iTunes update has been slowly killing me...

Cassady

Cassady

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Hello all,


Hoping some of the local gurus can offer some sage advice.

Laptop running Windows 7, iTunes 10.5.1.42 installed...

All was working fine - until a message popped up, informing me that an update was available. This happened towards the end of last year already - and I have periodically attempted the update over the past few months, with little success...

In a last desperate bid - I turn to the community for some help.

Please keep in mind that it took me a VERY long time to get my library to the point where everything now looks pretty, and works as it should... I am very nervous about losing it all if something goes wrong with the install...

I realise I probably don't need 10.5.3, since it only appears to make iBooks2 possible - but I have already been down the rabbit hole, and traces of the attempted install appear to have left an impression...

Each time I fire up iTunes, I am told that "Itunes was not properly installed, and that if I want to import or burn CD's, I need to re-install it" :sick:
[With this being said - error message aside, all works as it should. I can still import & burn etc.]

Here's what happened tonight, again - for about the 4th time. Since my earlier attempts saw the direct 'Install 1 upgrade' bomb out everytime, a quick web search advised I should go into "Tools" and select the Download Only option. This I have done, and now have the install set-up file on my PC. When I open/run it, it starts as per usual, Kaspersky/Windows pops up and asks if I want to allow it to make changes to my PC - I say yes - and the status bar starts running (it says something about "processing additional packages")...

A few seconds in, it shoots through to the end, and up pops a message saying "The Installer encountered errors before iTunes could be configured. Errors occurred during installation. Your system has not been modified. Please run the installer again."...

And round and round it goes.

Anyone have any similar issue before - any suggestions?

Or should I just ignore - and since all is working, barring that error message that pops up at the start - simply keep on keeping on until a different upgrade version becomes available (which will hopefully have a different result)?

:whistle:
 
Last edited:
Just tried again...

This time a new message: "The installer has encountered an unexpected error installing this package. This may indicate a problem with this package. The error code is 2203".

Wtf?

What do I do with this error code?

Any ideas?
 
Download the itunes.exe from Apple and install it should update, doubt if you will lose your stuff
 
Mbuzi said:
Download the itunes.exe from Apple and install it should update, doubt if you will lose your stuff
Click to expand...

Good advice this... Apple will always have the latest version of iTunes on their website. Your music, playlists, apps, whatever will not be affected by an install using this method.
 
I would completely remove iTunes and use a different media player, but seeing as you seem to require it I would suggest you completely remove it and download the latest full offline installer and reinstall using it. Otherwise you could just disable the update prompt if you still can, sounds like you might be too far ahead of that ability. You can also download iTunes from here:

iTunes (32-bit)
iTunes (64-bit)
 
NomNom said:
I would completely remove iTunes and use a different media player, but seeing as you seem to require it I would suggest you completely remove it and download the latest full offline installer and reinstall using it. Otherwise you could just disable the update prompt if you still can, sounds like you might be too far ahead of that ability. You can also download iTunes from here:

iTunes (32-bit)
iTunes (64-bit)
Click to expand...


This ^

Just to be very sure I would unplug the computer from the network and disable the antivirus & firewall before installing, enabling them again afterwards.
 
You can also find the xml file that is the 'source' of your iTunes library. Back that up. It can be used to recreate the library. If you poke around online there is a solution where you can 'corrupt' the library file and force iTunes to rebuild it from an xml backup. I have done this when moving mp3s from one HDD to another.

edit: You can perform a find and replace on the drive letters in the xml file and rebuild the library to point at the new HDD. Just so you know.
 
Last edited:
Exactly. The XML trick works well. Or simply re-install iTunes and reload your music onto it, although that may cost you your playlists.
 
It will also cost you your ratings, etc. The xml trick will preserve all of that. I have never done it with differing versions of iTunes, so YMMV.
 
Many thanks all...

Really don't want to lose my ratings/favourites - it's taken me a while to get that list to resemble the size that it is now... :whistle:

So the "xml trick" will probably be the way to go, since a complete re-install may remove the aforesaid?

Of course - with this being said, the xml trick is currently one trick to far, with my limited understanding of programming etc. - so guess I'll pop this thread on the back-burner, until I'm forced to make a change...

Thanks again :)
 
I'm writing this from memory 'cus the PC I'm on right now doesn't have iTunes. Also I've only ever done the find-and-replace thing with the same version of iTunes to move the mp3 files, but I would do the following:

Find the Library.itl and iTunes Library.xml files and copy them to you Desktop for safekeeping. You should find them in your UserName/Music/iTunes folder, or somewhere similar.

Reinstall iTunes. Open it and make sure it works. Close it.

find the new iTunes library .xml and .itl files in the iTunes folder.

Replace the new .xml file with the one from your Desktop.

Open the new .itl file in Notepad and delete everything inside it -- make sure it's blank. Save it. This will corupt the file as far as iTunes is concerned.

Restart iTunes. It will throw up an error, telling you that the library is corrupt. It will start rebuilding it from the .xml file.

Re-sync your devices. iTunes will think the library is new and it will take a while to sync, but it should replace the libraries on your devices with a new, exact copy of the previous library.

I hope that works. Let us know.
 
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