Updating iTunes damaged my library file

I left iTunes to update, and after restarting my computer, I got a message that popped up saying that the library file had been damaged.
The only advice I got came from this article:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1967
...which says to revert back to an older backed up library. Unfortunately, the latest library I have comes from November of last year. If someone knows how I can restore a more recent version of my library from say... last week, please say.
If I can't do that, I'd rather just have iTunes scan and add my music over again, losing whatever song ratings/playlists I have. (I'm not sure how to do that either, thank you.)
I still have all of the damaged files in my recycle bin, as well as an iPod which is synced with the ideal library, if there is a way to make use of those.

Thanks, but recreating the library from the xml file didn't really do it either. I looked into CopyTrans, but I'm not sure I want to pay 20$ for something I'll only end up using once. I might just delete the entire library and then start re-adding everything, assuming I'll be able to access my purchases again.
I thought that iTunes had an option that scans and adds all of the music on your computer automatically. Does that exist or do I need to add my albums one by one?
Also, can someone tell me how to authorize the library to have access to my purchases so that I don't have to rebuy them?

Similar Messages

Updated iTunes and my library is gone now...

I updated my iTunes on my iMac to the 10.3.1 version. When I went to reuse it again after rebooting, I noticed my desk top was wiped clean and placed into a folder called "Desktop" in my HD.
Then when I went to open iTunes, it opened as if I had never had iTunes installed on my comp before. My music was wiped out, playlists gone, etc.. I found my music on my HD, however I could not get iTunes to load up with my personal information. What did I do wrong? Or what can I do to get my iTunes back to what it was (with playlists, play counts, music, album art, etc.)
**I think I made a mistake by dragging my music from my HD into iTunes...**
I also noticed that my desktop was restored with my files and folders again when I rebooting my computer for the second time...and these items were no longer placed in a "Desktop" folder on the HD.
Not sure what's going on with that iTunes update.
I also have a Time Machine...so if need be I can restore my computer back to what it was before I updated iTunes, right? And if I do...how do I prevent this whole issue from happening again when I update iTunes?
Thanks so much for your time everyone...hope someone can help!

Sounds like Itunes lost your Library file right after update for some reason. You should not have copied the music again. Quit Itunes, In finder go to where your music is stored and drag the Itunes library file from there to the desktop. In the Itunes Folder, open the Previous Music library sub -folder and see the library file w/the date of when you upgraded Itunes (not the one where you dragged the music back in). Drag this file from this inside folder to the Itunes Folder and name it Itunes Library. Now open Itunes and it should be all there.If it it did not help, may yyou used the wrong "previous library file" You could check your library files to find the one you need--Quit Itunes and launch it while holding Option button, click on Choose library and navigate to the Music/Itunes folder and go inside the Previous Music and try one of those library files to see if they have your staff as you remember it. If you find the correct one, you would need to switch your Itunes Library file w/the one you found (drage the original out of there and then put the one you found in its place adn name it Itunes library) and then switch Itunes library back to it.

Sharing iTunes music AND library files between multiple users in Windows XP

My wife and I share the main computer and both use iTunes, each of us with our own iPod. While Apple covers how to share your music directory itself (which I did when iTunes was first installed by making the music directory C:\music), it doesn't allow you to share the library files--so, for example, if you added a playlist in one account it doesn't sync with the other.
Microsoft has an app called Sync Toy which allows you to keep any set of files/folders on a Windows box synchronized with another set. I use Sync Toy to run a scheduled task each day in the middle of the night to sync the files in the iTunes directory in our %homepath%\My Music folders with each other--the most recently updated one will be synchronized.
Just thought I'd share this tidbit of info since I haven't seen it posted before and it's saved my wife and I a lot of time.
Hope this helps someone out there.

That is one way to do it. There is another way, which is only slightly more difficult, but which you might find more attractive.
Basically, iTunes expects to find your library files in the "My Music/iTunes" folder. However, "My Music" is a special system folder, its location is defined by Windows.
If you download TweakUI, you can use it to set where your My Music folder is. So, if you create a folder that both you and your wife can access, and then set both of your My Music folders to be that folder, then you will have a shared library. No syncronization needed, changes you make to one will happen to the other because you both have the same library files.
Only downside to this is that you can't use Fast User Switching and thus have both people logged in and using iTunes at the same time, because while one of you has the library open, the other can't access it until you close it.
It works fine.

Updated iTunes and lost my files again! Please help!?!

I just updated iTunes and once again lost my library. Using Windows7 64 bit OS. Now I found the file and imported as before and have some but not all of my files. Is there any way to restore my playlists?? I have spent hours creating these for my various devices and each time software is updated I have to do it all over again. It duplicates the names of the playlists but no files are within the lists themselves. Also I don't have any songs that I have paid for in the store. These tally into the hundreds as well into the hundreds of dollars. I kinda would like to have these back as well. Any help here??? Also must I rip all my CDs every time, this process is getting very, very, very old!

roaminggnome wrote:
"I just updated iTunes and once again lost my library. "
So you failed to maintain a backup ( basic) and you lost your music. And then after this happened once, you still have failed to maintain a backup?
Let's review your logic... If iTunes FAILS, doesn't work properly and it has BUGS the size of 18 wheels trucks THEN it's the users fault???
OK. He should have made a DVD back up in case of a disaster like this, I'll give you that. BUT the problems are Apple's and iTunes software engineering team responsibility. They're the ones providing defective, buggy software.
The reason 90% of users won't make a backup is just because they TRUST Apple to correct the problem if it already happened before or they don't have the time to do it. Or maybe they're just plain lazy. LOL

ITunes "cannot save library file" error in Vista

I just began ripping my latest pile of cd's into iTunes on my new Vista Media Center PC. Occasionally I get the popup "The iTunes library file cannot be saved. You do not have enough access privileges for thei operation" I checked and double checked the security on all of the iTunes files and folders, and not only do I (the system administrator), but also SYSTEM and Everyone have full access to the folder and files. My library is in C:\Users\Jerry\Music\iTunes\ , which is the default installation directory selected by iTunes. I have almost 11,000 songs, and I have already completely rebuilt the library in this version of iTunes as a means to try to resolve this problem. I am on iTunes 7.2.0.16 , everything on the PC is up to date, and I see nothing that makes this error seem correct. Has anyone else seen this, and do you have a fix? What are the implications of NOT saving the file? Thanks, Jerry

Same issue here. Running Windows Vista Home Premium Edition and newest version of iTunes. Normally happens when I am ripping a CD into iTunes and by chance multi task or the screen saver kicks in.
What ***** is if you walk away while ripping a CD(because it takes 3 times as long in iTunes vs any other ripper), and it will halt your ripping until you click "ok". I have not tried the "dont tell me again" check box just in case it is a problem I need to know about. This happened about 2 or 3 days after upgrading to Vista and I got an empty library the next time I opened the library. Somehow it got corrupted. Luckily I back up the xml file and just restored that one file from last back up.
(off subject but also getting the maxed our processor still in the newest version for Windows Vista. Wish they would fix that!)

ITunes not seeing library files

I finally got a new computer, and so finally transferred my iTunes data from my work laptop to my new computer.
The songs appear to have made it ok, but the data files did not, meaning I've lost all my play counts, ratings and playlists (of which the first two are the most important).
Since I'm on dialup, I did have to go back to the CD version of iTunes I had (6.0.4) instead of 6.0.5 that was on the laptop - is this the issue?
Is there any way to get this to work?
(I still have the data on the laptop, and on my backup external drive. Whew.)

... I did have to go back to the CD version of iTunes I had (6.0.4) instead of 6.0.5 that was on the laptop - is this the issue?
No, that shouldn't be the issue.
It sounds like your iTunes Library Files didn't get transferred over.
So assuming they were in their default location on your work computer ( C:\Documents and Settings\User Name\My Documents\My Music\iTunes ) you want to move them to that same location on your new computer. Note that this will only work if your music files themselves were/are in the same location on both computers.

Fixing Library Playback Issue in iTunes after Moving Library Files

I recently backed up my iTunes Library to my external hard drive and deleted the iTunes Library off of my HD to free up space. Now when I try to play songs from my library I get an error message stating that iTunes cannot find my file for each item I play. I then have to locate each file in my library to get songs to play.
I have tried checking the path to where my library is located in Preferences but when iTune tries to sync my library I get an exclamation icon next to every item!
Aaaaargh! What can I do to get my files synced back with iTunes so they play automatically without me having to locate each file manually? I have over 5608 items in my library! I cannot manually try and locate each file to listen or watch. That's a major nightmare. Can someone help?

hey.
finally somebody with the same problem! i bought a new external drive because i was running out of space and backed up my entire library. then my computer crashed and i wanted to take advantage of a clean drive and not add my whole library back onto my computer. i'd love to be able to access my music folder on the external and have that show up as my library on iTunes when connected...
i followed all the steps as closely as possible and am pretty confident that my advanced preferences in iTunes are correct, but the library does not show these songs from the external drive. have you had any feedback or figured it out on your own?! i hope so, i'm at a deadend.

HT1451 updated itunes now external library wont play

I have some music on my Imac drive, but most of it is on an external drive and I can not get the library working?
Is there a method that is best used to rebuild the library in one place ? Preferably the external drive
Thanks

I am having the same issue. My library is located on an external hard drive. When I open Itunes after updating the version, Itunes told me it was updating my library. This takes about 2-3 hours and had to be done for every user in the house.
When you click on a song from a playlist Itunes says it cant find it. Yet when you go to the music icon above and search I find multiple copies of the same songs.
If anyone knows how to reconcile the library so it eliminates the duplicates and allows my playlists to work I would appreciate your advice.

After updating iTunes, old library is gone

After updating iTunes, I now get a message that tells me that my Shuffle is linked to another libary, and asks me if I want to erase my Shuffle and link to the new, empty library. When I say no, neither the computer nor iTunes recognizes that the Shuffle is connected. I do not want to erase my shuffle and start over. And what about the songs I had purchased that are in the old library? I can see an iTunes 4 Music Library file, and files for the songs I purchased on iTunes, but can not open or import them. What gives?

Theron: It's not too big an issue. Windows and iTunes have gotten a tad confused as to what is in your library. The following link on How to recreate your Library will sort you out.
David
If any answer helps or solves your problem, please mark the post that helped accordingly, it provides an incentive for posters here to try and help and gives others a quicker way of finding solutions faster, thank you

The iTunes Library file cannot be saved unknown error occurred (-54)

Anyone seen this before and can it be fixed
The iTunes Library file cannot be saved unknown error occurred (-54)

adamwineguy wrote:
I was having this issue as well, after doing two things: updating iTunes yesterday, and installing and running ClamXav, a Mac antivirus tool.
I have now fixed the issue, first I made sure that I had the proper permissions for iTunes and it's library folders. Then I completely removed ClamXav and all its related files and restarted iTunes. Now I no longer get this error when adding new media to iTunes or updating apps, and the library file saves fine. For some reason I think it was related to the antivirus software.
I think it was a coincidence as ClamXav only modifies permissions on the files it installs and none of those are anywhere near your iTunes folders, but I'm glad you got it working.

Help with "The iTunes Library file cannot be saved. An unknown error occurred (-54)"

Hi,
Has anyone else had this problem? And how do I correct it? "The iTunes Library file cannot be saved. An unknown error occurred (-54)"

adamwineguy wrote:
I was having this issue as well, after doing two things: updating iTunes yesterday, and installing and running ClamXav, a Mac antivirus tool.
I have now fixed the issue, first I made sure that I had the proper permissions for iTunes and it's library folders. Then I completely removed ClamXav and all its related files and restarted iTunes. Now I no longer get this error when adding new media to iTunes or updating apps, and the library file saves fine. For some reason I think it was related to the antivirus software.
I think it was a coincidence as ClamXav only modifies permissions on the files it installs and none of those are anywhere near your iTunes folders, but I'm glad you got it working.

ITunes Music Library File Corrupt

Hey,
Yesterday I was putting some podcasts on my ipod shuffle, when itunes froze. I force quit it, and when i booted it up again, it said that the iTunes Music Library File was locked or that I don't have permissions for it. I replaced it with my previous library, except now I have a library that's like four months old. Is there any way to import the songs/podcasts from my music folder into my music library? Or perhaps to repair the damaged Music Library File?
PS I don't have any .AACs.

Do you still have a copy of the problematic library file? (or of the "iTunes Music Library.xml" file that was in the (home)/Music/iTunes at the time? If so, use the File->Import function to import either of these files.
(First make a backup copy of your current "iTune Library" file just in case.)
If the import won't work because it says the file is locaked, go in the finder and select hte file, do control-I to bring up the get info box and make sure the file's preferences are set to read and write. If that doesn't help use the Disk Utility application in your Utilities folder to "repair permissions" on your hard drive.
Finally, if these methods don't work, then you can manually add the missing music (but this won't bring back any ratings, playcounts, etc associated with the tracks in your old library). Go File->Add to Library and select your music folder. It will go through the files and only add the ones not already in your library.
By the way, AAC files wouldn't affect this problem one way or the other.

ITunes empty? But files still in library?

I store my iTunes Library on an external Hard Drive because there is not enough room for it on G4's hardrive (70gb). Last night, I come home and see there is nothing in the iTunes on screen library. No songs, no playlists. It's as if I never had iTunes.
I look on my external and the files are all there.
I check in iTunes Pref to see what location the library is assigned to and it's the same as it's always been
I **** down the computer. I turn off the hard drives. Wait.
Still nothing. Do I need to re-add the songs? If I do this will I lose my playlists? Does this have anything to do with XML tags or something like that?

There are 2 files - iTunes Library and iTunes Music Library.xml. These 2 files are what itunes and other apps use to keep track of stuff. They MUST be in a specific location - HD>User>Music>iTunes. When doing an iTunes b/u (you do that right?) you should include those 2 files as part of the b/u.
The .xml is used by the iLife apps to locate various info for integration with other apps. The heart of iTunes is the iTunes Library file.
From the iTunes Help Menu:
About the iTunes Library file:
The iTunes Library file is a database of the songs listed in your library and the playlists you've created. This file is located in the iTunes Music folder inside your Music folder. Do not move this file to another location. If you delete it, iTunes will create a new, empty copy when you open the application, but any playlists, song ratings, comments, or other information you created will be lost.
Tunes Music Library.xml
This file contains some (but not all) of the same information stored in the iTunes 4 Music Library file. The purpose of the iTunes Music Library.xml file is to make your music and playlists available to other applications on your computer. In Mac OS X other iLife applications (like iPhoto, iDVD, and iMovie) use this file to make it easier for you to add music from your iTunes library to your projects.
MJ

ITunes won't open because the library file is locked

The iTunes 4 Music Library file is locked, on a locked disc, or I do not have write permission, what do I do? It was working perfectly until I plugged in my iPod. I waited, the iPod did not appear. The computer then told me that I had improperly disconnected it, yet I didn't touch it. So at that point I did disconnect it. My computer froze, so I restarted it and now iTunes won't open. Help!

Megan hello,
welcome to the Apple Discussions open the iTunes folder in your Music folder and select the iTunes 4 Music Library file... type cpmmand - D and this will duplicate the file... put the original file on the desktop and change the name of the duplicate to be the same as one you just moved ... double/click on this file after the name change... if all is okay you can trash the file on the desktop later..
let's know if it all works again Megan .... TP

Corrupt iTunes Library file (.itl AND .xml)

I just got a new mac and decided not to put my music on it. Instead I kept my entire itunes library on an external hard drive. At some point, my hard drive must have disconnected while using iTunes and the library files became corrupt. When I see the files (in finder) on my mac, their size = Zero KB and their "kind of" = Alias. When I check out those same files on my windows computer, it says their actual numerical size (probably before they became corrupt). I've read that you can restore playlists with the .xml file but that is also corrupt.
Is there any way at all to repair/recover this library? PLEASE HELP I've worked very hard on creating this library.

I had this problem repeatedly and found that it seems to happen when you exit or restart Windows while iTunes is running. Note that when you close the iTunes window the program actually continues to run for a significant amount of time after its window disappears and even after the "saving iTunes library" message disappears. Basically iTunes starts writing out its library and then gets interrupted during the shutdown, causing the corruption.
I have solved the problem with the very pathetic solution of bringing up Task Manager, switching to the Processes tab, and waiting until the iTunes.exe process is gone from the list. Then I know it is done writing and it's safe to exit or restart Windows. I have never had corruption when I have done this.
(This isn't completely consistent with the posts above since one claimed that they restored a known good library after reboot and still had the problem. Perhaps that is something else, or perhaps the known good library had actually been corrupted before it was saved.)
Note that when the *.itl file is corrupted this way, it is pretty much always the case the the *.xml file is also corrupted. Since the XML file is text, iTunes is able to read what there is of it to rebuild the *.itl, but since the *.xml file is truncated, a lot of songs will be missing. It's a bit puzzling that Apple chose a library format that redundantly writes to two separate files but they write them out simultaneously so if one gets corrupted the other one almost always is corrupted as well.
The good news is that this problem is beyond simple to solve for Apple. The bad news is that for some inexplicable reason they keep releasing version after version with this same serious bug.

Updating iTunes damaged my library file

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for