Itunes / audio folder path change question

Hello all
I have many audio tracks (voice) that I used in my edits. I had to move my iTunes library to an external disk because of space. Now none of my audio tracks work because I guess the path has changed. I would rather not change the iTunes folder back if I could avoid it. Is there a hack I could do? A symbolic link in the iTunes folder perhaps pointing to the new location?

Hi Renita
You should be able to freely name the CHM whatever makes sense to you in the field.
I recall you are also possibly involved in CSH development. So the file name could play a significant role in that. But even after you generate the help you should be able to rename it if you want.
Cheers... Rick
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ITunes Music Folder Location changed, but iTunes still uses old location

Okay - I'm getting a bit frustrated here. Because I had no room on c:, I moved all my iTunes preferences -- applications I downloaded for the iPod Touch, file settings, and all that stuff -- to my D:\ drive. Then I went to Preferences > Advanced and changed the iTunes Music Folder location to my D: drive.
Everything SEEMED to have looked good. Or so I hoped.
The 40+ applications I bought are no longer listed on the Applications purchased list. Further, all my files are STILL saving to the c: drive.
How do I FORCE iTunes to acknowledge that the D:\ drive is storing my iTunes preferences and files?!

OK, now I get what you're trying to do. I think!
I run my ITL file off my exHD, so all my Artwork & Applications are stored there. I think if you try running your ITL file from the D: drive it will do what you want.
Try this
1) close itunes & wait for the library ITL file to save ( I assume it's still on C: hence that's why artwork/apps are DLing there)
2) copy that ITL file over to the D: drive
3) press and hold the shift key while starting itunes and choose the ITL file on D:
Now all your future artwork/apps shoudl download to D:, try it by getting a free app.

Songfile path not writing to .itl file when iTunes Media Location is changed.

Running iTunes 11.1.4 on an Intel NUC with Windows 8.1. My iTunes library contains about 65K songfiles. All media is on a NAS.
Frequently when I restart the PC the NAS is not immediately mounted. So if I don't check this before starting up iTunes, the iTunes media folder location changes to its default.
I don't know if this is the cause of the problem, but a few days ago I started seeing a vast number of exclamation points indicating lost songfiles. All music is nicely organized in a parent folder on the NAS and iTunes had, until recently, no problem recognizing all of it.
So the other day I changed the iTunes Media Folder Location in the program from the default (which it had switched to at bootup) to the songfiles' location on the NAS. I then let the software update the library.
Still the exclamation points remained, with no discernible pattern. Within albums, some songs were recognized, some not. I'd say about two-thirds were missing, according to iTunes.
I shut down iTunes, fired up Vim, and had a look at the library's .xml file. Sure enough, about two thirds of the songfiles pointed to the default media location, with another one-third pointing correctly.
I edited the .xml file to line everything up properly, but came to find that this has no effect because the .itl file rules the roost. As soon as I started iTunes back up, the paths returned to the locations according to the .itl file, and these incorrect paths were also written to the .xml.
Updating the media folder location seems to have no effect on iTunes's ability to find the files. I know I can rebuild my library using the .xml file (presumably best done after I have changed the paths to their proper file locations), but I don't want to lose playcounts, ratings, playlists, etc.
So. It *seems* as if my .itl file is corrupt even though iTunes starts and the program is able to locate a portion of my media.
Is there something I am missing? Some way to get iTunes to recognize the proper path for all media without a library rebuild?
TIA.

The "missing file" error 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 thatiTunes 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.
If another application like Windows Media Player has moved/renamed the files then the chances are that subtle differences in naming strategies will make it hard to restore the media to the precise path that iTunes is expecting. In such cases, as long as the missing files can be found somewhere, you should be able to use my FindTracks script to reconnect them to iTunes. See this post for an explanation of how it works.
I've seen a suggestion that iTunes' own repair mechanism may work better when "Keep iTunes Media folder organized" is turned off.
See also make a split library portable. Keeping the whole library on the drive removes the problem of the media folder being reset.
tt2

ITunes Music Folder Location - PLEEEEASE HELP

All my music on iTunes is saved to an external hard drive. Every few months or so, iTunes will automatically change the location for the iTunes Music Folder to the wrong destination. When I change it back to the actual source of the music on my external hard drive, iTunes will not recognize the songs without me manually inputting the song locations one song at a time (10,000+ songs).
The only thing I can think of is to remove all music from iTunes and readd it, but this is DEVASTATING as I have about 30 playlists which are not easy to recreate whatsoever.
So, I either need to know how I can get iTunes to recognize the songs, without losing all my playlists...
Or I want to know why iTunes changes the Music Folder Location, so I can stop this from happening in the future.
This has happened to me twice before, and it's been absolutely DEVASTATING each time. I posted twice previously and no one helped me. I am desperate to stop this madness. Please help!

I don't know whether I have a solid answer for you or not, but thought I will share my thought with you. Of course this assumes that you know where we designate the path to store the iTunes Music Files.
Could the "folder path changing" problem be due to the fact that you have it in an EXTERNAL drive? I have my Original CDs copied into the external drive but I maintain the iTunes Music folder on my internal hard drive and let iTunes manage that. Time to time, i copy that to my external drive for safe keeping.
Now in your case, it is the external drive. The question becomes the full path name with which iTunes finds this location. Being an external drive, the Drive Letter assigned to it could chnage depending on what otherd evices you may have connected to your PC at the time - one time it could be F, and another time it could be G and so on. Could this be causing you the random problem?
It is an idea!

Moving iTunes Library folder to External Hard Drive?

My iTunes Library folder is currently on my (internal) hard drive, which is very low on space. A great deal of my music is on my external hard drive, which iTunes accesses just fine (I've not, of course, chosen to copy the music into the iTunes Library folder). My question is, is there an easy way to change the iTunes Library folder to a directory on my external hard drive and ensure that new things I download such as purchased music or apps will download to that directory? I changed the folder as shown in the Advanced tab of Preferences to my external drive, tried downloading an app, and it still downloaded to the internal hard drive.
I'm starting to get a bit claustrophobic about space left on my main drive, and I'd like to relieve it if possible. Thanks!
EazyCheeze

In Windows, you go through File >> Library >> Organize Library. here you can choose to consolidate your library. this should do the job.. alternatively you could take a look at this blog..
http://www.tuaw.com/2006/09/19/how-to-keep-your-itunes-library-on-an-external-ha rd-drive/
Even though its step by step on mac you should be able to figure it out from there.
Message was edited by: MuldVarp3N

ITunes Media Folder location - on a data parition

Hi, I use Mac with a partitioned hard drive. It lets me use a Snow Leopard and Lion. I use a third partition fror data, this is where my iTunes media folder is. iTunes Lion uses it just fine, but iTunes on Snow Leopard doesn't work that well - it can't access the iTunes media folder on the data partition.
Opened iTunes
Preferences > Advanced >
iTunes Media Folder Loctation > Change >
Data HD > "iTunes Media Green Folder" > Open > OK >
Keep organized > Yes
...Okay so its now still not there urggh!
File > Library > Organize Library > Consolidate Files > OK
...Okay so its now still not there ...STILL! I'm getting upset and I want my music.
Can't you help? Thank you kindly

By organizing it should both relocate all current media as well as start using the new location from that point on. You're mostly okay there. Where you are not okay is iTunes doesn't look at your files directly. It only really looks at one single file, the iTunes Library.itl file which tells it where everything is located. You need to get both copies of iTunes using the same complete library (media + library file). The way you do that is using the option start method. You should only need to do that once unless for some reason the library storage drive is disconnected when starting iTunes, in which case iTunes will use the default location and you will need to option start again.
What are the iTunes library files? - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1660
More on iTunes library files and what they do - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITunes#Media_management
What are all those iTunes files? - http://www.macworld.com/article/139974/2009/04/itunes_files.html
Where are my iTunes files located? - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1391
iTunes 9 [and later]: Understanding iTunes Media Organization - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3847
By the way, both copies of iTunes will have to be the same version or the library will become unreadable to the older iTunes.
There are variants to the above but I am not going to type in all the possibilities unless you say something that tells me you need a different structure.

Moving my itunes media folder back to my computer from external hard drive

Hope someone can help me here as I've gotten myself confused.
A couple years ago I moved my Media Folder to an external hard drive. I now want to move it back but I'm doing something wrong.
Here's what I did.
Copied the Media Folder from external to computer desktop.
Moved Media Folder into the Computer's iTunes Media folder.
Changed the folder location in Preferences of iTunes to the computer's Media Folder.
It didn't work. It is still looking for songs on the external hard drive.
Thoughts?
Do I need to follow the same tutorial for moving the media folder backwards?
Why can't I just move the media files to where I want them on the computer and then change the media folder location in itunes?
Do i need to create a new folder for it to work?

Jason R. McCarty wrote:
So I don't need to follow this tutorial and create a new folder? http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1449
Correct, you don't need to create anew folder.
You may want to do that if you are putting the media elsewhere and don't want to simply have a folder named iTunes media floating around.
If there is already a Media folder in Music/iTunes will it make another or use that one?
It will use the one already there.
Also, what if there are duplicate files in the computer location?
After you consolidate, you will need to delete them from iTunes (if they actually show up in iTunes).
If they don't show up in Tunes, either add them to iTunes (if they are not duplicates) or delete them from the iTunes media folder.
I suggest first dumping them into a folder on your desktop before you actually trash them (in case they are not duplicates).

Advanced option in Preferences is stuck on iTunes Music Folder location

I recently had my drive with iTunes on it fail mechanically and data was restored on another drive by professionals. When I got my new drive back I had to tell iTunes where my iTunes data was and after I did so the top choice under advanced preferences was not how to import cds but is stuck with iTunes music folder location change or reset. I can't seem to change my import preference.

I don't know if this will help, because I simply SHARE a library (via wireless) from my main XP computer to my new Vista laptop. But I have discovered that everything needs to be fresh for Vista to load the library. By that I mean--you have to close down all open iTunes applications. Then re-open them on each machine--or in this case your server. Then try to get your Vista machine to load the library.
If I don't close and re-open everything, Vista tries for a few minutes to load the shared library and then it simply reverts back to nothing! It doesn't even see the shared library at this point--so further trouble-shooting is not possible.
I apologize if this isn't applicable to a server-shared library.

ITunes Music Folder Missing on external hard drive after changing iTunes Media Folder Location from MacBook Hard Drive. Not deleted...just missing?

I store my iTunes media folder on my external hard drive and can no longer find it there. It seemed to becomd lost after I re-designated the default iTunes media location. I had downloaded some things from iTunes without my external hard drive plugged in and when they downloaded they downloaded to the default location on my Macbook Pro. In recognizing that, I wanted to move those files from the hard drive on my MacBook Pro to the external hard drive. When I re-selected the location as the external hard drive a copy process began. I cancelled the copy process fearing the small number of files from my Macbook Pro would over-write all of the files on my external hard drive so I quit the copy process. Now I do not see my "iTunes Music" folder on my external hard drive. I fear that I have somehow lost the path but I believe the content is still on my external hard drive although I no longer see the "iTunes Music" folder on my external hard drive. I know I didn't delete it, but it isn't there. Is there a way to make it re-appear? I would really appreciate any guideance anyone has.
Thank you.
Best,
Matt

When you change the location in preferences it tells iTunes to start, from this point on, storing new media files in the new location. It then presents you with the option to move any old files in their current locations to the new location. It doesn't move the library files which are not media files. Read the links below to understand how iTunes works because you are the one with the computer in front of you and are in the better position to understand how it stands as regards to iTunes files.
What are the iTunes library files? - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1660
More on iTunes library files and what they do - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITunes#Media_management
What are all those iTunes files? - http://www.macworld.com/article/139974/2009/04/itunes_files.html
Where are my iTunes files located? - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1391
Now, did you keep the whole library on the external drive, or did you keep just media? From your description of the situation it sounds as if you kept the whole library there and when the external was not attached it returned to default location on the internal drive. What you should have done then was plug in the external drive, hold down the option key, and guide iTunes to the library file on the external. At this stage you could have dealt with the mislocated new files on an individual basis.
I guess the key question is, did your trying to move the couple of new media files to the external drive overwrite the iTunes folder there, which because you then canceled may have also just resulted in it being deleted. I am not going to test the theory on my system.
How big was your library on the external? If it was 40GB do you now suddenly have 40 GB free?
Look for any iTunes folders on the external drive. In view options turn on "calculate all folders sizes" and see if there are any big ones.

I imported a CD audio book into iTunes 11, searching says its there, but I cannot find it. It does appear in my iTunes music folder.

Using Audiobook builder I imported an audiobook CD into iTunes 11. I can see it in my iTunes music folder on the hard drive, searching in iTunes 11 says its there, but in either the albums or list, it does not appear. I have successfully imported many CDs using Audiobook Builder before, but with this particulary book I have this problem.
Any ideas anyone ?

The missing file 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.
At guess you've used a different profile name. Files inside the media folder have survied the transfer, but those outside are expected to be on the same absolute file paths, but no longer are.
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

'The folder path "C:" contains an invalid character.' ERROR AS I INSTALL iTunes

hi
first of all, merry xmas to all that celebrate! i hope you had/have a memorable day!
and wishing everyone the very best for the new year.
Now, I have a problem when I try to install iTunes on my computer. I'm running:
- Windows Vista (Home Basic)
- iTunes 10.5.2.11
i have sufficient hard-drive space and sufficient ram. its definetly NOT from that. I originially DID HAVE iTunes already installed on my computer, but I was frequently having problems with establishing a connection through my iPhone 4. So I thought it would be a good idea to delete it and try downloading a new version, then install it fresh!
I have some computer skills and knowledge, and i know how "most" things work and run. But now I am totally stuck. I run the iTunes software to be installed, but the installer keeps giving me an error message and NOT installing. I've done all the easy and required steps after I deleted the original version of iTunes from my computer, and now I need help from someone who really knows their stuff in IT and computer software. I have a feeling it may be a string of codes that are corrupt or significantly different to what they should be, but thats just my guess! cos like i already said, ive tried all the common fixes already but have been unsuccessful thus far. Some of the things I did were:
- Restart the computer, re-boot, login to Windows, run the iTunes installation
- Turn off the computer, wait 10 minutes, re-boot and then run the iTunes installation
- Delete ALL the "Apple" company software that was still installed on my computer (QuickTime, iPhone Utility, iPod, Bonjour, etc etc)
- Confirm my "User Account Control" is OFF
- Run the iTunes installation file from my secondary windows login account (which has "Administrator" privilages)
- Create a new windows login account, turn off the UAC (User Account Control protection), then try installing iTunes
- Run disk-error checks on my hard-drives incase there are missing/corrupt/misplaced files that needed repair
etc etc etc etc
Nothing worked! THIS BELOW IS EXACTLY THE PROBLEM I KEEP GETTING WHEN I DOUBLE-CLICK ON THE iTUNES INSTALLER:
- Double click on the iTunes install icon
- The "Trusted File Security Warning/Confirmation" window appears, requesting I confirm to Run or Cancel the software installation. I click on "Run"
- A horizontal grey bar appears in the middle of the screen, and quickly fills up green
- Then a small installation windows appears (Windows Installer) that writes "Preparing to Install". Then it very fast writes a couple different sentences (which is normal), specifically the sentences are "Performing installation checks" and "Checking spacing requirements".
- immedietly after the previous step, another window appears and I hear the "error" audio tone. The ERROR MESSAGE has the Yellow Triangle logo with an exclamation mark in the middle, and beside it displays the following text (and Ive attatched the screen shot too):
THE FOLDER PATH "C:" CONTAINS AN INVALID CHARACTER
then below this message theres the "OK" button which I have no choice but to click on. then the next window that appears is as follows (see screenshot), and it reads:
iTunes Installer Completed
The installer encountered errors before iTunes could be configured.
Errors occured during installation. Your system has not been modified.
Please run the installer again, or click Finish to exit
Please I beg you guys to help me, I will be extremely grateful for ALL and ANY advice/tips/assistance/solutions I receive. And would owe you one for sure!!
Please feel free to write your opinions and thoughts on what I could do different, as Ive used up all my knowledge regarding the matter, and have seriously hit a brick wall now.
Thanks so so so much, and once again I wish everyone the absolute very best!
regards.
PS. Replies can be posted in this thread, otherwise even sent to me via email if you wish to do otherwise. My email address is: [email protected]
cheers

Resolution:
Check for the existence of a hidden folder named %appdata% in the C:\Program Files\Microsoft Application Virtualization\Client folder. (You will need to un-check the folder options box in windows explorer for "Hide
protected operating system files" to see it)
If the hidden %appdata% folder exists, delete it.
Proceed to uninstall the App-V client
After a clean uninstall and removal of remnants of the client, reinstall the client again and apply the latest hotfix available (Hotfix 2 for SP2 at a minimum).

How can I change the folder path to my library

I just changed the file path to my locally stored music from C:\MyStuff\...\iPod Nano Music\... to C:\OneDrive\...\iPod Nano Music\...
Is there a way I can edit the path that Apple has locally stored to redirect iTunes to the new, correct location instead of (as I've had to do previously) deleting all the music files in iTunes and then adding each music folder back?
In Advanced Preferences the 'iTunes media folder location' shows as C:\Users\Mark\Music\iTunes\iTunes Media with an edit button. However this is not the location of all my music files (as indicated above).
Mark

If you want to move your media to a new path what you should do is edit the media folder preference in iTunes and then consolidate to that new path. Moving the media first by hand and then trying to fix iTunes is generally the wrong approach.
Your options are to move everything back where it came from, then consolidate to the new path, then delete the originals that iTunes leaves behind. Alternatively you should be able to use my FindTracks script to reconnect the relocated media to iTunes. See this post for an explanation of how it works.
See also Make a split library portable for reasons why splitting the media folder to a new path may be undesirable.
tt2

I am trying to download the latest iTunes update. Keep getting error message stating "The folder path 'My Documents' contains an invalid character". I can't uninstall iTunes for the same reason. HELP!

I am trying to download the latest iTunes update; keep getting error message that says "The folder path 'My Documents' contains an invalid character". This also happens when I try to uninstall iTunes. HELP!

OK, never mind! I saw another question on the right side that addressed the problem, and it worked perfectly! Went to Major Geeks' page, downloaded the Windows Installer Cleanup Utility, and was able to reinstall the updated version of iTunes! This community is super!

Install iTunes 10.4.1 install error - The Folder Path "File Name" contains an invalid character

Upgraded computer from XP Prof 32-Bit to Windows 7 Ultimate 64-Bit (Upgrade package, performed Custom Install).
Attempt to install iTunes 10.4.1 for 64-Bit. Receiving the following error/problem:
The Folder Path "File Name on my external drive" contains an invalid character
I click ok and then get this:
The Installer encountered errors before iTunes could be configured. Errors occurred during installation. Your system could not be modified, Please run the installer again, or click Finish to exit.
Any fixes for this?

Sorry, one of us is not managing to be clear enough.
Does the message read The Folder Path "File Name on my external drive" contains an invalid character or perhaps The Folder Path "<some path name here>" contains an invalid character?
If so, then the problem might be just what it says it is with the path name in question... Either way if you list the path given in the error message in a reply to this thread it might provide a clue for anyone tying to help with the problem.
You could try downloading the installer to C:\iTunesSetup.exe in case that helps.
tt2

ITunes Media Folder location can't be changed in Advanced Settings

I used to keep the iTunes Media Folder on an external hard drive. Now I copied the iTunes folder to the default location on my local hard drive. Once I changed the folder location in the Advanced Settings to the default settings everything worked fine for a week. Suddenly iTunes can no longer find the files unless I connect my old external hard drive. Reveal in Finder shows that iTunes is still looking at the old folder location despite the change to the local hard disk location in Advanced Settings. I tried changing the Advanced Settings folder locations back and forth but iTunes keeps pointing to the old external hard drive. Software Update is up to date. What can I do? Thanks.

I just looked at the "iTunes Music Library.xml" file with TextEdit. There are references to the external hard drive everywhere. It appears that the path to the iTunes Media folder just does not reflect the location selected in Advanced Settings.

Itunes / audio folder path change question

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