My iTunes library shows all music but there is an exclamation mark to the left on all entries and there is a message stating "original file could not be found" although all music is on the iPad.

The massage means what it says. iTunes can't find the actual music files. All iTunes has is a database of where the files should be and they are not there.
Try:
- iTunes: Finding lost media and downloads
- Redownloading iTunes purchases by:
Downloading past purchases from the App Store, iBookstore, and iTunes Store

Similar Messages

When I try to play 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 restore the file?

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 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.

HT1386 When I sync my i-phone with my pc, will it pull audio from my phone to my i-tunes on my pc? My problem is I have songs on my pc that will not play - the message says "original file could not be found"... They play on my phone.

I am not sure if the synching will pull the audio from my phone and replace the 'not working' files on my i-tunes, or if it will replace the working audio on my phone with the non-functioning audio on my pc.
Thanks for any insight...

No it won't. You are getting that message because those song are no longer in your my music folder and itunes doesn't know where to look for the file.

"Original file could not be found" DELETED MY MUSIC!!!

I am so mad right now... I really will never buy a product from Apple again -- such bad service! It is so hard to get a number when you finally get one they aren't open 24hrs. There is no one to e-mail. In other words no way to get help when you need it!
So here is my story - I get an I-pod Nano for my mother as a birthday gift (thinking it would be a good thing) - oh I was so wrong! We only have one computer in the house so when I try to install it - they tell me I need to download itunes 7 or something. So I do that and when I do that guess what - A lot (most) of the songs I had are deleted. It is supposed to be a better system but it doesn't look like it is. How in the world can most of my songs be deleted when I had them on my old Itunes and listened to them all the time! And I also still have the songs on my Ipod, I am even skeptical to plug my Ipod into the computer because I may lose all my songs.
Hopefully apple will be courteous enough to give me a solution to this huge problem.
Does anyone know what can be done? Can I get my old Itunes back with all my songs? Can I convert my songs in my old Ipod back to Itunes.
I am fuming right now... I don't think I have ever been so mad before....
Windows XP Hopefully apple will be courteous enough to give me a solution to this huge problem.

Well if anyone is having this problem - I have found a solution of course not through Apple but through copyPod a paid ($19.95) program but it is so worth it! Since Apple can't help!

ITunes message "the original file could not be found"

I recently consolidated my music files to an external hard drive using the "consolidate" feature in iTunes. I imported the music library files and everything seemed to be good. I even did it a second time on to another external hard drive that I back up my entire computer to so that I actually had two copies of my music. At the time I checked that I could access the music on either hard drive by picking the library on that respect external unit with the other drive turned off. Both units were disconnected from the computer for several days and when I went to play iTunes I get the message that "the original file could not be found". It doesn't matter which hard drive library I try to access the result is the same.
I have exported the library text file to Access and there is no information in the "Location" column. It would appear that this information was not saved or lost somehow. The tech article on "Recreating the iTunes Library file" didn't work as iTunes stated the same thing, "the original file could not be found".
All my music is still there, iTunes library file just lost the information as to the location of the individual files. Anybody know of a way or a program to reestablish those locations with out going through 10,000 songs one by one to reestablish its location?
HP Windows XP

I am having some difficulty understanding exactly what set up your have and are you on iTunes 7? You don’t need to use consolidate to get your library onto an external drive if you are on 7, there is an easier way.
There are two important considerations, the location of the library files and the location of the iTunes Music folders. You have iTunes Music folders on two different external drives, but what about the library files – iTunes Library.itl and iTunes Music Library.xml?
Do you have those on the internal drive in My Music\iTunes, or do you have separate copies on the two external drives in iTunes folders there? Something like
X:\Music\iTunes\ containing the libraries and X:\Music\iTunes\iTunes Music for the music files.
The more precise information about how you have things set up the better, and what is the location of your iTunes Music folder as set in Edit>Preferences>Advanced>General.
What method were you using to try to connect to the music on the two drives, and do they always have the same drive letters?
In general terms you get exclamation marks against your tracks for the following reasons:
The song file or a folder in its path was renamed
The song file or the folder it is in has been moved
The song file has been deleted
The device containing the song files e.g. external drive is not accessible

Getting error message when trying to play songs from library saying original file could not be found

when trying to play songs from library, getting message saying original file could not be found .. my full library all says the same .. can anyone help ?

Hello Ceeclass,
I suggest this article named iTunes: Finding lost media and downloads found here http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1408.
It should help you locate the media that is not playing in the iTunes library.
Take care,
Sterling

The Movie could not be used because the original file could not be found

The message " the movie could not be used because the original file could not be found" comes up when i try the play certain movies, ive not deleted them or anything and will still play bacause they are also saved in my movies and work with windows media,
any ideas what i may have done
Thanks

This kind of error, with anything iTunes uses, happens when someone moves the origonal file. I whould sugest deleteing the files tat are having this problem from iTunes only, then adding them back from where the files are.

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.

ITunes tells me "Could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?" I can locate it and all my other music, but can only open one song at a time. How do I set it to open all my music whenever I want it?

iTunes tells me my song selection: "Could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?" I can locate it and all my other music, but can only open one song at a time. How do I set it to open all my music whenever I want?
Message was edited by: Woildbill

I just spent several hours dealing with this when switching to a new PC. It was extremely frustrating as I knew my files were on my external HD but no matter how many times I copied my old iTunes folder over the files were still missing...because dummy me had forgotten to "unhide folders" on my new PC and my old files were actually stored in a hidden folder created long long ago.
This is how I did it on Windows 7 with iTunes 10
1. Look in iTunes Advanced Preferences to see where iTunes is saving files. (Edit, Preferences, Advanced)
Example: C:/Users/Woildbill/My Music/iTunes/Music
2. Ensure you are able to see hidden files - Control Panel, Folder Option, View, Show Hidden Files
3. Use Your Computer's Search Function to Locate the Missing File (Start, Search, type name of song - I started my search in "My Music" folder but be sure to expand to entire Computer if not found right away)
4. In Search Results, right-click found folder and select properties. This will tell you where the file is actually stored.
5. Use Windows Explorer (right-click start) to navigate to the location of the file. It is likley your other missing files are in the same location.
6. In Windows Explorer, copy the newly located files to the iTumes location from Step 1 and everything should work again.
Hope this helps!

Recently got a new computer and installed itunes from external drive - all music shows up in the library, however when i click on a song i receive this message "the song could not be used because the original file could not be found". What do i do?

I recently got a new computer and installed itunes from which had been saved onto an external drive - all music shows up in the library, however when I click on a song I receive this message "the song "abc" could not be used because the original file could not be found". What can I do?

I was given the option to locate the file where the song is held. If so select "locate" and direct it to the folder / file where the song is and open it. itunes then will give you the option to use this process to update all of your library. OK that as this will do it automatically instead of doing them one by one. I hope this helps.
Martin

There are about 8 songs in a playlist on itunes that are listed in the playlist but cannot be transferred to my ipod because it states: "..the original file could not be found." When I try to locate the song I get a list of the different music librar

There are about 8 songs on a playlist that are listed in the playlist library but when I try to transfer them to the playlist, it states that they can't be transferred because the original file could not be found. Then it asks, do you want to locate the file but when I try that I get a few libraries but am not sure how to locate the particular songs. Some of the songs were purchased and some were transferred from a CD. I have seen the same question asked on the help page but haven't found an answer.
Thanks.

Hi dones49,
It sounds like your issue here is that iTunes can not find the files for some of the songs you have brought into it. This happens occasionally even if the songs have not been moved from the location that iTunes places them on import or purchase. When you try to use the song, iTunes prompts you to find the file, as you have seen.
To find the file, use the information in this article to navigate through the iTunes media folders -
Locate and organize your iTunes files
If you are still unable to locate the files, you may need to download them from the iTunes store again, or rip them from your CDs. See this article for assistance with downloading your past purchases -
Download past purchases
Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.
Best,
Brett L

HT1923 I am using windows 7 and have upgraded itunes to 11. Now when I open my music library in itunes and click on a song it says "original file could not be found" Over 2000 songs come up this way and locate does not seem to work. Before the upgrade all

With Windows 7 I upgraded itunes to 11. Now in my itunes library, when I click on a song "original file could not be found" comes up. This happens with over 2000 songs, but it seems to be ones I recorded from cd's. Locate does not seem to work. Has anyone else had this problem?

Highlight a song that is supposedly missing, press CTRL+I to Get Info, say no when asked to locate the file, then look at the summary tab. Where does iTunes "think" the file should be? Where is it really? You may need to give a configuration file a minor tweak.
tt2

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". need help

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 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

My iTunes library shows all music but there is an exclamation mark to the left on all entries and there is a message stating "original file could not be found" although all music is on the iPad.

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for