ITunes cannot find songs in library

For some reason, my iTunes cannot find songs in my iTunes library that are there. It says the file cannot be located, and I have to go one by one and individually find the files for iTunes. I checked in my preferences and I made sure that it is actually looking in the folder where all my songs are. Any idea why this happened? Is there any way to find all of the songs at once instead of doing them individually? (I have about 800 songs, so that could take a while).

One way you might be able to speed things up ( re-add to itunes) is to find songs where Itunes does know about from the same Artist and then right click on song and select reveal in explorer. This will give you the path to folder of similar songs. You then go to folder and select the songs you want re-added to itunes. While it plays it gets re-added. YOu can play a few seconds of the song and then go to next one that needs to be added.

Similar Messages

ITunes cannot find songs when iPod or iPhone is plugged into computer

Every time I plug my iPod or iPhone into my computer, an iTunes box pops up saying, " 'such n such' song could not be copied to the device because they could not be found." There will be a little arrow saying '100 total problems'. Actually it is referring to all songs/videos/whatever in the device. When I look in the library it is there with the exclamation point. The song plays when selected, so it is not gone. It only seems to disappear when I attach a device to my computer and iTunes comes up. I thought I fixed it when I restored my iPhone. After I reattached the phone with the newly added songs, the error message showed again.
It's not as bad as it sounds as the items are still there. The songs are still on my iPod too. When I remove the device and restart iTunes, it acts as though nothing is wrong until I again attach any idevice. It can be a real headache when I want to recharge and play random songs that is cannot find or add those songs to another .
I do have all my songs on a network attached storage device with a RAID 5 system.
Anybody else have similar porblems?
Chup

You've posted to the iTunes Match forum, which your question does not seem related to. You'll get better support help by posting to the iTunes for Windows forum: https://discussions.apple.com/community/itunes/itunes_for_windows

Library on external HD copied to another external HD, but iTunes cannot find

I created an iTunes library on an external HD that was identified by Windows 7 as my Seagate Backup Plus (E:). I copied to a second HD that became labeled as Seagate Backup Plus (F:). If I remove the E drive, iTunes cannot locate songs on the F drive automatically. However, it can find them if I point it to the exact song manually. What way can I get iTunes to identify the songs on the F drive? Will changing the label on the F drive to E drive work? If so, how do I do this? The size of my library is far in excess of my internal HD.

When you have a split library - with the iTunes database (iTunes Library.itl) on the internal drive and media on an external drive - iTunes is dependent on absolute paths, so will not be able to locate media when you change the drive letter for the media storage location. As a short-term solution, changing the new external drive from F: to E: will allow media file locations to be resolved correctly.
However, a more robust configuration is to have the complete iTunes library - database, artwork, associated files as well as media - on the external drive. As long as the structure is like this:
with the iTunes Media folder in the same folder as the iTunes Media folder, then iTunes can accommodate drive letter changes. Using this approach makes creating and maintaining a backup of your library much easier - as well as allowing you to connect the external drive to any PC running iTunes and be able to access your library (SHIFT-start iTunes and select the iTunes Library.itl file on the external HDD). See turingtest2's user tip on Make a split library portable for details of the steps that may be necessary to bring your library into this preferred layout.

I have two IPad's and tried to create two Itune libraries on my computer. Now I cannot find the original library on my computer and the Ipad will not sync?

I have two Ipad's and tried to create two ITune Libraries on my computer. Now cannot find the original library on my computer and the Ipad will not syc?

You should be able to accept this message, it will cause existing music, photos (not camera roll) and videos (also excluding those in camera roll) to be removed and replaced with those from this computer. All other user data on the iPad will be unaffected.

Deleting songs that iTunes cannot find

Many of my songs on my iTunes are no longer on my drive and show the exclamation mark telling me the file cannot be found.
Is there an easy way I can delete all the songs iTunes cannot find?
Cheers, Jack

ryane84 wrote:
i have put music on itunes from cd's i own or borrowed

Imovie cannot find songs in itunes

Imovie cannot find songs in itunes

You need to create a play list of songs that you would use for movies - mine is called Music for Movies. Then when you click on the music icon (the first box in the line of 5 in the grey bar across the lower third of the screen) and a drop down menu will appear showing all your play lists. Then simply drag and drop, but make sure that you hover over the video clip that you want to add the music to. If you don't the music will be added to the start of your presentation. You can always move the position afterwards. NOTE - if you want to add to your play list do it before you start your video editing as the list does not always update when I Movie.

FYI: How to Fix "iTunes Cannot Find Original File" Error

Yesterday morning, I opened iTunes and tried to play a file. I got the old "iTunes cannot find the original file" error. I tried another file. Same thing. I tried restarting iTunes, holding down the shift key, and making sure iTunes knew where my Library file was. Yep. Still no dice. So I came here, and did a search for help. I could not find any definitive answers to this question. So I did a Google search and found the fix in an old Metafilter thread. Given that this problem seems a little common, I thought I'd post my solution here, for anyone who has this issue in the future.
First things first, make sure that it's not just an issue of pointing iTunes to your current library location. Go to your advanced preferences and double-check the library location path. If this doesn't fix it, then it's time to go my route:
1) Open your iTunes folder in windows explorer. Look for a file called "itunes library.xml". Copy that file to your desktop or somewhere else so that it's backed up...in case something goes wrong.
2) Open the original XML file in notepad (right-click, "open with", "notepad").
3) In this XML file, you will see a paragraph of information for every file you have (songs, podcasts, videos, etc.). In each of those paragraphs, there is a file path specifying where the file is supposed to reside. This is how the itunes library.itl file knows where to look. In my case, it should have been "e:/my music/itunes", but instead, it was "e:/my music/itunes/itunes music". The program had created that folder for some reason, and all my files were pointing there.
4) Check a few of the paragraphs and see if they are pointing to your actual music folder. If so, then you have another problem...sorry. If not, then continue on:
5) Go to edit->replace (or control-H). In the "find what" box, enter the incorrect file path (in my case, e:/my music/itunes/itunes music"). In the "replace with" box, enter the correct path of your itunes music folder (in my case, "e:/my music/itunes". Then click "replace all".
If you have a lot of songs, this may take awhile. I have over 25,000 files, so it took at least 18 hours.
6) When it's done, quit notepad and save the XML file. Open iTunes. If it doesn't automatically start updating your library, then try to play a song. If you get the same old error, then quite iTunes, then re-open it, go to the advanced preferences and select the correct file path for the library location. This should fix it.

I am also finding many "ghost file" duplicate files (with the exclamation point "can not locate files" message), after pointing Itunes version 8.2.1.6 to my music folder on a separate, networked hard drive. My understanding is that the "Consolidate Files" feature in Itunes is supposed to properly identify all of the file locations, but it only worked for about 1/5 of our 10,000 plus files before it stopped running. (I've read in other forums that this software is buggy, and gets confused with long song titles, etc.)It also leaves you with duplicate "ghost" files to delete, when the music from the separate drive is "added".
I can not find a file called ituneslibrary.xml to try your suggestion, when I open my Itunes folder. When I do "get info" on the individual music files in Itunes that can't be located, the "where" field = "not available". I have doublechecked the library location in preferences and it is properly pointed to "K:\itunes" which is the correct location.

ITunes cannot find Aiport Express via D-link

iTunes cannot find Aiport Express.
iMac and Airport Express both connected to D-link wireless router (DI-524UP). Can see Airport Express on iMac Airport Utilities, and can communicate (do changes) via the D-link network. iMac working fine with D-link for internett access also.Have set up Aiport Express to serve as extra speakers in iTunes. Airport Express connected to stereo with cable. Can choose the external speakers in iTunes. Think this means iTunes also must be communicating with Airport Express, because If I change the name of the externals speakers in Airport Express, it also changes in iTunes after clicking "update" and the Airport Express re-starts. However after choosing the external speakers in iTunes and starting a song iTunes is seeking the speakers (Airport Express) without finding it. All devices are connected to the same D-link network.
Working fine when I set up Airport Express with its own network and connecting it with iMac. Also I could connect my iPhone to my iTunes library (remote app.) This is not working in the d-Link network either.
It's a drag to have to change both the PC and the iPhone to another network every time I want to play musik on the stereo. This is why I am trying to get everything to work together in the same network (D-Link).
Somebody having met this problem before?

Correction: Downloaded an update for the D-Link, and now the iPhone is working with iMac for remote control of iTunes.
Still iTunes cannot find Airport Express when choosing external speekers

I have exclamation marks and itunes cannot find original file?

I have exclamation marks and itunes cannot find original file. How do I locate original file?

Check you have your iTunes settings (Edit, Preferences, Advanced) to keep iTunes library organised.
Your songs should be in your music library in iTunes, iTunes Media, Music.
If they are not, start menu, type the name of a song in the box and the list should show you where that is located.

ITunes cannot find but I can ( ! ) - how do I fix this?

I recently upgraded to a larger capacity drive and copied my library to the new drive but also kept a backup on the old drive. Now on the new drive, I have a ton of those exclamation points and iTunes cannot find a lot of the songs. It is making me find them one song at a time. How can I keep my new drive as the location where iTunes is stored (using the Advanced section of preferences for iTunes music folder location) but get iTunes to fix these that it cannot locate? And if I can locate them one at a time just by going back to the backup, why can't iTunes figure that out on its own? I'm not even sure why this happened, since I did the Consolidate and Keep iTunes folder organized functions when transferring to the new drive. Please help!

Hi - the original files were copied to the new drive and unfortunately, were deleted from the old drive. But what I do have on the old drive, and iTunes seems to be able to use it when it wants me to locate the songs one by one, is a backup copy of my library I made before the move to the new drive.
Since moving, I set the new drive location as where the iTunes folder is stored, and the song information is all in the library on the new drive, but it confuses me why that info is there but the "sound" isn't. The files that are affected seem to be mostly the first files I loaded on when I got iTunes in December. A lot came from Windows media. I wish I could understand why if it has me "locate" it, it can then fix the problem (although that has to be done song-by-song) but yet it cannot seem to link to the entire folder and I have to do this one song at a time. Would it be possible to put that backup folder on a CD, and create CD backups of my functioning library on the new drive, and then reinstall iTunes on the new drive using the multiple CDs? Would it let me use CD backups created in two different backups, and extract what each backup had to thus make my library complete again (between the two backups, that would be my entire library.)

ITunes cannot find files even though the path is correct in Preferences

Hello: I have a problem that is not addressed in any support article.
When I click to play a song in iTunes, I get the message that iTunes cannot find the original file.
When I check Preferences > Advanced > iTunes folder locations, I see all of my files there, but iTunes does not.
I have reset, consolodated the library, and performed all tasks noted in the support articles. Still no luck.
Can anyone help?
Thanks very much.
Tophersteele
PowerPC G5 iMac Mac OS X (10.4.8)

I had the same thing happen and have been pulling my hair out about this for a week now. Finally today I hit on a fix that worked for me and I hope it works for you.
For this to work, you need a backup of the last saved iTunes Library file.
First, follow directions about locating your iTunes music folder. In prefs>advanced choose your location and make sure that is right.
Locate your last saved iTunes Library file (the one that was working before things went haywire with the !'s everywhere). Also locate the iTunes prefs file in ~/library/prefs. For me, these were part of a Backup, so I selected "restore" ONLY THESE particular files from my last backup. When prompted to replace existing files, I said YES.
After backup ran, restoring the old Library and replacing the corrupted one, I relaunched iTunes and VOILA. All files were now correctly linked.
This left one last task, re-importing all songs I'd imported since that previous backup. To find these, I sorted my music folder by date modified and checked the most recent songs against the most recent in my Library. (sort your iTunes LIbrary by "Date Added", which you can add manually if it's not part of your categories bar.

HT1414 I have an iPod touch and it says iPod Is disabled connect to iTunes, but it's green across the too instead of red. When I connected to iTunes a message appeared and said iTunes cannot find device must have a pass code to register to iTunes. What ca

MY iPod touch says iPod I'd disabled, connect to iTunes, but it is green at the top instead of red. It won't allow me to slide bar to open screen or nothing. I tried to connect to iTunes and a message appears and says iTunes cannot find my device must have pass code to continue. But I can't do anything on the iPod at all. What can I do to fix this?

Place the iOS device in Recovery Mode and then connect to your computer and restore via iTunes. The iPod will be erased.
iOS: Wrong passcode results in red disabled screen
If recovery mode does not work try DFU mode.
How to put iPod touch / iPhone into DFU mode « Karthik's scribblings
For how to restore:
iTunes: Restoring iOS software
To restore from backup see:
iOS: How to back up
If you restore from iCloud backup the apps will be automatically downloaded. If you restore from iTunes backup the apps and music have to be in the iTunes library since synced media like apps and music are not included in the backup of the iOS device that iTunes makes.
You can redownload most iTunes purchases by:
Downloading past purchases from the App Store, iBookstore, and iTunes Store

Renameing files - iTunes cannot find files?

I recently got a new computer and forgot to send all of the music on my old one to this one - so i imported them from my iPod. When it imported them, it gave them file names such as "APKF" and "NXVX", so if i delete and file and then want it back - i have to go through all of the files until i find the one i'm looking for. A simple solution to this would be to rename the files with their correct artist name and song,... but when i do this iTunes cannot find the files when i go to play the songs ... it also does this if i simply just move a song from one folder to another ... help?
Thank you!!!

I'm gonna keep them as their original four letter name and then just create a key in Notepad were it links the artist to the song by that four letter name. And them inport them one by one and enter their keys into a notepad...
It'll take a long time, but after i do it this one time i can just add and delete songs from the notepad.
like this:
Cage the Elephant:
Back Against the Wall: WTHK
Ain't no rest for the wicked: TYRE
thank you soooo much for your help, but i'm a neat freak so i'm gonna do this. you don't know of somekind of software were you can save some kind of data? like a non-trial version of Windows Office Excel?

Cannot add songs to library

Afetr uprading to Itunes 11 I cannot add songs to Library. I need Help.

I hope someone can help as I am having a similiar problem. I have multi users on one macbook. I have Itunes for all users set to the same shared folder for music (to eliminate multi copies of music files) I just added new music to the shared folder by dragging it into the folder (not thru itunes). The user I orginally did the dragging and dropping in, I was able to add to the library however, Now I am not able to add to the library on the other users. When I go to add to librabry and select the itunes folder with all the music nothing happens. Even if i try one song folder at a time nothing happens. I have had this macbook for a week and am new to mac (this is my first mac) I am geting frustrated so any and all help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

Cannot copy songs from library to ipod - says need to run updater but ipod

Cannot copy songs from library to ipod- says the software is too old and updater needs to be rund. However, the updater has been run and says the ipod is up to date. I have already run the restore so the ipod is empty.

The songs are "greyed out" because you have the iPod set to transfer songs automatically. That is also why the padlock icon appears at the bottom of iTunes next to the space used/available.
So, transfer of any songs added (or removal of any songs deleted from iTunes) should take place automatically every time you connect the iPod to iTunes.

ITunes cannot find songs in library

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for