I'm getting an error message saying "file could not be used because the original file cannot be found. Would you like to locate it?" What gives?
I've updated iTunes as recommended (and when recommended) but made no other changes to my computer or files. Why are the files gone?
I was not complete clear.
Since you never changed the settings in the advanced section of iTunes preferecnes, you have to chech that your music is really in the location setted in the folders reported in the advanced section. If not you have 2 ways: reset the position of this folders or in the actual disk organisation or in the pointing on the preferences.
If you press the reset button you just give to itunes its default setting as for the position of the music files: probably this will be a good choice if you have never changed any default preference.
But before I would check the folders and see if the songs are really there
In my iTune I have this, and I believe it is the default.
Users/YOURHOMEFOLDERNAME/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music
Similar Messages
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Error: Original file cannot be found, would you like to locate it?
My computer crashed, so I bought a new laptop. I have everything backed up on an external hard drive. I tried to transfer everything from the external drive to my new laptop, and now all of my music appears to be listed in itunes. However, when i try to play a music file I'm getting an error that says the original file cannot be found, would you like to locate it? Any ideas?
Select a broken track and press ctrl-i to Get Info. Look on the summary tab for the location where iTunes "thinks" the file should be. Where is it really? Post back the two locations and I can suggest the best approach.
tt2 -
Im trying to setup my phone and I Keep getting this error.
"Your iPhone could not be activated because the activation server cannot be reached. Try Connecting your iPhone to iTunes to activate it, or try again later.Are you running one of the beta versions of iOS 7?
Has the iPhone been jailbroken or modified to work with other
than the original wireless provider? -
I am trying to download photos from my camera to iphoto on my mac book (which I have done many times before). This time I am getting an alert that saysThe photo “IMG_5965.JPG” could not be opened, because the original item cannot be found. How can I fix this?
There is a fair likelihood of an explanation of this symptom
in another ASC discussion thread; see the reply by léonie:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/20165563#20165563
You may have to research any newer possibilities in trouble-
shooting or resolving issues by use of iPhoto Support page.
Since I don't use iPhoto as a primary editor or storage, the
details on the topic aren't so good. I prefer ToyViewer editor.
•iPhoto Support
•iPhoto Video Tutorials
Hopefully the error is easily corrected.
Good luck & happy computing! -
iphoto wont open,keep getting Alert:The photo IMG_3515.jpg could not be opened,because the original item cannot be found. It opened fine two days ago. Any suggestions? iPhoto 9.3.2
No changes were made. I saw in one of the threads where someone said to repair the database(which didn't work) or Rebuild the database(which did work). Thanks to one all for the support.
WP -
Hi
I have tried to restore my i phone 3gs using a USB cable connecting to itunes.The process has gone smoothley but i am now getting this message on my i phone;"your i phone could not be activated because the activation server is temporarily unavailable.Try connecting your i phone to itunes to activate it,or try again in a few minutes.I have been trying and trying again and switched off my firewall too.but still getting this message.Can anyone please advise me?That is almost always because the phone was hacked to unlock it from the original carrier.
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im trying to activate my ipad and an error message'your ipad cannot be activatewd because the activation server cannot be reached.
How do I connect?You don't have access to a computer, some other options are...l
Wait for a while and try again
Try activating your iPad using another WiFi network
Ask someone who does have a computer running iTunes for help.
Take your iPad to an Apple Store and ask them for help. -
I have to either hit cancel about 100 times to allow me to get into iphoto. I think this may have to do with photos I have edited over time where the original no longer exists but only the .edited.jpg...
OSX 10.8.2
iPhoto 9.4.2these do not matchup - they can not all be correct
Yes, I found the Masters file and they all appear to be there...
Some of the files in question say "The alias “AtlantisPhoto_01_2.jpg” can’t be opened because the original item can’t be found." when I try to access in the master file.
It was checked when I went into preferences already.
It sounds like you have unchecked the copy option sometime and imported photos while it was unchecked that no longer have the originals available on the same path as they were when imported
We only know what you tell us and answers can only be based on the information you provide
And whjile you are looking inside the iPhoto library be very careful that you do not make any changes of any sort - there are no user servicable parts in it and any changes can destroy your library
LN -
My iTunes is not working, when i click on a song to play it says it could not be used because the original file could not be found. How do i fix it?
If no one on this forum is able to assist there is a iTunes forum you can post to. When you do please confirm you are using Snow Leopard 10.6.8 as your profile indicates. Also state where you iTunes library is located, for example if you have put the library on an EHD please state that.
Good luck. -
I recently reset my computer and copy my music from an external hard drive to my itunes library. When I click on a song to play i get an error message that says " the song could not be used because the original file could not be found". But when I have my external hard drive plug in the song will play with no problem. What do I need to do to play my music without having the external harddrive plug in ???????? Please help
Because the location for each song in your library is on your hard drive. If the hard drive isn't there, how can iTunes play it?
You'll have to move/copy the music from your hard drive to your computer's hard drive.
Basically, EASIEST way to do all this, if you don't care about your play counts, etc...
-Delete EVERYTHING from iTunes, so that your library is now empty.
-Go to "Advanced" inside of the "Preferences" window, found in the "Edit" drop-down. You can also access Preferences by pressing Ctrl+, (Press Ctrl and the comma key)
-Change your iTunes Media Folder Location to something simple, but on your computer. I use C:/iTunes. Make sure "Keep iTunes Media Folder Organized" and "Copy files to...." are both checked. You can close Preferences now.
-Now, drag and drop your music from your hard drive into your iTunes library. iTunes will automatically add the music to your library, as you would expect, and also creates a copy of each file to place into that iTunes Media Folder you just created.
Shouldn't have any more problems... -
I tried to play my iTunes and suddenly get an error message that says "The song (name) could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it now?" It happens on each tune I select and a "?" appears beside the song. Does this sound familiar to anyone?
I was not complete clear.
Since you never changed the settings in the advanced section of iTunes preferecnes, you have to chech that your music is really in the location setted in the folders reported in the advanced section. If not you have 2 ways: reset the position of this folders or in the actual disk organisation or in the pointing on the preferences.
If you press the reset button you just give to itunes its default setting as for the position of the music files: probably this will be a good choice if you have never changed any default preference.
But before I would check the folders and see if the songs are really there
In my iTune I have this, and I believe it is the default.
Users/YOURHOMEFOLDERNAME/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music -
I'm really dumbfounded on this one and it's driving me bonkers!!!! On some of my music files there is a ! in front of it, if I try to play the song, I get an error message; "The song "_____" could not be used, because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?"
This began to happen when Chuck made playlists2burn on2CD-and then he would delete the playlist; sending all the song files into oblivion. Certain songs have a ! right next to the file name, and as I stated before, i get that error message:
"The song "_____" could not be used, because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?"
So I click on "Locate". No help. I get a menu with folders that say "catroot" and other folders which names I cannot remember, but I scroll PAST the file folders, & it's just a bunch of ".DLL" files.....I don't understand what any of the names of the folders mean...it's frustr8ing-coz this is my 2nd iTouch, my 1st one got stolen & I can't afford2buy my music back at this time & i NEVER before had a single problem with losing song file locations.
Is there anyone out there who has been through this frustrating game of chasing your tail?....<that's how I feel>
If so I would be ever so gr8ful if maybe someone with the knowledge would be so kind as 2 tell me how/where 2 retrieve these songs & how to put everything back where it belongs, I would be 4ever gr8ful !!!
I can't afford 2 replace the songs just like I'm unable 2 buy back my old music from my stolen iTouch....man that was an awesome collection-someday I'll be able 2 afford 2 do that & I would like 2 have all the new music that I paid 4 but cannot find when I got my new iTouch....that would just be wonderful.
I hope someone sees this post that can help me retrieve these files....losing $100.00 of iTunes is a REAL BUMMER!!!!!!
ThanQ SO very much!
[email protected] or [email protected] or [email protected] .
You can also find me on Facebook, my given name is Tiffinie Trimmer, &
that's my Facebook "handle". ThanQ 4 taking the time 2 read all of this!
hope 2 get a reply someday....I'll B checking all my emails & my Facebook, as well
as marking this page in my FAVORITES so I can find it fast! Take Care!!!I was not complete clear.
Since you never changed the settings in the advanced section of iTunes preferecnes, you have to chech that your music is really in the location setted in the folders reported in the advanced section. If not you have 2 ways: reset the position of this folders or in the actual disk organisation or in the pointing on the preferences.
If you press the reset button you just give to itunes its default setting as for the position of the music files: probably this will be a good choice if you have never changed any default preference.
But before I would check the folders and see if the songs are really there
In my iTune I have this, and I believe it is the default.
Users/YOURHOMEFOLDERNAME/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music -
I cannot play music from my itunes library. I keep getting an itunes message that says, “The song could not be used because the original file could not be found.” Is there a fix for this? Has this happened to anyone else? Is there a fix for this? Thank you.
Hello Turintest2,
I am having a similar problem. I have over 4000 songs giving me this error. I certainily don't want to go in one by one and find them. I know you wrote a script for Windows but I am a Mac user. Is there a fix for me? Here is the info on where the song is currently (used by doing the get info)
Here's a shot of my preferences:
Just FYI, I know that apparently iTunes is looking for this music in the trash. However, if I go here:
Then I find the music there as well. (Which is where it is in my preferences.)
Please help! I don't want to have to go through over 4000 songs and update them one by one. -
Please help - this morning I tried updating one of my old ipods for my wife (this ipod hasn't been updated in 2-3 years). I plugged it into my pc, it was recognized and the software updated. I created a new playlist and tied to sync the ipod. This ipod had never been used on this pc/itunes since the pc is only 2 years old. When I tried to sync the ipod it stated that it would have to erase all the old songs on the ipod prior to syncing. I clicked ok and it proceeded to wipe out the old ipod and sync the new playlist (~1000 songs). When the sync was complete there were only 6 songs from the new playlist (all purchased this morning from itunes) on the ipod and to my horror all ~10,000 song on my pc in itunes now have a ! next to them. Only my recent purchases from itunes do not. When I click on a song with the ! I get the error message "the song " " could not be used because the original file could not be found." How do I correct this issue - I am scared to hook my ipads or other ipods to my pc for fear of losing everything?!?!? I spent 100s of hours burning the 10,000 songs from my cd collection and do not want to have to do it again.
Any help is greatly appreciated.This "original file cannot be found" thing 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 -
When I rry to paly a song in my itunes libery, I get an error saying "this song could not be used because the original file could not be found". I do I find the orginal file?
Hello crispinofromfl,
Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.
For more information, take a look at:
Where are my iTunes files located?
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1391
Have a nice day,
Mario -
I downloaded the new version of iTunes and now over 100 songs have an exclamation mark beside them and won't play. The message says: "The song ... could not be used because the original file could not be found." How do I get these songs back?
Presuming they're on your computer, right click on them and then follow the prompts to locate hte file on your computer.
Maybe you are looking for
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