms. The best way is not to just handle them in bulk form. I have some "duplicates" that are really very different versions of the same work by the same artist and I would not want them automatically deleted on this basis. Some of my duplicates are also the same track on different albums, and again I need both copies in order to keep both albums intact.
2. I successfully exported my old playlists and reimported them into new system and they show up fine in iTunes. When I click on one of the tunes though I get the familiar "song could not be used because original file could not be found" and the ! icon appears. This is a commonly discussed issue. However common solutions don't seem to apply.
When I click "locate" from this dialog box and manually go to the tune, it plays fine after that. So then, how can I do this for the entire library to avoid doing this 1200 times?
There isn't a single simple solution to this. Solutions follow two paths. One is to get your old library working (which you seem to have tried). The other is to simply create a new library and start all over again, losing some things such as playlists, play counts, ratings in the process.
As a nuclear option... Is there a way I can uninstall itunes completely and start from scratch?
Are all your music files in pretty much one folder or series of folders? If they are you could just start itunes with a new, blank library by holding down the option key, then drag all your files to the library window.

Itunes can't locate file?

recently iTunes has said several of my songs (all from one cd) can't be located and when I double clicked to locate it and I found the files in a folder in My Music and clicked on it iTunes failed to respond to this and continued to say that the files cannot be located. They were playing fine yesterday and are on my iPod too.

You might ask over in the iPhone forums, but I am pretty sure that roaming profile path is hard coded. You might need to start over with Win7 by installing iTunes on Win7.
You can copy this folder from XP
\Documents and Settings\ +your username+ \My Documents\My Music\iTunes
to the similar folder on Win7. In Vista it is
\Users\ +your username+ \Music\iTunes
Also try copying these folders over from XP to Win7
\Documents and Settings\ +your username+ \Application Data\Apple Computer
C:\Documents and Settings\ +your username+ \Local Settings\Application Data\Apple Computer

Time Capsule and iTunes - Can't Locate Files

Ok, so I have a relatively new Macbook Pro 15" and an equally-new Time Capsule. I put all of my 4,500 songs onto the Time Capsule because I only listen to music and home and also because I wanted to save space on my hard drive. While this set up has worked up until now, I am beginning to experience some problems. Right now iTunes says that it cannot locate the file for any of my songs unless I manually show it where those files are on my Time Capsule. I am not worries about losing the files because they appear to be unaltered, however I wanted to know if there was a way to have iTunes automatically search through my music folder and fix the problem. I know there is a way to download all the music from my hard drive to my computer and then back to the hard drive to fix the problem, but I would really like to avoid having to dump all those files onto my pristine hard drive. Any suggestions? And I am sorry if this has been answered elsewhere, I just could not locate a thread with this EXACT problem. Thanks.

Isn't there a better way around this??? Here's what I want: I want to store all of my itunes library on my Time Capsule to save space on my HD. I understand that I won't be able to access the library out of my home, but that's fine. The problem is -
1) When I am at home, I have to manually mount the Time Capsule by clicking on the folder, waiting for it to connect, and then opening iTunes (even if my computer is already backing up files to the Time Capsule). It's a real pain and adds unnecessary steps.
2) When I am not at home and away from my Time Capsule, I can't even open iTunes at all without it prompting me to locate the library or create a new one. Even if I don't want to listen to my songs, I'd like to be able to open iTunes to use the radio, surf the store, etc.
What is the best solution? It seems ridiculous that a wireless HD doesn't connect automatically, and that you can't open iTunes without a library. Is there a workaround? Can I keep the library database file on my HD but have the actual files (songs, movies, etc.) be on the Time Capsule? Please advise.
Thanks.

3500 songs in iTunes with exlamation points - iTunes can't locate files but they are there!

Hi,
Since a few weeks, 3500 of my 10000 iTunes songs have exclamation points. When I try to play a song, I get an error message stating that iTunes can't find the song. If I search for it, it's on my Mac. So the files are on my hard drive, except that iTunes can't find them.
As it's weeks of work to manually relink the songs to their location on my hard disk, is there anybody who could help me with this?
Many thanks in advance!

Hi Esteban
As you see the exclamation mark represents a missing link to the file and the subsequent unable to play the track.
If you select one of those files and look at the info(CMD I or Get Info) and go to the Summary tab that identifies where iTunes thinks it was stored. From here you can navigate in finder to that location or do a search for what iTunes states the filename is e.g. (01 Track 01.mp3).
So either the file is deleted, renamed or moved.
Regards
Mark

ITunes can't locate files

Hi,
I've had a LaCie external since Christmas and when I first got it, I transfered all my song files to it. I changed the location of my iTunes folder to the folder on the external and it played music without a problem.
Usually, if I have to unplug my external, I make sure to close iTunes and not open it until it's plugged back in. Once I think I opened it and iTunes had a lot of !s next to songs but after I plugged the external back in, everything was fine.
So, yesterday, I unplugged my external. I was gone for most of the day so I went I came back, I saw that someone had opened iTunes. It looked normal (no !s), so I didn't worry about it. I plugged the external back in and might have played some music. I can't remember.
Today, I plugged in my iPod and got an error message saying that some songs couldn't be transfered because they couldn't be located. Now virtually all my songs have !s next to them. When I click on them, it asks me to relocate. When I do, there's no problem.
I went to the advanced options and changed my iTunes folder back, because it had somehow changed to something else. Except, the songs still won't play.
There are still some songs that are there and have no problems. I think they might be songs I added recently, but there's really no rhyme or reason to it as far as I can tell.
Please tell me what I can do. I'd really had to go in an locate every since song.
Thanks!

I moved my iTunes folder to an external HD, as it was getting too large for my iBook, and at first saw the exclamation points too.
I came to this area to see if there were any others with this problem, saw your post, and the advice given.
It worked for me! I restarted with the option key down, chose the library on my external firewire drive, and everything loaded up and played like it did before. Not the music folder, mind you -- the library.
Thank you, iTunes helpers!

Transferred songs to external hard drive, now iTunes can not locate files??

I transferred all my song files using various tutorials on the site, I consolidated my library, etc. The external harddrive was referred to as "F:" when I did this.
Later when I downloaded a few podcasts with my external HD disconnected, they were stored on my c: harddrive. At that point I had iTunes files on both my C: drive and F: drive (with the F: drive being disconnected at the time).
Now my external harddrive when connected is referred to as "G:" by my pc, and iTunes could not find any of my songs previously transferred to F:. I went to preferences/advanced again and selected G:/iTunes as my new folder location, and now only SOME of my songs are located by iTunes, not all. I'm completely confused.
Any advice? Thanks.
Completely frustrated,
Andy
Windows XP

Just a refining comment: iTunes recognizes some, but not all, songs that were transferred to the new hard drive, following iTune's instructions to change the directory then consolidate the library.
I am baffled why iTunes recognizes some songs, but not others, within the same folder....
The easy solution would be to use "import folder" and re-import the entire iTunes files on my harddrive, and then delete the duplicates, which would include the ones non-findable by iTunes. But then my playlists would be affected. I guess I'd have to re-build my playlists manually, using the new imported files in place of the files that iTunes can't recognize, prior to deleting all the duplicate non-findable files.
Argh, I hate pc's...thru & thru...any suggestions before I spend a few hours re-building my playlists and deleting the non-findable song files??
Thanks...

Can't Locate Files in Library although names appear in "Open Library Screen

I have scoured this forum but can't find a solution to this problem. I engaged in the forbidden act of moving files within the iPhoto library and now when I launch iPhoto several photos are missing. What is more troubling, however, is that I cannot locate the files in my iPhoto library.
The strange part is that whn I launch iPhoto and hold down the option key to select a library, I can see all of the files in the library on this screen. When I go back to the actual library, folders that appear in the "open library" screen are not physically present in my library??
I reallly would appreciate any suggestions, advice. Most of these pictures are of my 2 year old daughter. It would be beyond devastating to lose these.
Thanks.

Hi sfohrman,
Can you give me a little more info? Did you move photos around in the iPhoto Library folder in the Finder? How many did you move? Did you change their name?
Can you put them back to where they originally were?

Can't locate files

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