Transferring iTune Library -- but not content -- to my laptop

A few years ago my iTunes library got so big I had to put it on a separate hard drive. I access it through my laptop, which of course has to be connected by cable to the hard drive.
Now however, I want the ability to open iTunes on my laptop even if I am not plugged in to the hard drive. So I am hoping there is a way to move my 'library' (am I suing the right word?) to my laptop so that I can open iTuns whenever I want, even if it can't access all of the content -- which will still be on my hard drive.
Is this possible, and if so how?
Also, if it is possible, will I be able to access all of my music on the cloud from my laptop when it isn't plugged into the hard drive, or does whatever has the library on it have to forgo the option to play music off of the cloud?
Thanks in advance...

There's ways to do some of what you want to do but it won't be pretty, nor what you really want to do, nor easy to maintain, and I don't know if I am ready to spend 20 minutes typing in instructions which would also probably need me to test them on my computer which I am not prepared to do. I'll go the easy route and make these offerings:
I am pretty sure playing music on your laptop off the Cloud downloads it to your designated media folder so it will end up on your computer like it or not.
You don't have to start iTunes from your main library. You can start iTunes on your computer without your drive turned on. iTunes will go back to using the default location and create a new, blank library or use one it finds there. Do what you want with it. Next time you want to use your old library, start the external drive, then start iTunes while holding down the option/alt and guide it to the iTunes Library.itl file on your external drive.
What are the iTunes library files? - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1660
More on iTunes library files and what they do - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITunes#Media_management
What are all those iTunes files? - http://www.macworld.com/article/139974/2009/04/itunes_files.html
Where are my iTunes files located? - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1391

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I have bought a Macbook Pro to replace my old PC. All my music-files are on a NAS-server.
Now I need to move my PC iTunes-library-file (with covers and playlists) to the Macbook, but how?
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I have the similar situation. Got a new Mac and transferring iTunes library to the new Mac. The iTunes is in the external drive. But it sees iTunes (10.1) didn't recognize the XML file while I choose "Add to Library"
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Hello,
I recently purchased a new laptop and am having trouble getting my library to transfer to my new laptop, i followed this step by step process http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1329?viewlocale=en_US and in the end ended up with no music on my ipod and no music in the itunes library on my new computer...
So then i went into Itunes on the new computer and clicked import library under File, so i found the Music folder that i had transferred over and it imported the music but all my playlist were not there, just songs. So i ended up syncing my ipod back to my old computer so i would get all the songs and playlist back on as it was originally before this whole process...
My desktop runs XP while my new laptop runs Vista Ultimate w/ SP1 home edition, dont know if this matters...
So not sure where i should go from here, i have already Authorized my laptop with the itunes store , i was thinking of uninstalling Itunes on my laptop and starting over from scratch, will this help?
BTW when i did the original transfer i used my Ipod as the hard drive as it had plenty of storage room left on it, i do have access to a 250GB external HD i was thinking of using that and trying that to transfer the library...
So if anyone can tell me how to transfer my Itunes library from old comp to new laptop it would be greatly appreciated...

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Since you had trouble doing this with the iPod, why not try copying your iTunes folder to the external drive.
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You install iTunes on the new PC, then you drag the newly created iTunes folder out the Music folder to the desktop, then you copy the iTunes folder from the EHD into Music, replacing the one you dragged out.
When you have done that, you need to check that your account has full control of your iTunes folder - Vista is fussy about that - you will not be able to edit track info if you don't have full control.
Vista file folder permissions help
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/2464a180-e5dc-45d1-a2b8-3c8a 2b571e9d1033.mspx
http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/05/25/how-to-take-ownership-and-grant-permiss ions-in-windows-vista/

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http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1589
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Transferring iTune Library -- but not content -- to my laptop

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