HT1751 Consolidating ITunes Library Failed - message received: "Copying files failed. The file name was invalid or too long" . Please help - how to i fix this issue?

I consulted your website for details on how to back up my ITunes Library on my PC-found the article very helpful-I reached step 7 - clicked ok and the following message came up: "Copying files failed. The file name was invalid or too long." Please can you help and advise what I should do or how to fix this issue. My pc operating system is Windows 7 Home Basic

You can select a group of tracks and consolidate from the right-click context menu. You coud try consolidating in batches, say all songs by artists beginning with A, then B, etc, then the other media types, until you can isolate a problem track and then try moving that by hand and fixing the broken link.
I also have two scripts that could help you, Unconsolidated and ConsolidateByMoving. The first can make a playlist of all unconsolidated tracks, the second can consolidate a selection of tracks by moving them instead of copying.
tt2

Similar Messages

When trying to 'Consolidate Files' via iTunes I get the message "Copying files failed. The name was invalid or too long."

I am trying to copy my entire iTunes library and everything in it from my PC Desktop to my PC Laptop using the "External Drive" method as shown on the Apple website. On Part 1 (5) I am told to consolidate files. When attempting to do this I get the message "Copying files failed. The file name was invalid or too long."
How do I resolve this?

I have just been having this problem and it has been driving me mad. The error message doesn't tell you which file is causing the problem so you can't fix it and it leaves your libray in a state of limbo with some files copied into the new location and some in the old location. After many hours I found a surprisingly quick and simple solution.
1) in iTune create a smart play list that includes everything that was added before tomorrows date. This will include everything.
2) Right click this playlist and export it as a text file to produce a tab delimited file.
3) Import this into a spread sheet, or just view it in a text editor with line wrap turned off. What you are interested in is the last column (or end of the line in a text editor). This gives you the path of the file associated with each entry in the library.
The path of the files that have already been copied successfully will start with the new location for your media files you specified. Scroll thru the rows until you get a blank path. If you start getting paths starting with the old Media file location then you went to far and start scrolling back.
The row with the blank path was the file that failed. Move back to the start of the row to find out more about it. In my case it was a podcast with a very long name. I just deleted that podcast from iTunes.
4) Restart the consolidation by choosing File, Library as you did before and the process starts again where it left off.
5) If it fails again on another file just repeat the process

HT1751 Consolidating files failed. The file name was invalid or too long. How to trouble shoot this?

I am trying to move my iTunes library from old XP PC to Windows 7 PC, using an external hard drive. Using tutorial and signed in as administrator. Trying to consolidate my library and receive error message " Copying files fail. The file name was invalid or too long". Don't know what to do as next step. The library is sitting on the hard drive under the Administrator ID (My Documents\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Music).
Any thoughts?

You can select a group of tracks and consolidate from the right-click context menu. You coud try consolidating in batches, say all songs by artists beginning with A, then B, etc, then the other media types, until you can isolate a problem track and then try moving that by hand and fixing the broken link.
I also have two scripts that could help you, Unconsolidated and ConsolidateByMoving. The first can make a playlist of all unconsolidated tracks, the second can consolidate a selection of tracks by moving them instead of copying.
tt2

I am using itunes 10 and trying to consolidate my files. I keep getting the error "Copying files failed. The file name was invalid or too long". How can I indentify what file is causing this problem or resolve this issue?

I am using itunes 10 and trying to consolidate my files. I keep getting the error "Copying files failed. The file name was invalid or too long". How can I indentify what file is causing this problem or resolve this issue?

BUMP
Yes, I just get that message. I don't see how I could investigate this problem.
I didn't mention that this happened when I was consolidating my library, not copying files to another computer.
In other words, I'm using a "normal" itunes procedure, itunes won't complete it, and won't tell me exactly why or how to figure out how to fix it...
Is there at least some easy way to tell which files were successfully copied to my itunes music folder so I can work on moving the uncopied files?
Can anybody help me?

ITunes v10.6.1.7 "Copying files failed. The File name was invalid or too long."

I'm trying to organize my music files using iTunes 10.6.1.7 and I keep getting the error message "Copying files failed. The File name was invalid or too long."
I've got music folders by artist in both the iTunes Music folder and the iTunes Media/Music folder. When I add certain files by drag/drop they sometimes get lost and I don't want that to happen anymore. I used to just consolidate my music files using the File/Library/Organize Library option and that worked, however now when I do that, I get the error message.
I'm a novice and the only online stuff I see is both confusing and refers to earlier versions of iTunes.
My concern is that I have heard that people lose entire libraries of their music when they trry to fix things like this and I don't want that. If this is of any importance, I have several files called iTunes library and temp library. I have no idea what that all means but I'm scared to death of it.
Also, I can't get to the "re-organize library" link at all. It won't let me.
One thing that be of some interest is that when I pull up the properties of the music and media/music files they are marked "read only" I'm also afraid to touch that!
Please help and please know that I am a dummy. Be kind and be clear. Step by step would be great, with images even better. Thanks.

Perhaps nobody knows the answer? We're fellow users here answering questions in our free time when we think we've something useful to contribute.
You can choose to *Consolidate selected tracks* with a right-click menu. Perhaps if you can identify a specific track that won't consolidate and examine the full path to the file & the path that iTunes would create when it consolidates the problem might become apparent. For example iTunes may not be able to move files if the source or destination path length exceeds 255 characters.
tt2

HT1751 I did all of the above and at the "Consolidate files" screen I clicked "ok" then it sayd "copying files failed. the file name was invalid or too long" and I had to click "OK" I cannot consolidate the files to transport to my external harddrive -h

I would like to backup my itunes to my external hard drive
I did all the steps up to "organize Liberary" which at this point I checked the box and the clicked"ok"
it then said "copying files failed. The file name was invalid or too long" "OK"
It will not let me consolidate the files so I can transfer to my external hard drive
what am I doing wrong - any suggestions?
thanks,

Are you using consolidate files to bring in stray files to your main iTunes Media folder before backing up, or to copy the media folder to the external drive as part of backing up? If it is the latter then you are taking the wrong approach. See this user tip.
Run my script Unconsolidated on the library. It will show you the remaining unconsolidated files which might give a clue as to which files iTunes is having a problem with. You can consolidate selected files in batches (select, right-click) as opposed to trying to do everything in one go. Alternatively you could try moving the remaining unconsolidated files with ConsolidateByMoving as long as this step is a precursor to a backup..
tt2

Itunes for WIN7: attempting to copy to disk "..." failed. The file name was invalid or too long

itunes for WIN7: attempting to copy to disk "..." failed. The file name was invalid or too long
help!!

Max. path length is 255 characters, or perhaps there are some non-displaying characters hidden there. Try dropping a song you want to add to iTunes into the Automatically to iTunes folder to see if that works any better.
tt2

Copying music failed. The file name was invalid or too long.

I went to consolidate my music, but when it got about 2/3 of the way through, it stopped with the error message, "Copying music failed. The file name was invalid or too long." I don't know which file it is referring to. How do I find this out?
I needed to cosolidate so I could backup the entire library to DVD. Now I'm left with two partially complete libraries with many duplicates.

To find out which file it was, look at where you were
copying them too and see which was the last file
copied - and then go back to your source, and go to
the next one - it should be that one.
I just wanted to add that I had the same issue (failure to finish copying and "invalid or too long" error msg) and at first didn't see how looking for the last file copied would work since iTunes is copying into folders.
Duh.
Reverse sort by date modified (newest folder at the top of the list) then drill down to the folder containing the files being copied. Voila. There was the (missing) culprit, and I knew which file to rename in the source folder.
Thanks for the kick in the brain pan.
Sony VAIO PCG-V505ACP Windows XP Pro

I got my i phone4s few days back and i created an apple id with a credit card and when i go to the appstore to purchase apps,all have and message stating that "this app is no longer availabe"..how do i fix this issue?im from singapore by the way

i got my i phone4s few days back and i created an apple id with a credit card and when i go to the appstore to purchase apps,all have and message stating that "this app is no longer available"..how do i fix this issue?im from singapore by the way

If it is longer available then you can't get the app on your phone.

"The file name was invalid or too long" appears when I try to copy music form a CD to my computer using Windoww XP

"The file name was invalid or too long" appears when I try to copy music from a CD to my compu
ter using Windows XP

Go to the songs view sorted as Album by Artist. Select, for example, the songs of artists whose names begin A-E. Right-click and click consolidate files. Assuming this group consolidate without error move on to another group, say F-J. If there is an error divide the original group into smaller chunks until you can isolate which tracks are causing a problem.
tt2

HT1751 it says copying files failed. the file name was invalid or to long....anyone else have this problem?

i am trying to move my songs to an external hard drive. after it copies for awhile it will pop up a screen that says....the file name was invalid or to long.....anyone else had this problem?

What are you copying with? See this backup tip for a suggested method. If SyncToy can't copy a file it will carry on with the others and display a failure report at the end. Ideally you'll be copying the iTunes folder to the root of your external drive.
tt2

Error message"Copying music failed. The file name was invalid or too long"

That's the message I get; no other details. I don't know which file. Or whether it's more than one file. How can I know/find out which file (and what a valid filename would be)? Grrrr...
itunes managed to copy around 12 gigs before this happened, so I don't know what got copied and what didn't.
Please help! I need to rebuild my playlists by Friday!
Thanks so much in advance!!!
Greg

BUMP
Yes, I just get that message. I don't see how I could investigate this problem.
I didn't mention that this happened when I was consolidating my library, not copying files to another computer.
In other words, I'm using a "normal" itunes procedure, itunes won't complete it, and won't tell me exactly why or how to figure out how to fix it...
Is there at least some easy way to tell which files were successfully copied to my itunes music folder so I can work on moving the uncopied files?
Can anybody help me?

Error Message: Copying files failed. The file name was invalid or too long.

I get the above error message when trying to copy in my library into itunes. Is there a log file generated somewhere that says what this file is, or is there some way of locating it?

found a program that should locate the possible trouble here:
http://www.dcsoft.com/products/longff/longff.htm
Just leaves the question really of what was decided too long by itunes.

HT201625 Copying files failed. The file name was invalid or too long

trying to set up iTunes transfer from old desktop to laptop. Consolidated files but stopped with the above iTunes error msg. Unsure on how to correct or change. Thanks for all help!

The most likely cause for this is that your iTunes media folder is not in the standard location - on XP this will be C:\Documents and Settings\username\My Documents\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Media - and/or you don't have the first of these options checked in Edit > Preferences > Advanced:
There are two limiting factors that apply here:
the maximum path length in Windows is 255 characters
when configured to organize files and folders within your library, iTunes will automatically truncate any files/folder names to 40 characters
With the default media folder location the longest possible path for music files is 156 characters + the length of your Windows username - will within Windows' limits. If, however:
you've configured iTunes to not keep the iTunes Media folder organized, and
your media folder is in a different location with a longer path name, and/or
the music that you're consolidating into it has some file or folder names that exceed 40 characters
then the fully qualified path that iTunes determines during consolidation may exceed the Windows 255-character limit. In most cases I suspect that checking the Keep iTunes Media folder organized option should be sufficient to avoid this error, unless your media folder is nested very deep in the Windows directory structure.

Copying Files Failed. The file name was invalid or too long.

Hey,
Whenever I try to consolidate my library, I get the message in my subject line.
What is making the names invalid, and is there anyway to fix it in bulk instead of one by one?
Thanks for your help.

Perhaps nobody knows the answer? We're fellow users here answering questions in our free time when we think we've something useful to contribute.
You can choose to *Consolidate selected tracks* with a right-click menu. Perhaps if you can identify a specific track that won't consolidate and examine the full path to the file & the path that iTunes would create when it consolidates the problem might become apparent. For example iTunes may not be able to move files if the source or destination path length exceeds 255 characters.
tt2

HT1751 Consolidating ITunes Library Failed - message received: "Copying files failed. The file name was invalid or too long" . Please help - how to i fix this issue?

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