"Original file could not be found" - exclamation point next to song

All of a sudden there are exclamation points in the very left hand column of the iTunes list next to some of the songs in my library. When I try to play these songs, it says "The song _ could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?"
Why is this happening? How do I make it stop? Do I have to re-upload every song one by one from my hard drive? Ack!

no idea why this happens, but the easiest way to solve this is to go to +edit/add folder+/ and find the folder in your itunes music files that contains the album and select it. you might now have duplicates, so just ctrl-select the songs with exclamation marks and you'll have only the ones you just reimported.
zk

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Original file could not be found when I click on song

I had to restore my hard drive but had everything backed up. But I don't remember the exact directory it was in to point the Itunes library to. How can I find this previous link to the songs? When I right click on the song it doesn't show any previous address.

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

I'm getting exclaimation points on all my songs "This song could not be use because the original file could not be found."?

I'm etting an exclaimation after every song on my music library"this song could not be used because the original file could not be found"?

If all these songs with exclamation are within the same folder, you can do a one time fix:
Double click a song with ! mark on side, you will be given an option to locate the file where the song is held. 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 want to play songe in itunes bur all i get i "song could not be used because original file could not be found"

i want to play songe in itunes bur all i get i "song could not be used because original file could not be found"i want to play songe in itunes bur all i get i "song could not be used because original file could not be found"

but they are on my phone and play

I have movies in my movie library but i cannot play them or drag them into my ipod.There is an exclamation point next to each of them.Then when i click on it to play it it says the movie cannot be used because the original file could not be found.

I have movies in my i tunes library but i canot play them or drag them into my i pod.There is an exclamation point each of them.Then when i click on them to play them on my pc it says this movie cannot be used because the original file could not be found.Help?

Read threads list over on the right under the heading of More Like This
Allan

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?

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.

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.

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

"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?

Error code; original file could not be found, would you like to locate it?

when i try to transfer songs from my library to my ipod shuffle, i get this error message (error code; original file could not be found, would you like to locate it?). Then an exclamation point(!) in the first column it appears next to the song in the library.
When i go to the folder mymusic/itunes/itunesmusic folder, the song is there, but why is there an exclamation point next to the song in the library? And how do I restore all these songs, and what causes this?

Sounds like your iTunes .ITL library file got corrupted.
What are the iTunes library files?
There are some posts around here by Buegie on how to fix that...

My iTunes account sayscould not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it? whenever i click on a song and i didn't move the songs anywhere. I don't know if i saved them to my hard drive so i can't find any songs

I downloaded something that was told to me to get to put some of my itunes songs onto my android phone. I think it synced my account, though. Whenever i click on a song an exclamation point comes up and something pops up and says "could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?" and i don't remember ever backing up my songs (this computer is fairly new) and now none of my songs come up. I have no idea what to do but ive spent hundreds of dollars on this account purchasing from the itunes store. Please help me!

Tunes works through a database file which has a list of your tracks. When you click on a track it looks up in the database which file it needs to play, then plays the file. If something breaks this link then you get ! The two main ways to get ! are to move a file from where iTunes expects it to be, or to delete it altogether. I don't know which has happened in your case. You can try using Spotlight to find a file for the one referred to in a broken link. If the files have been moved then they need to be moved back. If they were deleted completely you will have to restore them from a backup or download them again from the iTunes Store and rebuild your library.

"Original file could not be found" (until re-launch)...?

Howdy,
I run the most recent iTunes, and the most recent version of iPhone software under XP Pro, SP3.
After I sync the phone, iTunes displays my music with bangs (exclamation points) next to perhaps 10% of the tunes. (If, I click "sync" and then immediately click on Music, I can see the bangs appear, all at once...)
If I attempt to play one of those tunes, I get an error telling me that the tune could not be played because "the original file could not be found."
But, if, at that point, I simply close iTunes, and then re-launch it, all the bangs are gone, and all the tunes can be played.
What might be causing this, and what can I do about it?
Sincere thanks,
Kenneth

thankyou chris
and it worked -but it wont work on my external HD i had to move the music folder back to my computer and
i still have the odd one that i have to self link.
"why ask?
Perhaps you want to remove it from your library"
also if i wanted to remove it from my library i would delete it, not click on it like i was going to play it..no?
Thanx for the help

Original file could not be found ----PLEASE HELP

Hello,
I have 4,000 MP3s on an extrenal hard drive.
When I open iTunes, I would double click on a song, and it would play.
NOW, for whatever reason, when I double click on a song, a window pops up and says: +Original file could not be found, would you like to locate it?+
I then have to manually locate the song, for it to play.
I do not want to do that for 3,999 more MP3s.
I went to EDIT>PREFERENCES>ADVANCE>GENERAL andmade sure the file path is my F Drive (external hard drive) where my MP3's are.
Still no luck.
The 2 or 3 songs, that I've manually located have a speaker by the title. The other 3,900+ MP3s have and exclamation point by the title.
Can anyone PLEASE help me?

I went to FILE> ADD FOLDER TO LIBRARY and selected the folder where my MP3s were.
This updated my itunes library and now allow me to play every song, but it also made a duplicate of every song.
Example:
Kanye West - Stronger
Kanye West - Stronger
1 plays and 1 doesn't.
I just have to go and delete the songs with the infront of the title.

"original file could not be found" problem

Please help.
I have a home network of 4 PCs. One PC is being used somewhat like a server ie. all of our MP3s are on that PC in a shared folder. Somehow (my kids won't admit to it) the Microsoft firewall was modified not to allow file sharing. As a result, iTunes on my wife's PC became disassociated with the files on our "server" PC. I corrected the fire wall problem and my wife's PC can now see the shared folder but everytime she clicks on a song she gets the "original file could not be found" error with the exclamation point.
She has well of a 2,000 songs in her library and does not want to individually find (reattach) each one. Also, she does not want to reimport all of the MP3s into her library because a lot of the MP3s are music that she does not have in her library and does not want there.
My 2 kids' PCs have the same problem and of course their iTunes libraries have a different mix of music from the "server" PC.
Any ideas? TIA

hmm, did you change it yourself without restarting iTunes?
Because, when my external HD is not turned on before I start iTunes, I get all the ! not found which never fails to make me gasp in dismay.
But then I just close iTunes, start the exHD, re-open iTunes and everything is OK.
Tell me, do you happen to be in the practice of backing up the itl and xml files?
What are the iTunes library files?
If you have saved copies of those, you could just put them back in place, snip-snap, problem solved.

On some of my 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?" Then when I click "Locate", I get nothing.

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

Library Lost - Please HeIp I tried updating my old ipod & now all 10,000 songs in my library have an ! next to them and I get the error message "song " " could not be used because the original file could not be found" on every song I try to play

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

"Original file could not be found" - exclamation point next to song

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