HT1926 itunes cannot locate original file for large amount of music in library

When I open itunes it cannot find some of the tunes I have uploaded onto the library from CD's etc.

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

Similar Messages

Missing songs: half of the songs in my library have suddenly become unplayable because iTunes "cannot locate original file" whats caused this and how do i fix it?

Its really irritating having all my songs there one day and having half of them go missing the next and i haven't done anything to cause the files to be lost, on top of that it's completely randomised in what songs have gone missing as it is not whole albums, individual songs from different albums are going missing and it's telling me to find the files, which i have no idea where to look or what to do, it has rendered iTunes completely useless for me. Does anyone else have this problem? How did you fix it?

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 cannot locate my files on the external hard drive - I changed preferences but still not locating songs?

itunes cannot locate my files on the external hard drive - I changed preferences but still not locating songs?

This work for the most part:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/20361846#20361846

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.

Cannot open because cannot locate original file

I made a dumb mistake when I first started using LR and I thought files once downloaded into the catalogue were saved and accessible. I removed the files from bridge and now I cannot open them in my catalogue. My photos will show up in LR, but the message says "cannot open because cannot locate original file"
I can SEE them, I just can't do anything with them. Is there anyway to recover these files?

What you are seeing in LR is simply a thumbnail of what was in your LR catalogue. I guess though there is no harm in trying to export what you see in LIghtroom, as a jpg but I can't thjink that would work.
So you imported all into Lightroom and then went into Bridge and deleted them from Bridge and therefore off your drive as well. And no backup? Just trying to understand where things went sideways.

I cannot get itunes to sync all of my songs to my iphone. Itunes tells me that it cannot locate the files for these songs. How do I fix this?

When I attempt to sync my i phone with itunes on my computer not all of the songs make it to my phone. Itunes is telling me that it cannot find the files for these songs. How do I fix this?

Hi fishonfoot,
Thanks for visiting Apple Support Communities.
You may want to use this article as a guide to determine if the songs are on your computer:
iTunes: Finding lost media and downloads
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1408
If the missing songs were purchased from the iTunes Store, see this article for the steps to download them again:
Downloading past purchases from the App Store, iBookstore, and iTunes Store
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2519
Best Regards,
Jeremy

Itunes can't locate original files for songs on my external harddrive

I recently added my music collection to a new computer from my external harddrive. At first everything worked great, now when i open itunes and try to play songs that are located on the harddrive the following error message pops up "The Song "xxxx" could not be used because the original file could not be located. Would you like to locate it?" I am able to locate the files one at a time, but i have over 12000 songs. I am wondering if there is a way to make itunes recognize that all of the songs it is looking for are located on the external harddrive. Any/all help is appreciated.

1)if you have an ipod than you are in luck. plug it in.
2)go to my computer and select your ipod.
3)click on search and DO NOT TYPE ANYTHING IN OR CLICK ON ANY THING.
4)you will be on the first page with the little charactor in the bottom left hand side of the page.
5)just click "OK" NOTHING ELSE!!!!!!!!
6)then click on search
7)when it is done searching, select all your music and PUT IT IN A FOLDER. any folder will be fine.
8)select all of the music in the new folder and drag and drop it in to itunes.
9)that is it but if you have any questons email me at [email protected]

Itunes unable to locate original file for music after update. How can I find it

I am not able to play any of my music since the last update to itnes.It gives me a message that the original file canot be located but when I say locate it comes back with nothing. Any suggestions?

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

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.

My music is backed up on external drive when i disconnect the external drive itunes cannot locate the files on the PC harddrive and none of the music can be accessed how do i fix this?

My harddrive was wiped clean. I upgraded operating system to fr vista to win 7. All music was saved on an external hard drive and i have copied this to itunes on new operating system but itunes can not access any of the music without the external drive being connected. error msg says original files cannot be located. What to do?

It all depends a bit on how & what you backed up, and how you restored it. Select an affected track. Press CTRL-I to Get Info. Click Cancel when asked to locate the file. Look at the location given on the summary tab. Now look through your computer for file in question. What are the two paths? iTunes could be using the wrong layout (pre or post iTunes 9) in error. Or your library could have been split on the previous system, and not restored to preciesly the same path. Posting back the two paths should make things clearer.
tt2

Cannot locate original files

All of a sudden, today, I cannot play my music files that were downloaded from cd's, message that the original files cannot be located. Is there a way to fix this?, without redownloading hundreds of cds?

Hi mawocala,
Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.
So your music was there yesterday and with no changes the music can't be found today?
I'm not sure what searches you have tried, but see if the steps in this article help.
iTunes: Finding lost media and downloads - Apple Support
Take care,
Nubz

PLEASE HELP me use iTunes to locate original files

I had the original files stored in several locations (I've since moved them all to one location), but for almost all of my songs, iTunes displays the message "the song could not be used because the original file could not be located. Would you like to locate it?"
Is there anyway to have iTunes automatically locate every song, instead of having to manually go through each song?
THANK YOU
Windows XP

I had the original files stored in several locations
(I've since moved them all to one location), but for
almost all of my songs, iTunes displays the message
"the song could not be used because the original file
could not be located. Would you like to locate it?"
Is there anyway to have iTunes automatically locate
every song, instead of having to manually go through
each song?
THANK YOU
Windows XP

Iphone4 having problems syncing music after the latest update. only half of my music has been synced. during the syncing process the system stalls and i get an error stating itunes cannot locate the file.

My IPhone 4 is experiencing an issue since the latest update. Itunes will not allow the library to sync my entire library. Itunes get stalled and the error message reads ITunes can't find the file for a certain song.

I had the same issue and was told it was because I was using Windows XP. Not sure if the same issue or not, but check that first.

ITunes cannot find original file

Approx. 1/3 of my iTunes library has an exclamation point next to it (since the recent upgrade) All of the songs are in the iTunes library. In fact, when it asks if I want to find locate the file, I navigate to the iTunes library, and click on the 'missing' song. Then iTunes recognizes it. I don't want to have to do this 1000 times. Any suggestions?? (I've repaired permissions, and had iTunes re-index the iTunes library)

I have my music on an external drive, too, and have had the same problem. With previous iTunes, I was able to simply go to Edit > Preferences > Advanced and changed the iTunes Music Location Folder to my external drive. This used to get rid of all the exclamation points. Right after I updated to the newest iTunes, though, I also added hapsody Player to my computer so I could load music on my phone. Somehow, either the iTunes update or Rhapsody changed my iTunes Music Location Folder back to my C: drive. All my music had the exclamation point again. Grr....I went back to preferences and changed the folder location, and it worked almost completely. Out of my 26000 songs, I'd guess that less than 200 have the exclamation point now. Maybe you'll have better luck if you try the same thing.

How to Locate Original Files in Aperture Once Version Deleted from Library

I have a very large aperture library (250GB). For a long time, I have maintained my library by deleting only the "versions" of photos that I do not like (File-Delete Version), not realizing that the originals were still there. I would like to also delete the originals (master), since they are large RAW files taking up a lot of space. But with the versions now gone from my library, I do not know how to locate the original files to delete. Is there any way for me to do this?
I feel like there should be a way to find out if there are any original files not associated with a corresponding version in the library, to allow you to recover accidently deleted files. That would be a start, but I can't find a way to do it. Thanks.

Also, I visited the Apple store recently and was told that deleting the version does not delete the master, and they even showed me on their computers where files deleted from the library were stored (they did this by "File-Open Library in iPhoto," highlighting all the images, and then "File-Reveal in Finder-Original File."
For a managed library: "Delete version" will only delete the selected version, if there is more than one version of the the same image. But if you only have one version left, delete version will delete the original file as well. An original is of no use, if you do not have a version to reference it. The " File-Delete Original Image and All Versions" option is there to be able to delete all versions at once, together with the original file.
For a referenced library you will be prompted, if you want to delete the referenced original, if you are deleting the last version.
Just try it for a managed library. Import an image and use "Delete version" for the last version. The version will be moved to Aperture's Trash. And if you empty the trash, you will find the original version in the Trash in your Dock. And it cannot be put back from the Trash.
You will be prompted, if you really want to delete the file, when you empty Aperture's Trash.
The App Store genius must have shown you a referenced library, when the original was not removed after deleting the version, or they did not delete the last version, if it was a managed library.

HT1926 itunes cannot locate original file for large amount of music in library

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