HT4527 I transferred my library to a new laptop and everything appeared on the screen. I turned off the old computer and the library disappeared. How can I make it a permanent transfer as my old computer is being scrapped. Thanks

Question

I transferred my library to a new laptop and everything appeared on the screen. I turned off the old computer and the library disappeared. How can I make it a permanent transfer as my old computer is being scrapped. Thanks

Answer 1

Hello Terryfrank,
Congratulations on your new laptop!  Also, thank you for the details of the issue you are experiencing with transferring your iTunes Library to your new computer. 
I notice that you are coming from the article “iTunes: How to move your music to a new computer,” and it sounds like you might have used the Home Sharing method outlined in that article. 
With Home Sharing, you can stream content from another computer, and it sounds like that is how you have it currently set up.  The last step is to import the content to your new computer.  Use these steps on the new computer (while the old computer is on) to import the music to your new computer’s hard drive:
Once your new computer sees the Home Share from your old computer, click that Home Share on the left side of iTunes on your new computer.
Select the content in the Home Share that you want to transfer to your iTunes library on your new computer, or choose Edit > Select All to choose all of it. Then, click the Import button in the bottom-right corner of iTunes.
Wait for the content to finish transferring.
Additionally, if you want to transfer your playlists, you can export them from the old computer to the new computer:
Transferring playlists
If you want not only your content but also your playlists to exist on your new computer, you will want to transfer a copy of all your playlists from your old computer. To do this, choose File > Library > Export Library on your old computer. Save the XML file that is created to your desktop.
Send the playlists file to yourself as an e-mail attachment, use an external drive, or use file sharing to move the playlists file to your new computer. Once the file is on your new computer, open iTunes and choose File > Library > Import Playlist. The import process will remove any items from the playlists that you didn't share via Home Sharing.
iTunes: How to move your music to a new computer
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527
Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.
Best,
Sheila M.