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General discussion

Help! iTunes not working nicely with Windows 10, what gives?

Mar 23, 2018 5:19PM PDT

I have used iTunes for many years. But it no longer works. It recognizes my phone, but doesn't let me edit songs or download new playlists. Many songs are grayed out on the computer. I totally deleted every file I could find for Apple. Then I redownloaded iTunes. Still the same problem. If no one knows how to fix, I would like to get a new phone to put my music on. Is there another program that is like iTunes that would work on, say, Android? I don't want Pandora or those types of apps. I want my music. Is iTunes perhaps incompatible with Windows 10? Apple was no help! Thank you for your help.

--Submitted by PJ

Discussion is locked

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program replacing itunes
Mar 23, 2018 6:57PM PDT

Media monkey works fine

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Ok ! I'll start,
Mar 23, 2018 7:08PM PDT

but with a smirk , because I don't know which phone you have !
It's not called MSTunes or WinTunes for a reason
I expect it to be quirky !
There are a lot of alternatives , and trial by error would be the method of choice for me.

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I Have No Issues at this Point
Mar 23, 2018 9:46PM PDT

The big issue with iTunes was NOT with Win 10. It was Win XP. At a certain point in time, you could not run the latest version of iTunes with WinXP. That led to problems. I'm still running the same iPhone 5 (not 5S or SE -- the original iPhone 5). But I needed the latest (at the time) version of IOS but to run that, I needed the latest iTunes but they had capped off the version of iTunes I could run with XP. I broke down and got a new PC with Win 10 (upgraded to Win 10 Professional). Now I have the latest iTunes and running on the latest (patch-wise) version of Win 10 Professional. The last version of IOS that I can run on my iPhone is 10.3.3 and it all works fine. No issues with Win 10 at all.
Suggestions?
Here are a few of mine:

1) Verify that you can logon to all of Apple's websites with the proper credentials. This includes iCloud (www.icloud.com) and Apple's main sites. I also believe that there is a website for iTunes (www.itunes.com). Make sure all of these work well.

2) Make sure you are on the latest patch level of Win 10. If you stopped a Win 10 update while it is in progress, something can easily be wrong with your Win 10 installation. Never kill an update in ANYTHING once it starts, even if most things appear to work. There are plenty of Windows DLLs and other configuration files that need to all match.

3) Make sure your iTunes is the latest and installs cleanly. Make sure you can uninstall it using the add/remove programs feature. Never try to uninstall anything by deleting files or folders. All you need is to miss a single file that is sitting under C:\Windows\system or system32 or any sub-folders and you are messed up. The only exception to this is if the manufacturer (in this case, Apple) supplies you with detailed instructions for a manual uninstall. Remember Symantec products? How complicated a manual uninstall was? Miss a registry entry (I'm guessing you deleted all of those when you uninstalled?).

4) Drivers -- These should not be an issue but, I'd go after the PROPER uninstall and verify no Apple drivers exist under the device manager, just to be on the safe side.

5) Another thing to try: in iTunes, go to the "account" menu item and, under "authorizations" DEAUTHORIZE your computer. Then reboot and go back and repeat but this time AUTHORIZE the computer. You should need your Apple user name and password. I heard this fixes a lot of stuff. You may want to deauthorize, reboot, uninstall (properly), check for and remove any drivers, reboot, then reinstall and reauthorize the computer.

Finally, try something different. Use a different Win 10 computer (friend, family, ...) and see if this is an issue with YOUR installation or if this is about YOUR Apple ID that you need to access the Apple store. Check out: https://support.apple.com/itunes for more help or, if this is a laptop, bring it to an Apple store. The guys there are really good. But I hate to mention this. I'm not having the same issue you are having on Win 10 and iTunes and I have not heard of anyone else having an issue (Please, I'm not doubting you but pointing out that this could be local to your computer -- and watch out for the registry! If your database got deleted but the registry still points to an old location.... ).

I hope something in here helps.

Post was last edited on March 23, 2018 9:49 PM PDT

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All good advice - but....
Apr 12, 2018 12:22AM PDT

NEVER, EVER, connect your iPhone to someone else's computer - unless iTunes on that computer has been set to "sync manually". Otherwise, there is a fair chance that you'll ruin both your collection of data , as well as your friend if phone starts syncing right away once connected.

Lesser chance to create harm these days, as most everyone with a brain will sync to iCloud and not iTunes, but there are still holdouts out there.
(and just to add, the free 5 GB iCloud is plenty for syncing/downloading if done correctly, but the $.99/month is so worth it for 50 GB and not have to worry about it more than maybe once a year.)

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I Never Use iCloud or Any Cloud
Apr 12, 2018 9:26AM PDT

You may not remember that people over at iCloud were hacking into people's iCloud accounts and grabbing nude photos. I've decided that my stuff STAYS with me. Besides, this is only a backup. So, to me, only people who don't care about their privacy (with or without brains) will trust the cloud, especially with privacy policies that most people would not like.

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Improve your existence in 3 steps
Mar 23, 2018 10:31PM PDT

1. Do yourself a huge favor by getting rid of the user abusive software called iTunes. 2. Set yourself up with Media Monkey 3. Get an Android phone.

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Helpful?
Mar 31, 2018 2:14AM PDT

I suppose you consider this to be a really helpful reply. I don't think so.

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I don't know how to fix your problem...
Mar 23, 2018 10:47PM PDT

...and apparently neither does anyone else, from what I've seen, but I am not having any trouble with iTunes on my computer. Do you know where your music files are stored? Can you check to make sure that they are still there and that they are not compromised in some way? You will need to get into your phone's file structure to find them and check them. There are apps available to do this. Making sure that the songs are still there and still working is the first step. Once you do that, you may want to back them up.

After this, do try another program, such as Media Monkey, which has been mentioned, and have it search for your music. If that takes care of it, fine. Otherwise, you have a problem with the files themselves. That will take some work to fix because you will have to find out which files are compromised and then replace them with files that work properly. If the files were downloaded from a store that uses DRM, you may have trouble. The best thing to do when you get a song that way is to record it onto a removable medium (such as a CD) and then rip it back onto your device, but I don't even know if that is possible with a phone. If the music is not DRM protected, then look for any backup files.

Do a bit of investigating and let us know what happens.

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This is not advise for someone using an iPhone and iTunes...
Apr 12, 2018 12:40AM PDT

Worthwhile to follow where the files are stored on the computer, not on the phone (really even totally irrelevant when talking iPhones as there is no (real) backup FROM iPhone to other medium and iOS are keeping the files "scrambled" with dummy names).
So focus on the music in iTunes. If a song is greyed out, big chance old files that might have been acquired under a different Apple ID (="iTunes account") and they are now locked under DRM until associated with the correct Apple ID.

Still, right-mouse click on a song/file and "Show in Windows Explorer". That will take you to where that file is stored on your PC. If the file is not there, you might be able to ask iTunes to locate file on your PC, but that process is lined with pitfalls. Especially if you have the same song from same artist but maybe in different versions (different albums, concerts, etc). And it might even pick up and link to a totally different song - making it even harder to get things in order.

But once located the song, take a backup of the entire "iTunes Music" directory before starting to monkey around.

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iTunes and Windows 10
Mar 24, 2018 5:13AM PDT

First off I would like to mention that both myself and 100's of my clients that have Windows 10 and do not have any problems with iTunes. This is NOT simply an issue of iTunes not being compatible with Windows 10. I would also like to mention that, in general, people tend to have far more problems with Windows 10 if it was and upgrade from a previous operating system versus a computer that came pre-installed with Windows 10. in the end, some problems may require a Windows 10 refresh of even a complete reinstall of Windows 10 from scratch

You have not given us much information to go on here so I will have to give an overview of possibilities:

1. Make sure you have installed all the most recent updates to your operating system on both your phone and to Windows 10 on your computer. Reboot both your phone and computer.

2. Make sure you are running the most recent version of iTunes on your computer.

3. You had mentioned that you deleted every Apple file on your computer before reinstalling iTunes. I hope this means that you actually uninstalled every apple app and did not simple delete files?

4. It may be a conflict with some other software or hardware that you have installed. Older programs and hardware would be the first place to look. You could experiment by shutting down services and startup programs until you find the offending application.

5. Your computer may be infected with a virus or malware. Run full scans with your antivirus software and also download and run scans with Malwarebytes and ADWcleaner.

6. You may have a corrupted Windows user profile or iTunes data file. I would suggest that you create a new test user on your computer and log into the new user account and try iTunes from that account. You can try this both with your original music data from your original user account and from a fresh account.

Dana
Wayland Computer

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I'm Not Seeing My Earlier Post
Mar 24, 2018 10:09AM PDT

Waytron has some great ideas. I'll try to add to that.

1) If you actually uninstalled and then reinstalled iTunes, great. But, as Waytron said, you should NEVER uninstall anything by deleting files. It rarely works. You have to contend with the registry which can be much more important than the files themselves. By deleting files and reinstalling without fixing up the registry, things may have been made worse and the registry is very dangerous to work in.

2) As Waytron said, I also do NOT know of anyone (myself included) having issues with iTunes and Windows 10.

(I can't believe this long post of mine just "disappeared".)

3) Something important to try: iTunes requires access to APPLE web resources, especially the Apple Store. Please make sure that ALL of your Apple IDs are working and you have the correct password. It is possible that you may have changed a password on an Apple login and your computer is not welcome. I would go online and check all of your APPLE ID logins. Make sure you have access to the store as well as the iTunes website (www.itunes.com?)

4) Assuming your logins are working, go to the iTunes menu: Account. Go to "Authorize". Then "De-authorize this computer", Run that. If you are going to uninstall and re-install iTunes, this is now a good opportunity. Otherwise, I'd reboot and the go to the Account Menu and Authorize this Computer and then actually authorize it again. I believe here is where you will need your Apple ID.

5) If you have a laptop, you may want to make an appointment to bring it to the Apple Store. If this is a desktop, maybe just make a call.

6) If you have been "locking down" your computer by changing the rights to different user names and/or different folders/files, that could cause an issue. Please be careful.

Anyone reading this: if you are uninstalling software by deleting files, please don't do that. You can wreck the registry which is updated by program installs and un-installs. You might be lucky. Or, maybe not.

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True !
Mar 24, 2018 10:22AM PDT

I read your first post and now it's gone Confused

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Item 2. for Hforman.
Mar 24, 2018 10:27AM PDT

Here, while I can't write that no one has troubles with iTunes I will write that no one in the family or office is having issues.

As to the missing post, I didn't see it hit the spam alert but go ahead and alert your post and add a note about the missing post. Maybe I missed it and Lee has a copy.

-> All that aside the most troubles I find with iTunes are folk that try to copy their collection to other PCs by MAKING UP THEIR OWN METHODS. This is just a way to go bald and hate your Apple or PC. Don't do that. Go get instructions from Apple and the web.

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Thanks for the Advice
Mar 24, 2018 11:20AM PDT

Most of my points were covered. The one thing I wanted to add was to use the Account menu. If the software cann't access things on the websites, stuff could get greyed out. The OP can try to use a different Win 10 computer to see if that helps. This is not just a music management application. It also accesses the App Store and does things with the phone like backup and recovery.

In the "old days", it still was never safe to delete what you think are all of the program files for a given product. Not only do you have files (like DLLs) hidden away under the WINDOWS folder structure, but there is always that very delicate registry. A bad setting in the registry could be overlooked and never cleared out causing the initial problem to repeat itself.

Anyway, thanks for the advice. Appreciated.

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(NT) FYI Hforman Your original post is back up.
Mar 30, 2018 12:25PM PDT
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Thanks
Mar 30, 2018 12:39PM PDT

Yes, I saw it! Thank you.

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Apple Music...Anyone??
Mar 24, 2018 12:35PM PDT

Hi PJ

Sorry to learn that you’re all of a sudden having issues with iTunes. That said I’m somewhat at a lost as to where to begin in offering assistance. Here’s why. You stated..." I have used iTunes for many years. But it no longer works. It recognizes my phone, but doesn't let me edit songs or download new playlists. Many songs are grayed out on the computer”

Not to be rude but portions of your statement make no sense. What do you mean it recognizes your phone? iTunes is only native to iOS. So, if you are using an iPhone that’s nothing new…iTunes should recognize your phone.

If you are using Android or Windows Phone OS you are not using iTunes rather you are using the likes of Dropbox or Google Drive to sync files from your iTunes folder to a folder on your Android or Windows OS phone. The only way you can seemly get iTunes onto a non-iOS device (phone) is with the Apple Music App which is a pay service.

As many have said iTunes runs fine in Windows 10. Going back to my original suspicion are you by chance using Apple Music and calling it iTunes? Many have unknowingly made a switch from iTunes to Apple Music via the free 90 day trial. At the end of the trial Apple Music automatically begins charging the credit card on file with the original iTunes account. However, when the card expires Apple Music will cease until the card is updated.

It’s not uncommon to forget that a card has expired. As a result of an expired card only music that was purchased will be available. Any music in your iTunes/Apple Music library that was not purchased will be grayed out_on your phone and PC. Sound familiar?? Confused

BTW you would experience similar with iTunes Match for music still in the cloud.

Deleting iTunes and files and reinstalling them as you have indicated will not restore your music. In fact on your Winodws 10 computer you may have done more harm than good depending upon how deep of a dive you took to delete stuff. I'll not offer any Windows 10 trouble shooting tips as they have already been covered by waytron and Hforman

So…are you sure you’re not now using Apple Music as the skins for iTunes and Apple Music are similar? If I’m wrong in my hypothesis please let me know. However, I’d appreciate knowing either way. In any event_as has been mentioned by other members_a bit more clarity to your question would be helpful. Good Luck and Safe Computing!

Together Everyone Achieve More = TEAM

Post was last edited on March 24, 2018 12:49 PM PDT

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Apple is axing iTune
Mar 25, 2018 3:31PM PDT

Yes, iTune's hit it's End of Life point. Apple officially announced that it plans to stop providing iTune and iTune's updates. If it don't function properly for you, there are NO fix coming.

You need to find some alternative. You can go with the venerable Winamp (Windows only), Foobar (cross platform), Banshee (Windows and Linux), or any of the many other free offerings. ALL the propositions from the other contributors look at least somewhat interesting. Your problem is more "does this one please me more than that other one" than "does it work on my device".
Using Android, you need to look deep into the play store. There are 100's of players to choose from. All have pluses and minuses and you'll need to decide which one is the most compatible with you, not your device.

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Links please.
Mar 25, 2018 3:53PM PDT
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I Agree with Bob
Mar 25, 2018 4:16PM PDT

I've looked all over the Apple iTunes site and have not found ANYTHING that would indicate that any support is ending for iTunes. In fact, iTunes seems to be the centerpiece of Apple Music. If you can, please help us out by supplying a link to what you are saying because a lot of people would want to know that.

If you are referring to what Bob has said, that only means that you will have to obtain iTunes from Apple a bit longer instead of going into the Windows 10 APP STORE. It hasn't been in that Microsoft app store yet so there is no issue. But really, if you've seen some news, I would like to read about it as I'd need another method to back up my iPhone.

Thank you

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I would doubt that iTunes is going anywhere
Mar 27, 2018 6:51PM PDT

Please post a link to this information.

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This is an Untruth
Mar 31, 2018 5:03AM PDT

Otherwise, share a link to the announcement. iTunes isn't going anywhere as long as there's iPhones. I have read rumors that they may split up it's different features and slim it down. I am a tech news junkie, and if Apple had made any kind of announce like your saying, not only would I know it, but the whole tech world it would know it and be announcing it.

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iTunes still supported.
Apr 12, 2018 12:49AM PDT

iTunes is still supported, its focus has changed a tiny bit, but it is still the program to use if you want to totally restore an iOS device from scratch.

Still a good and functional media management platform (bloated and a heavy use of Win PC resources, yes, but also works great as long as the HW supports it).

BTW, I just got the latest iTunes 12.7.4 installed just a few days ago.

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When you mentions songs...
Mar 30, 2018 2:40PM PDT

Were these grayed out songs that you download directly from the Apple iTunes store? Or are they songs that are on your computer that you own (not from Apple iTunes)?

If they are your own songs, how did you obtain them--ripped them from original CDs, download them from other music sites, other methods? Are the grayed out songs the only ones you cannot edit or create playlist for in iTunes? Or for all songs whether they are grayed out or not?

If only the grayed out songs, can you play those songs outside of iTunes on a different player? I'm just wonder if those specific song files format are not compatible with iTunes. However since you mentioned that you have used iTunes for many years, I assume those tracks worked before in iTunes.

Hopefully with more information from you, we all can help you get to the bottom of this mystery.

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Mine works just fine on both my Laptop and my Desktop.
Mar 30, 2018 5:58PM PDT

Deleting is not the correct way to reinstall. You must run the uninstall process because their are active background processes and registry entries that were not removeby your deleting effort. Once correctly uninstalling, use something like Glary Utilities to clean the unused registry entries. Then redownload and install.

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Respectfully, get rid of iTunes
Mar 30, 2018 6:04PM PDT

Respectfully get rid of iTunes. Many MP3 players (Pioneer 30, Fiio X11, x3, x5 and more) let you drag/drop music to microSD cards allowing you to manage your track names and artists yourself. You can also use mp3 tagger programs (free) to quickly name and manage your files. Trust me this just works better. Soon you will realize iTunes adds unnecessary complications. Good luck!

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Backup?
Mar 30, 2018 6:35PM PDT

I just wanted to point out that iTunes is the tool you use to backup and restore your iPhone. I had to have my iPhone replaced by Apple and, without iTunes, I would have lost everything.

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Had the same problem a few years back
Mar 30, 2018 6:11PM PDT

I ran into the same problem and when I reinstalled iTunes it still refused to play many of my songs. I had the library backed up on a data drive in fact many data drives. I uninstalled iTunes one more and rebooted my computer to clear everything the problem was iTunes continued to look for my old library so I told it to look on my data drive and it created a new library and that took care of that problem for me. This all occurred when iTunes did a update and I have never trusted iTunes since and when I add new music I copy it to my data drive just incase it happens again.

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Moved Your Music?
Mar 30, 2018 6:12PM PDT

As others have said, I have never had a problem with iTunes and Win10, or any other version of Windows for that matter. That being said, I have created my own problems with iTunes. Did you by any chance move some of your music from their original locations. I you did, iTunes will no longer be able to find them. All my music I have in iTunes are in specific folders I created within the "Music" folder. I have accidentally moved songs from their original location they were in when I placed them into iTunes. Something like what you are experiencing happened to me when I did that, and I was no longer able to play or edit the songs I moved. The only way I could fix it was restoring the songs to their original location, or having iTunes search for their new locations. You could also delete the songs in question from the iTunes library, and then go to where you have them stored and drag and drop them back into iTunes. This is the only thing I can think of that may be causing your problem, because besides this, I have never had any Windows related problems with iTunes. I hope this helps you.

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What I Have Used on Android For Years
Mar 30, 2018 6:59PM PDT

Due to a recommendation on CNET several years ago, I use Poweramp. As I recall I paid a little for the unlocked version which provides equalization options, for one. I recently saw that the stock music player on my Note8 also offers it. Good luck.

Norman