iTunes won't open

[nuley]

I have lost iTunes somehow.

 

I have tried to reinstall, first using the recommended uninstall program from the microsoft website and also CCleaner, and re-downloading iTunes from Apple. It installs fine, then when I go to click on it, it says it's not there. It does exist in 'program files' and I can see it in 'my music'.

 

This all happened after I moved itunes to my external hard drive. All worked fine for several months, but then my external hard drive renamed itself as E instead of D, and my digital camera became D for some reason. No idea why.

 

All my music files are still there on the external HD, but I have no idea how to make iTunes see itself or them. The error message reads: 'The folder iTunes cannot be found or created and is required. The default location for this folder is inside the 'my music' folder.'

 

What have I done!!!??? Please help!

[Guest Wolfeymole]

During this "several months" period did you install another internal or external drive at all?

 

Where does the itunes .exe file in other words the download reside right now?

[nuley]

iTunes.exe seems to be in C:\Program Files\iTunes. All my music is on external HD.

 

I didn't install another hard drive; I've only got the one. I'm not sure why the digital camera suddenly named itself 'D' and renamed the hard drive 'E'. But I don't think I've used iTunes since that happened, so it could all have gone wrong around the same time. The digimax viewer is now permanently pinned to the bottom r/h toolbar, and when I upload photos, it generally tries to save my photos to the D drive instead of where I have them all stored on external HD (the mysteriously renamed 'E' drive).

 

Thanks for your help.

[Guest Wolfeymole]

No what I mean is this ok.

 

The iTunes executable file once run parked it's self in C:\Program Files\etc.

 

What I want to know is where the raw unopened iTunes .exe file is right now.

[nuley]

There is an itunes setup.exe in c:\My Music. Is this the one you mean?

[nuley]

By the way, there is also an old iTunes setup.exe on my HD (E drive) in E:\My Music that's dated 20/01/2007. The most recent one is the one on C drive.

[Plastic Nev]

OK the one in my music is the still uninstalled download, am I right?

 

If so, you could try risking a double click to open it for installing from there!

 

Or single click to highlight it, then over on the left, click move this file and select the "My downloads" folder or similar, then double click it to open it once it is there.

 

When the installation wizard starts to run, at some point it will ask or tell you its destination, it should be "C:-program files" or similar.

 

If not, there is usually the option to either browse or select where you want the program file in order to make sure it goes to the "C" drive program files destination.

Nev.

[nuley]

Thanks for this. I have tried opening the file in My Music and when I do, it asks me if I want to run it, I say yes, then it asks me if I want to repair or remove iTunes from this computer. I click repair, it all seems to go well, it asks me to wait while iTunes installs and then it tells me it's been successfully installed and to click finish. It hasn't asked me where to put it.

 

So I did it the other way; it did the same thing. Again it hasn't asked me where to put it, or told me where it's going.

 

Do you have any ideas what I could try next? Thanks so much for your help so far.

 

Nuley

 

Everything else seems to go OK until I try to run iTunes! It still says it can't be found or created, and is required.

[Guest Wolfeymole]

Can you right click on a given music file and "open with" then use iTunes.

[nuley]

I've just tried this. It still gives me the same error message that iTunes can't be found etc.

[Guest Wolfeymole]

Is the iTunes executable actually in Add/Remove Nuley?

[nuley]

Yes, it is still there. I've tried to repair it but it still isn't working. The exe file on my E drive is still there too, but that isn't working either.

[Guest Wolfeymole]

Ok uninstall the one in Add/Remove and delete the one in E: then download it again to a location where you definitely know it will be and run the executable which will install to C:\User\Program Files etc.

[nuley]

I did this - removed from program file, removed exe from E, re-downloaded to save to the C\My Music folder, clicked the exe, it all seemed to be going really well, validating itself etc, and then when it went to open after download/installation complete, I got the same old error message that it couldn't be found or created. It's as if it can't see itself and I don't know why - almost as if the download is corrupt. When I click on the exe file now, it asks me if I want to change/repair or remove iTunes.

[Guest Wolfeymole]

Ok it sounds like there are remnants of iTunes still in the system so uninstall it again from Add/Remove then run a Search using iTunes as wording, include Hidden Files and Folders in the search and delete those too.

 

Then re-download it and install it once more

[nuley]

OK, have done that. All seemed to download fine but it wouldn't open - same old error message comes up. I did another search and now the only iTunes.exe file is the one I saved to C\My Music. But it still isn't working.

 

Is there anything else I can try?

[nuley]

Can anyone think of anything else I could try (polite replies only please...)? Or do you think perhaps it's time to take it to PC world? I have uninstalled and deleted all the old iTunes files and now I think all I have left is the actual music files. It seems to install perfectly every time and I get to tick license agreements etc, but then it can't find itself.

 

Thanks for all your help so far, I'm sorry nothing seems to be working.

[RandyL]

Hi nuley;

I have to admit that I know next to nothing about iTunes. That being said I'll point out a couple things.

 

Other than your C drive your other drives "renamed themselves". Your iTunes or some portion of it was on your C drive and one of your other external drives. In other words I don't know why your drive letters have changed or what part of iTunes is on which drives.

 

To begin with I suggest disconnecting ALL external drives including your camera or iPod. I say this because I think you need to completely uninstall i Tunes from your main drive then reinstall it without any remnants being picked up from any external drive. You will want to uninstall from C and reinstall to C.

 

From iTunes support, Removing iTunes, QuickTime, and other software components for Windows XP follow the instructions for;

 

Removing iTunes

Removing Quicktime

Removing Apple Software Update

Removing Apple Mobile Device Support

 

Also note the iPodService.exe Alert

 

I don't know about backing up any music folders or any such aspect of iTunes but if you have any you might need see if you can backup apart from your C drive as you may have to dump those too. The point is you need to 100% completely get rid of everything iTunes, Quicktime or Apple from your C drive. Then reinstall all iTunes components to C without anything else connected to your computer.

 

Once done try to launch it. If that goes well you might or might not be able to get your backed up music. Like I said I don't know it.

 

For rinstalling you should look at the iTunes Install Support Page.

 

After all this try the latest version iTunes 8.2.1 for Windows XP or Vista

[nuley]

Thank you again for this. I have followed the steps but get stuck when I try in control panel to remove the program 'iPod update 2004-04-28'. I keep getting error message:

 

Error 1327. Invalid Drive: D:\ iPod update 2004-04-28

 

I guess this is somehow connected to the fact that my E drive was originally called D drive, but don't know how to remove this bit of the software.

 

I have followed the other steps to the letter, removing all apple components from the computer; I have done a full search including hidden folders etc and anything that was apple, iTunes, quicktime etc I got rid of, emptied trash, restarted etc.

 

I downloaded new version etc. It still doesn't work, and it's still giving me the same reason.

 

Do you have any idea how I might remove that iPod updater? That's the only thing I couldn't delete and it might be the problem.

 

Many thanks again

Nuley

[Guest Wolfeymole]

Run a search on drive D: and E: for Ipod update and delete it.

[nuley]

D drive couldn't be found. So I plugged the camera back in, and there was a My Music folder attached to the camera. I have no idea how this has happened. I deleted it all and have now managed to reinstall and launch iTunes again on C - the stuff on camera D drive must have been interfering with everything else. I still don't know how it got there but I'm just really pleased it's gone now and everything is hunky dory again.

 

Thank you all so much for your help. I expect I would have booted the whole thing out of the window otherwise.

[RandyL]

That's fantastic nuley.

 

I hadn't given up and had a couple more ideas but you figured out the rest yourself.

 

Thanks so much for letting us know what worked in your case.

 

I wish you the best of luck from here on.