Original file could not be found Windows 8.1

I just installed iCloud, a result of purchasing my first iPhone. In the process, my iTunes player now has lost its connection to my songs. Is there a method to reconnecting the library files, without having to relocate each individual song?

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

Similar Messages

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

When trying to sync or listen to songs in itunes library it says the song on itunes could not be used because the original file could not be found. I am using windows 7.

I have imported cds into my itunes and they appear on my playlist, but when I try to sync to my ipod or listen to them on my computer a message comes up stateing " the songs on itunes could not be used because the original file could not be found". I have not deleted them and am importing them the way I always have. This problem has only been for the last 4 or 5 months. Since updating to the last 2 itunes versions.

The message means that iTunes can not find the original imported music files. iTunes should display a red exclamation mark next to the songs it can not find. You will need to look on your hard drive for the songs/files and than correct the file path in iTunes or just delete the files in your iTunes library and import them again.

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...

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

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.

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

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!

'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

Original file could not be found

I just went into iTunes and was going to make a new playlist. When I tried to click and drag songs to the playlist an error box says the song can not be used because the original file could not be found. I went randomly through all my music and everything says that. Warning: things have to be dumbed down for me because I'm not very computer or iTunes savvy. What happened and what should I do? (I use Windows 8.1)

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 if this might apply.)
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. Although it says something like "use the same location" it expects to find the tracks in the same artist & album layout that it generates, not all in one big folder.
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.
tt2

Error message - Original file could not be found

When I open itunes, and try to click on a song, there is an "!" and I get the error message "original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?"
It does this for every song. I have to trace it down to "My Music\itunes\itunes\itunes music" and under that I have hundreds of files by artist.
How can I listen to the songs so I don't have to click on each one to make them play?
I hope you can help me.

First, a correction from my previous post: At the beginning I meant to write The iPod wasn't designed to sync playlist-related information back to iTunes.
And as for the polydorus link, let's try this .
Sorry about that.
Does that make sense? Do I need both folders?
No, in the end you'll only need one but I'm still not sure which one.
*I think the difference is there are no folders like in wndows, but the itunes library leads me directly to my library on the itunes website
I don't understand what you mean by the itunes library leads me directly to my library on the itunes website.
It sounds like there is only one iTunes database - iTunes Library.itl - file and that it's in your iTunes1 folder. Whether or not that is the case, what I'd like you to do is follow the instructions in this article in the Apple Knowledge Base for opening an alternate iTune Library file. Select the Choose Library option and use the navigtion window that appears to make your way to an .itl file.
Select the .itl and iTunes will open with a Library that may - or may not - be different than what you last saw: somewhat different contents or exclamation marks may be present again.
If it's not a library you're happy with, close iTunes, wait ten seconds or so and then repeat the procedure looking for another .itl file - each one contains references for a different iTunes library.
When you find a library you're happy with, i.e. all the contents are listed and no exclamation marks, make a note of the location of that .itl. It's the one you're going to want to work with.
Using that database file, you can go back to iTunes, right-click various songs > Get Info > Summary tab and look to the bottom of that window to find out where that Library is being directed for those files. Make a note of that location.
When we know those two things, we should be able to proceed from there with deleting things.
In the future, when I buy new songs from apple, where will they automatically get stored?
In the location that's been selected in iTunes Edit menu > Preferences > Advanced tab for the iTunes Music folder.
What will happen when I sync my ipod on the computer?
That brings us back to the beginning of this post, by default the synch goes from iTunes to your iPod. So you shouldn't synch your iPod unless there's a satisfactory Library being displayed in iTunes.

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

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

"original file could not be found" help needed please

Hello and help...please
i have a new laptop, so i saved my itunes music library to an external drive to transfer it to the new machine. I uploaded to itunes with the simple 'add folder' option and all my songs appeared in itunes everything is great i thought.
However, every single song i click on to play comes up with
"the song "insert title here" could not be used because the original file could not be found. would you like to locate it?"
I have searched long and hard through the itunes help etc and found nothing.
can anyone help me? please?
many thanks for taking the time
phill

for windows version, you have to check the "Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library" in preference pane. then every time you add songs to your library iTunes will copy the original files to your iTunes library folder so you don't have to worry about the original files missing or moved.

Original file could not be found Windows 8.1

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