Less destructive fix for the "original file could not be found" issue

+(Note: this is mostly a copy of the post I just submitted in reply to http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=6785594#6785594)+
Most solutions to the "The song xxx could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?" issue involve deleting iTunes library files, deleting-then-re-importing everything from iTunes, and other destructive techniques. I found an easier fix for this, but it might be (a) specific to libraries on a network drive (NAS) or (b) specific to me. YMMV, but give it a try. This was on a Mac, so a Windows solution might exist with the same technique. Please post here and let me know if this works for you!
After some investigating and trial-and-error, I discovered that if I viewed a list of songs in Finder, iTunes could find the files again. For example:
*Double click on a song in iTunes and get the "original file could not be found..." error. Do not say 'Yes' to locating it.
*Open Finder and locate that Folder of songs
*Double-click on another song from that album. It should work.
So, my fix: *run a command that lists/touches every file in your iTunes music folder.*
For Macs:
*Open Terminal
*Run this: *ls -R /Path/To/Your/iTunes\ Music \Folder/* (note how you 'escape' spaces in the folder name with back-slashes).
Windows:
*Start - Run - cmd
*Run this: dir /s \Path\To\Your\"iTunes Music Folder" (note that you escape spaces by quoting the dir name.)
My NAS is named "VAULT" so my command was "ls -R /Volumes/VAULT/My\ Music/" You will see the files being listed at light speed -- ignore this. It will run for a while, depending on how many files you have, about 30 seconds for me. After executing this I could listen to any music file in iTunes!
But, every time I lost my connection to my NAS, such as waking from sleep mode, I had to run it again. So I created an Automator application and a Apple Script to run it from within iTunes so I can run it any time I need to. If you don't want to do that, just run the command I specified. If you want to download my Automator app, or see instructions on how to create your own, check out my blog post: http://40withegg.com/2008/3/8/mac-attack-making-itunes-find-those-original-files -especially-on-a-nas
With any luck, my post will be *completely unnecessary* soon because Apple will find a real solution to this.

Jeffe hello,
I have seen more problems created by the consolidate command than I have ever seen fix things... I'm not saying it does not work but what it does do and what it does not is very hard to work out for most and major problems are the result...
to sort your problem do this...
1. Open your iTunes folder in the Home Music folder and make a backup copy of the iTunes Library file and put on the desktop.
2. Start iTunes and in the Library sort on the Heading 'Date added' ... you may need to install it... control/click on heading-bar and select from popup menu.
3. When you have sorted scroll to half way and you will see the songs are split evenly... select the ones you want to remove with a shift/click and hit delete key... say no about move to trash for now.
4. Check that everything is as you want it... if so carry on... if not come back and tell me what happened.
5. Quit iTunes and put the iTunes Library file in the iTunes folder in a safe place like your Documents folder... drag the copy from desktop and put it in the iTunes folder.
6. Check the name is correct on the 'copy' edit it to be iTunes Library.
7. Start iTunes by double/clicking on the file and go through steps 2 & 3 again but this time when you delete say yes about move to trash... don't empty it yet 1st check that all is OK with your library.
You can edit the good files that you are left with but the addition of '01' in the name will not have any adverse effect on them at all... editing with an Applescript is very easy.
take care Jeffe and let's know how you get on or if you run into any unforeseen problems ... TP

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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? Thank you.

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.

This is a new notification coming up with iTunes, why and how do I fix it? The song "Penny Lane" could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?

This is a new notification coming up with iTunes, why and how do I fix it?
The song “Penny Lane” could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?
Max

Hey xxCreepyFiaxx,
First, I would try the following suggested steps for when you don't see content in iTunes after updating:
Quit iTunes.
Download and install the latest version of iTunes.
Use the Finder (Mac) or Windows Explorer (Windows) to go to the iTunes folder that contains the iTunes library files:
Mac OS X
/Users/username/Music/iTunes/
Microsoft Windows Windows XP and Windows 2000
\Documents and Settings\username\My Documents\My Music\iTunes\
Microsoft Windows Windows Vista and Windows 7
\Users\username\Music\iTunes\
Drag the iTunes Library file from the above location to the Desktop.
Open the Previous iTunes Libraries folder in the iTunes folder.
Locate the file named iTunes Library YYYY-MM-DD where YYYY-MM-DD is the date you upgraded iTunes (Year-Month-Day).
Drag this file to the iTunes folder (the enclosing folder).
Rename this file to iTunes Library.
Open iTunes.
You should now see your missing content in iTunes.
via: No content shows up in iTunes after updating
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1967
If that doesn't resolve the issue, then I'd go through the steps in here:
iTunes: Finding lost media and downloads
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1408
Have a good one,
Delgadoh

I have a new hard drive as my old one crashed. Everything seemed to transfer fine except for my entire iTunes library. It shows all of my old songs, but when I click on one it states "the song could not be used as the original file could not be found

I have a new hard drive as my old one crashed. Everything seemed to transfer fine except for my entire iTunes library. It shows all of my old songs, but when I click on one it states "the song could not be used as the original file could not be found.would you like to locate it".
Either how do I locate it, and I've tried every trick I know, or how do I restore all of my songs from one of two sources. I have my old hard drive backedup on an external drive which should have all of my songs, and I have most of my songs on my old iPhone 3S which I'm using as a backup iPod.

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, one of its parent folders, or 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. In the case of a library moved from one system to another there are also potential permissions issues. See Repair security permissions for iTunes for Windows.
Select a track with an exclamation mark, use Ctrl-I to Get Info, then click No when asked to try to locate the track. (Due to a bug in iTunes 12 you currently have to say No twice!) 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, a folder renamed, or a drive letter has changed, it should be possible to reverse the actions. If the difference between the two paths is an additional Music folder in one path then this is a layout issue. I can explain further if that is the case.
In some cases iTunes may be able to repair itself if you go through the same steps with Get Info but this time click Locate and browse to the lost track. It may then offer to attempt to automatically fix other broken links.
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.
See also Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device.
tt2

HT1933 I bought six songs using my itunes gift card in February but I cannot play the songs or downlaod them to my ipod because I get an error saying the original file could not be found. I have used the gift card previously with no issue. How do I fix

I bought six songs using my itunes gift card in February but I cannot play the songs or downlaod them to my ipod because I get an error saying the original file could not be found. I have used the gift card previously with no issue. How do I fix it?

Have you moved or deleted those tracks on your computer (the gift card has got nothing to do with it) ?
You might be able to re-download them via the Purchased link under Quick Links on the right-hand side of the iTunes store home page on your computer's iTunes (re-downloading isn't possible in all countries) - if those songs appear there then delete the entries from your iTunes library (where you are clicking on them to play them and gettinf the 'original file' error), and they should then get a cloud symbol against them for re-downloading.
If they don't appear in that link then have you got them on, for example, an external drive ?

When I try to play a song it says " The song "Take a Chance on Me" Could not be used because the original file could not be found" how do I fix this?

When I try to play a song it says " The song "Take a Chance on Me" Could not be used because the original file could not be found" how do I fix this?

1. delete this songs from your liblary
2. go File -> Add File to Liblary... (Ctrl+O) or File -> Add Folder to Liblary

After installing iTunes 10.5 update i get the following message when trying to play any song in my Library "The song could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?" how do i fix this??

I have an iPod Classic and work on Windows 7.
i recently installed iTunes 10.5 update and since then i cannot play any of the songs in the Library - i get the following message
"The song could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?"
what happened to all my songs (almost 2000) How can i get them back into my music library?
Please help - i do not want to spend another week downloading all my cd's onto my computer !!!!!

Try my script FindTracks. Select a few of the missing files to start with then run the script. Choose No at the first prompt so that you can check how it works track by track, then confirm or edit the location of the media folder where your files are. Once you are happy with how it behaves let it process larger numbers of tracks automatically.
tt2

"The song could not be used because the original file could not be found"

Hello,
I purchased the new iPhone 3G 16gb White on friday afternoon at the local AT&T store(they were all sold out,of course),so i went ahead and ordered it for gauranteed delivery within 7 to 10 days.It says to be sure and sync you're old iPhone once more before coming back to AT&T to have the iPhone 3G set up to be installed and turned on.
So i figured i would upgrade my iTunes to 7.7 and upgrade the software to 2.0 before i get my new phone,that way i will be ready when it comes in.
I was just doing what the apple website said to do and went ahead and tried to upgrade to iTunes 7.7,which worked out good,EXCEPT that now all the music has an exclamation point next to it and nothing will play because the original file could not be found.I know i'm not the first here to have this problem,but i cant find a post that explains what procedure i need to do to fix it so i can play my music on iTunes again.
I have my iTunes music folder located on an external hard drive (Drive i ). It used to be Drive H,but i plugged in an SD Memory card into the front panel of my computer tower and now my external hard drive is recognized as being on Drive i. How could that have changed?
I have it on a 500 gb external drive,because my C & D drives are both almost filled up and i wouldn't have enough room to put all my cd's into iTunes if they were on those drives.
I have an iPod Classic 160gb that i want to fill once i get all my cd's into itunes.
Anyways,when it asked me what drive to put iTunes under when i was installing it,i chose the "i" drive.That is where my iTunes music folder is located with almost 10 gigs of music in it.
But now when i go to play anything it wont play as it can't locate the music.
Sorry for rambling on so much.Just trying to explain,in detail,what my setup is so someone with knowledge can instruct me as to what to do to fix it.
Thank's for the help ahead of time,
Dan

I am getting this same message. I recently bought a new Macbook Pro and the geeks transferred my files from my mini-mac. Perhaps they did not transfer something critical? I follow the "locate" option when it asks to find my files and I get a file folder that has a red circle with a white bar in the middle.
I have the same issues with my downloaded movies but my apps all seem to be fine.
Even more confusing - it seems to allow random songs to play and download on my Macbook and other devices. But most of my music - whether downloaded from iTunes or my CD collection comes up with that message about the original file.
Should I get new geeks to locate these files on my old mini-mac?

The TV show could not be used because the original file could not be found

"The TV show “Blah-blah ep.23” could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?"
I know this problem is listed (and unanswered) from quite a few users in the forums for song files, but I haven’t found any that mention TV shows. To add to the heap, and help emphasize to iTunes that this is a major bug in need of fixing, here is my version of this problem.
I have a variety of season passes to TV shows that normally download on almost a daily basis (The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, for example). About once every four or five downloads iTunes decides to silently delete a file. No warning given, no chance to stop it, just gone. ITunes downloads the file (clearly seen in the process in the Downloads part of the Store menu) and then lists the file under its correct menu in the TV Shows Library section (with the correct amount of MB listed for the file). I usually watch the episode right after I download it (with no problems), but of course I have left episodes unwatched when I shut iTunes down.
On the next startup of iTunes, I go in to watch an old episode again or click on an unwatched episode, but it isn’t there anymore and the old “would you like to locate it?” message pops up. After being through this at least a dozen times in the last year, I know there is no point in looking for the file because it’s gone. The only choice is to go into iTunes support and ask them to reset the download, which they’ve always done without question, and then I have to download the file all over again. This is a huge hassle and all the more frustrating because it happens so irregularly.
I’ve tried to find answers in these discussion forums, but have been unable to see any reasonable solution and wish to add to the voices of annoyed paying customers in the hope something will be done. If anyone is interested, the bizarre and time consuming workaround I’ve had to employ is:
1. As soon as any of my TV shows are downloaded, I stop whatever I’m doing to go grab the file out of iTunes’ folder and move it to a location where iTunes can’t get its grubby little silent deleting hands on it.
2. On the next shutdown-startup cycle, I can then go back and move the file back into its correct location in the iTunes TV Shows subfolders and I’ll never have a problem again with THAT particular file being deleted.
Of course, the problem with this solution is that it’s painfully annoying to have to do it every time. I get lazy, iTunes seems to get its evil deleting ways under control and downloads all seem to work again. That is, until they don’t and the issue mysteriously returns with files being picked off anew and I have to return to these forums in the hope of finally finding out why this is happening. After more than a year and two or three iTunes version updates, it’s the problem that just won’t die.
Anyone?

Yes, only TV shows. I've never had a random silent delete of a song file. I also considered that Windows might be blocking the file to save space, but with no limitations set in the control panel that isn't the problem either. In fact, I've only had this problem with season pass downloads. It's never happened with a single download of a video or TV episode.
Tonight, when I downloaded my Daily Show episode, I really kept tabs on what the heck iTunes is up to during the process. As many know, iTunes creates a folder called Downloads during the download process. Inside that folder, a video file gets downloaded as “download.m4v” along with another Qtime info file. When the download is complete, iTunes is supposed to use the info file to identify and tag the download.m4v file and then move it over into its correct artist subfolder with the correct file name.
The problem, I discovered tonight in watching this process, is that iTunes (for mysterious reasons) does not do the relabel/move step with some of the downloads and leaves the files in situ as download.m4v in the download file. Additionally, in the iTunes software you can click on the file (correctly labeled and appearing, as I said in the first post, under the correct TV show banner) and watch it one time. However, after shutting down and restarting (and this is where the evil happens) iTunes will delete all files in the Download subfolder as part of a cleanup process. I suppose because it assumes that those files were correctly relabeled and copied into the corresponding TV show folders. So, there is the reason for the loss of downloaded video files (in my case).
There appears to be no way of knowing, from within iTunes, when the file has been correctly copied over to its corresponding folder and when it hasn’t and remains in the Bermuda Download Folder of Death. Again, I have to go into that folder each time (before shutting iTunes down) to make sure the move took place. If it didn’t, then I have to make a copy of the download file and place it outside that folder.
Finally, since this only happens occasionally, I’m wondering if it doesn’t have something to do with the way the info file is being tagged and labeled prior to being made available to download. However, if that were the case then the problem would be happening to lots of users and I would have expected a lot more complaints in the forums.
By the way, I’m not big on fidgeting with any of iTunes folders or settings. It hasn’t been the case where the downloads were fine, I made some goofy change to the folder structure and then it doesn’t work. I haven’t fiddled with the settings for months, but all of the sudden this issue starts to appear and can just as easily disappear in the following week’s downloads.
Still seeking answers or advice.
Cheers.

'The song "xyz" could not be used because the original file could not be found.

I am quite new to iTunes so please excuse me if the questions seem daft
I have recently changed my default iTunes Media folder location from my local C:\ drive to my home network storage device
(my PC is permanently mapped to this NAS storgae drive)
Now When I go to play a song in itunes I get the message 'The song "xyz" could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it"
Looking in the new iTunes Media folder, I can see the following folders and they are mostly empty:
Automatically Add to iTunes
Downloads
Mobile Applications
Music
Note that I have music that I bought from iTunes and music from other sources \ given to me by friends
Questions:
(1) How do I get all my music back into this new iTunes Media folder?
(2) Exactly which files contain my music? (I ask because we have 2 or 3 libraries that I wish to consolidate into 1 master Library for us all)
If I know exactly which files are required I can delete any other files cluttering up my storage and PC

Changing the media folder path tells iTunes where to put new media that is ripper or purchased. It may offer to consolidate to the new location when you make the edit, if not iTunes will expect existing content to remain on the original path.
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, one of its parent folders, or 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 click No when asked to try to locate the track. (Due to a bug in iTunes 12 you currently have to say No twice!) 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, a folder renamed, or a drive letter has changed, it should be possible to reverse the actions. If the difference between the two paths is an additional Music folder in one path then this is a layout issue. I can explain further if that is the case.
In some cases iTunes may be able to repair itself if you go through the same steps with Get Info but this time click Locate and browse to the lost track. It may then offer to attempt to automatically fix other broken links.
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.
For more background on the typical layout of the iTunes library see Make a split library portable.
1) It depends on exactly what you have done to break things.
2) Your media files are where you put them, or where iTunes copies them to when they are added to the library. If multiple libraries use the same set of media folders there can be problems if edits in one library cause content to be moved as the other libraries will no longer see those tracks on the original path, and won't know to look in a new one.
tt2

When selecting a song to play in iTunes, I get an error message indicating the song could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it. I have no idea where to look since the library hold all my files.

When selecting a song to play from iTunes library, I continually get an error message indicating the original file could not be found. Then asks, would you like to locate it? Does anyone know how to fix this? I'm not even able to play the songs I purchased due to this error message. Any ideas how to remedy this problem?
Thanks

It would help to have more background about your iTunes collection such as if you keep it on an external drive, or if you have moved or renamed anything recently. iTunes is very sensitive to you renaming or moving files or folders involved with your media. iTunes only keeps a reference to where a media file is located and then goes to look for it when you try to play it. If you have changed things since it was added to itunes then it's like me sending you to look for a friend in my addressbook but that friend has moved.
The other possibility is your computer is starting to lose files. Again, the computer uses a reference database to tell it where on the drive to look for a file. If that database gets corrupt then it starts losing files. Use Dsk Utility's first aid to verify your hard drive.

I cannot play music from my library on either my external drive or my laptop - keep getting same message "___ song (all of them) could not be used because the original file could not be found. I have tried changing the path in prefernces many times.

I cannot play music from my libray on either my external drive or my laptop. I keep getting the same message - "___ song (all of them) could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?" I have changed the path several times under preferences and it still won't recognize any songs from either my laptop hard drive or my external drive. I can't play any music at all.

I think I've fixed this on my machine. If you look in the ITunes folder there is a subfolder called Previous iTunes Libraries. In my case for some reason this contained the one which had always worked and a new one was in the main folder. I closed iTunes, deleted the new one, and moved the old one back to the main folder, then opened iTunes. It then rebuilt the library and it plays correctly. Hope it works for you.

The song could not be found because the original file could not be found!

PLEASE HELP!! When I try to play certain songs (most of them), I get a box that says "The song xxxx could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it? When I tell it to locate, it pops open another window with various options, but never takes me to the song itself. I believe one of you helped me a couple of years ago with the same problem and I seem to recall it was a relatively easy fix. Please help! I miss my music!

Hello amit123amit,
Take a look at this aricle, it should help you locate your media.
iTunes: Finding lost media and downloads
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1408
If needed you can also download your purchases again for free from the iTunes Store with this article
Downloading past purchases from the App Store, iBookstore, and iTunes Store
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2519
If you use Time Machine to backup your computer you can use it to restore your iTunes folder back to before the content went missing.
Mac Basics: Time Machine
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1427
All the very best,
Sterling

I keep getting The song could not be used because the original file could not be found

When trying to play a song from my itunes
I keep getting The song ?? could not be used because the original file could not be found
then the option to Locate or Cancel
If I click on Locate I have No idea what to click on next.
Plus I have way too much music to go through each file.
I tried an update today 3/19/15 that had no effect on this issue.
Thanks for any kind of help I'm not super tech savvy.

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, one of its parent folders, or 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 click No when asked to try to locate the track. (Due to a bug in iTunes 12 you currently have to say No twice!) 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, a folder renamed, or a drive letter has changed, it should be possible to reverse the actions. If the difference between the two paths is an additional Music folder in one path then this is a layout issue. I can explain further if that is the case. Either way with both paths I can give further advice.
In some cases iTunes may be able to repair itself if you go through the same steps with Get Info but this time click Locate and browse to the lost track. It may then offer to attempt to automatically fix other broken links.
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.
See also Getting iTunes & Windows Media Player to play nicely.
tt2

I can't play any of my music, it says the song could not be used because the original file could not be found.

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.

Less destructive fix for the "original file could not be found" issue

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