Can't restore backed up iTunes library on new Windows install

I just reinstalled Windows on my system drive. My previous iTunes library was located on another internal HDD. I installed iTunes on my new Windows install, and tried simply changing my library location to the old location in the preferences, which didn't work for restoring anything. Then I tried starting iTunes whole holding shift, and choosing the old library file, which did nothing. iTunes starts up, and has absolutely nothing in the library, even from the old library file. The library files have a modified date of yesterday, so they haven't been overwritten by starting iTunes and setting the library location to the old location. I also reassigned the drive letter for this drive so it was the same as my previous install so filepaths would be the same.
Is there anything I'm doing wrong? I'd really like to restore my library with all my playlists, playcounts, and ratings.

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How can I restore my previous iTunes library?

I placed the iTunes library file in an external hard drive and had the folders containing the usic in different locations (pc hard drive and two external HD). But then some months ago the compueter from which I were running iTunes crash down ans subsequently I had to replace its hard disc though I managed to keep all the folders wwith my music. Now my question is: how can I do to restore my previous library? Since I have a really big amont of albums, I had them distributed in different devices (5 iPods + 1 iPhone) so I think it is nit possible to get the whole library back form one single of the devices. Thank you for your help.

Pedro, I haven’t had a need to do this myself, but here is a link that describes different methods to consolidate multiple itunes libraries: http://ipod.about.com/od/restoreandreformatipod/tp/Consolidate-Itunes-Library-Fr om-Many-Pcs-To-One.htm
Also, here is something on recreating a itunes library from the xml file. http://fixmyapple.com/troubleshooting-guides/how-to-re-create-your-itunes-librar y/. You should have the xml if you backed up the itunes folder before the crash.
Luke

Restoring backed up itunes library - itunes cant find my music HELP

Hi guys,
Im hoping someone can help me as im currently puling my hair out...
Just bought myself a new laptop after my old system got a virus, i followed apples guid to backing up my music to an external hard drive and can confirm all my music is safe, however upon following instructions to restore the itunes library for use on this pc, i have hit a brick wall, it seems you need aa degree to get itunes to work correctly..
I copied the itunes folder as directed to the desigated path under users and chose to replace the itunes folder saved on my c drive. Now itunes is displaying all my songs and album art work etc, but when i try to play the music it cant find the original file??? This is driving me insane, im desperate for some help.
Ive even looked into ituneswift but i cant use it as its looking for a .twf file which i dont have?
Can someone please instruct me how to get itunes to find my music, it works if i click the file but it wont work if i select the song through itunes.
Many thanks in advance....
Daf

Somehow just got it all working again!! wooohooo, just chose the path to locate the original file and itunes then ask if id like to search this folder for the other files i said yes and now it seems to be back working woohoooooo

How Can I Roll Back my iTunes Library?

I'm guessing it may no tbe possible at all, but here goes.
What I would like to do with my music estate is roll back my current iTunes library file, automatically updated to iTunes 11 when updated on MPBr when this was my only PC using iTunes. Now I have three and some iOS devices too. My library has been moved from windows machines to macs and is several years old and has received 100s of hours of tweaking to get it just right.
Now my server is a PowerPC mac and I can only go as far as iTunes 10.6.xx, I want this to be always on and share the library with other PCs accross home sharing (i will sync iPhones over the wi-fi with this PC too, though it may not play with iOS7, so perhaps not).
I want to see the iTunes library on the macbooks, probably through Home Sharing, I also want to be able to sync the iphones, but only have a single copy of the music files on the server. is this possible? This will just be for when out of the house as I can also use home sharing in the house for music.
Thanks

You say you want to do this with multiple devices. Let's say you have a new iPhone 5 that requires iTunes 11. You will not be able to sync that if your base iTunes is iTunes 10.6 since your hardware will require at least whatever version of iTunes was current at the time of purchase. You're seeing this with your iOS7 phone. Anyway, unless all your hardware is old enough to use the lowest version of iTunes you need to run, you may be out of luck. You cannot share the library. Sharing media is different, and relatively easy, but it will be complex to ensure all the multiple libraries are kept up to date.
You also can't roll back iTunes libraries to earlier versions unless you kept a backup of your library from the point to which you wish to revert, or it is still in the previous libraries folder.

How can I get back my itunes library settings?

My dad recently created a new profile and my library got lost with the old profile. I was able to move all my music from the old profile to my new library but i lost all my settings. I have the music but it doesn't show any of my ratings for any songs, no play counts, the date added is wrong, no playlists, and I had selected specific songs I wanted on my ipod but now it has all of them selected again. I still have all my old settings on my nano if I can get them off there somehow. If anyone knows how i can get my settings back please help.

It sounds to me like the original iTunes Library file got replaced. If so, transferring from the nano will be your only possibility. If you search VersionTracker for "iPod", you'll find a number of utilities that can transfer your playlists from your iPod back to your Mac. One or more of those utilities might also be able to transfer playcounts and ratings.

How can i restore my entire iTunes library onto my new mac book pro from a previous time machine backup?

after using the migration assistant, it appears that only my iTunes purchases loaded into my library on the new MCB, not allllll the other mp3's i've loaded in from other sources, although they are sitting in the back.up folders on my external drive. those mp3's have to be opened manually to get them back into iTunes. there has to be a more effiecient way to load these tunes right?????

The second Article guides you to copy the whole iTunes Folder which will include linbrary and all media type:
Here is the iTunes folder structure

Restoring backed up iTunes to my new computer

I have a backup of my iTunes library that I am trying to restore to a new computer but when syncing it tells me it did not sync a number of songs because it couldn't find them. My iTunes library was on another computer but because of a crash I now have a laptop. It's all my music and it's on my library on my new computer why won't it sync it? Thanks for your help

OK so by "backup" what do you mean exactly? Was it backed up to DVDs, CDRs, an external hard drive, etc.? And how did you get the stuff back into your new computer's library? Was the library copied over and then opened directly? Did you add the songs to the new library through drag and drop or via the File -> Add to library... command, etc.?
More details would help. Thanks!
Patrick

Backing up iTunes Library to New External Hard Drive

I need to move the location of my itunes library as my external hard drive has become full.
I have been backing up my "computer" (i.e. internal hard drive) and the itunes library stored on the external hard drive with TM.
Once I move the library, I will be backing up the new music library. As I understand it, TM will treat this as a completely new backup. Once this is done, I would no longer need or want the older backup on TM -- what's the best way of deleting the older backup since it takes up an enormous amount of space -- i.e. it's 250 gigs -- and then the additional 250 gigs for the NEW music library backup.
Thanks

Helen Berman wrote:
I need to move the location of my itunes library as my external hard drive has become full.
I have been backing up my "computer" (i.e. internal hard drive) and the itunes library stored on the external hard drive with TM.
Once I move the library, I will be backing up the new music library. As I understand it, TM will treat this as a completely new backup. Once this is done, I would no longer need or want the older backup on TM -- what's the best way of deleting the older backup since it takes up an enormous amount of space -- i.e. it's 250 gigs -- and then the additional 250 gigs for the NEW music library backup.
Hello again, Helen!
First, see this: moving your iTunes Music folder
Are you moving the iTunes library from one external to a new, larger one? If so, give the new drive a different name than the old one, even if only slightly different (this is for you, not TM!)
Once the data is moved, eject and disconnect the old drive, and leave it alone for now.
Go into Time Machine and delete all backups of the old drive. You'll need the procedure in #E3 of the Time Machine - Troubleshooting *User Tip,* also at the top of this forum, to see them. Select the folder representing the old drive, click the "gear" icon in the Finder window's toolbar, select the +*Delete all backups of <folder name> option.+* You'll get a confirmation prompt, then one for your Admin password. Make a large pot of coffee, as that will take a while! If you exit from the TM display, you'll probably see a progress bar for the deletion.
Be sure the new drive isn't listed in the +Do not back up+ box in TM Preferences > Options. If it is, remove it. Then run a backup, and TM should back-up the new external in full, along with any changes to your internal. Make another pot of coffee!
Once that's done, be certain everything was backed-up properly: check sizes, and messages, and browse the backups.
If I were you, I'd keep that old one around, "just in case," until I really, really needed it for something else.

Can I import my existing Itunes library to new computer

I am sure that the last time I changed computers it was very simple to move the Itunes library using Export Library from the old computer and Import Library in the new computer, This simple mechanism seems to be no longer available,
I know that, in File/Library, there is an Export Library option but this produces a very small XML file which I believe is used for playlists - it is clearly not an export of the full library. There is also an Import Playlist facility for the new computer but no Import Library facility
So how should i go about transferring transferring my Itunes library to the new computer?

Thanks Diesel. That worked fine,
I am left feeling a bit silly as the answer was so straightforward. For some reason i was assuming that Itunes would never be so easy. I'm not sure what traumatic experience lay behind that feeling.
But thanks again
ps
I meant to mark your post as the answer but I can't see any obvious box to click

I backed up my itunes account to an external drive because I had to reset my hard drive. How can i restore my old itunes library?

I was having problems with my hard drive on my desktop computer. I made a back up of my itunes account to an external hard drive. I now have my computer back. How do I restore my itunes account to the desktop so that I can sync my music and movies?

Was the entire folder copied including the iTunesLibrary.itl file?

How can I restore an older itunes to a new one that i just downloaded. I cant find any of my old songs or movies?

I just baught a new computer with windows 8 and I downloaded itunes again because I couldn't find it on my external drive, now I don't know where all of my content is. Any Ideas?

The content is only where the user put it.
There is no logical reason to expect downloading iTunes causes a users content to magically appear.
Copy the ENTIRE iTunes folder from the old computer to the new computer.

How can I restore my old iTunes Time Machine backup after upgrading to Mavericks?

I previously had Snow Leopard, and am wondering how I can simply restore ONLY my iTunes library from my Time Machine backup, last made only a few days ago when I had Snow Leopard. However, I seem to be unable to access anything backed up before I installed Mavericks. Any help would be great, because I'd hate to have to struggle to locate 160GB of music manually.
Many thanks!

Your choice really. Either way will work. Retaining the older backups gives you a way to restore older files. When I upgrade from 10.8 to 10.9, the backups continued without errors. Depending on what you upgraded from, in 10.8/9 you have the option to backup to 2 separate drives thus giving you some protection in case one drive fails. You can either copy the old backup to a new drive (Disk Utility/Restore seems to work best) or start a new one.

I upgraded to iTunes 10.5 and now I can't back up iTunes library to disc. In previous versions it was in file library backup to disc. In iTunes 10.5 that is gone!

I upgraded to iTunes 10.5 and now I can't back up iTunes library to disc. In previous versions it was in file>library>backup to disc. In iTunes 10.5 that is gone!

Some of us have our enture itunes library backed up on CD/DVD - what a waste of time and effort as now presumably you can't use these discs to restore itunes on a new computer! WHY NOT APPLE?
Very unimpressed with itunes 10.5/ios5 - wifi tracking apps have been removed from the store (and won't function in ios5), it's impossible to sync photos (I have spent a whole day trying to sync my iphone 3GS with itines 10.5) to no avail and now, no CD backup facility.
I have never had problems with apple before - I was thinking of upgrading my whole system from PC to Mac but now I am doubtful - if this is typical of apple software, I will stay with windows!

Just finished using iTunes, closed out and then tried to get back in. Got this message "he iTunes library .itl file is locked, on a locked disk, or you do not have write permission for this file." How can I get back into iTunes ?

I just finished using iTunes, closed out and then tried to get ack in. Got this message "The iTunes library .9tl file is locked, on a locked disk, or you do not have write permission for this file." How can I get back ino iTunes ?

I actually figured it out...I had to go to the iTunes Library Extras.itdb file and give myself permission to have full control. THEN, I could go and estore a previos version. Once I had done this, I got the same message for iTunes Library Genius.itdb . . . I did the same thing with it and Voila'!!
Hope this helps...
SVT

I lost songs on my itunes library n i have same songs kn my iphone. So how can i get them back to itunes library?

I lost songs on my itunes library n i have same songs kn my iphone. So how can i get them back to itunes library?

See Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device.
tt2

Can't restore backed up iTunes library on new Windows install

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