Lost all playlists and purchases !!!

Hi,
New to forum and urgently need a really experienced person to help with this.
I recently upgraded to Windows 8 and have had no end of problems with my computer since. Anyway, have restored most files but my iTunes has been playing up BIG TIME! Have un-installed / re-installed / un-installed again and so forth...
Having thought I had lost all of my files (even after backing up!) I managed to finally restore everything today (after nearly a week of perserverence) including losing all of my playlists (which I somehow manged to find of sorts...some tracks missing from own compiliations for some reason??)
So, computer has nearly gone through the window having restored all 300 + albums / artworks etc and dragged all music across to playlists from Music file only for iTunes to close all of a sudden and when I re-opened all my playlists have vanished and the album covers remain but with no images! Also this time round my purchases have disappeared from my Purchases Folder...very bizarre.
Have dragged library back across and album covers replaced, but still cannot find orginal playlists and their contents anywhere on my computer or external drive...
Can someone please, please, please tell me how I can restore all of my playlists as they were. Can't even seem to find on my external drive now which they were backed up to yet i manged to find only yesterday...it's like I have a gremlin...have run a full system check and no bugs or anything detected.
HELP!!!! Have spent toooooo much time trying to resolve this and now getting desperate...
A step by step guide would be really appreciated ;-)

Hi, dynammyke75.
Although your iTunes Library display is empty, your song files are probably still on your hard drive.
So the first thing you want to do is to confirm whether or not that is the case. Have a look at this article in the Apple Knowledge Base for some ideas on how to find them, changing file extensions in the search as is necessary (i.e. .mp3 or .m4a.)

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You might have had a damaged 'iTunes Library' file.
Look in ./Users/Username/Music/iTunes to see if such a file exists.
Unfortunately these damaged files cannot be repaired.
iTunes tries to restore as much information as possible, but some information is lost.
Your missing 2000 tunes probably still are on your HD.
To add these again to the library, drop the 'iTunes Music' folder (in ./Users/Username/Music/iTunes) on the library window in iTunes.
iTunes will now add the missing songs to the library again.
If all goes well, your library will now list the 6200 songs.
Concerning your iPod. I think it's best to start from scratch.
If your iPod is set to automatically update, connect your iPod and immediately press and hold the Command and Option keys. Hold these keys down until the iPod appears in iTunes.
Holding these keys prevents the iPod from auto updating.
Then restore your iPod and set it up the way you want.
Your 'Purchased' playlist will re-appear on your next purchase.
In the meantime you can create a Smart Playlist with the rule:
Kind - contains - protected
This playlist will then list all your purchases.
After the Purchased playlist re-appears, it will only list new purchases. If you want it to contain all purchases, drag the songs from the Smart Playlist to the 'Purchased' playlist.
Or just forget the 'Purchased' playlist and use the 'Smart Playlist' to view your purchases.
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Perhaps the upgrade reset the iTunes Music Folder location?
Edit -> Prefs -> Advanced tab -> General
If you know the location of your songs see if its changed. If you know the name of one of your songs, search your PC? for that song name. That should show you the location of the file. That location should be in the General tab above.
What about your account info, did that get reset? Can you still sign on?
Store -> Sign In.
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Help!
The other day I closed my iTunes program and it was working perfectly. I came back a few minutes later and re-opened it, only to find that all my playlists, purchases, everything had been deleted! All that is left is a library of songs about 3 years old. None of my activity (i.e. loaded songs, albums, purchases, etc.) since then is on there anymore.
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It sounds like something has happened to your iTunes Library files - default location C:\Documents and Settings\User Name\My Documents\My Music\iTunes - which in addition to telling iTunes where the actual song files are located also contain playlist and related information.
If you don't have a back-up copy of the last "good" .itl file - which would restore your Library - there are a few options for you to consider:
1) Search your computer for any and all of the .itl files it contains. Each .itl may contain references to a significantly, or completely, different library and following the steps described in this article in the Apple Knowledge Base, you can check them and may be able to reconnect iTunes with the particular Library that you're looking for. Close iTunes for a half minute or so before restarting it each time you want to choose a different library file.
At this stage, skip any of the .itl files located in the Previous iTunes Libraries folder ... We'll get back to those, if necessary, in Step 3).
2) You can rebuild your Library with the procedure outlined in this article in the Apple Knowledge Base.
You will lose some of your playlist related information (playcounts, dates added, dates last played, etc.) - but will retain most of it (ratings, comments, etc.) - with this method. The actual contents of the Library should be up-to-date.
3) If you don't like the idea of losing the playcounts and such, have a look at this Knowledge Base article for one other option.
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