iTunes disappeared

OS X 10.6.8 : unloaded everything onto my WD My Passport today via Time Machine; cleaned MacBook disc and then reloaded 10.6.8 and files from Passport via Time Machine; everything appears to be in order .... EXCEPT: iTunes icon is docked where it was previously, but won't open, and I can't find any of the music/podcast files which previously existed. Any pointers about solving this ... other than having to completely reload all my tunes "from scratch" ...?

Many thanks.

Have a look at this page;https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2163093?start=0&tstart=0

AlteMann

Just for my clarification; you did a complete Time Machine back up onto an EHD? By "cleaned your MacBook disk", you mean you erased it as in clean install? Or what? You would need your 10.6.8 Apple Installation Disk to do this. Is that what you did?

Then you rebooted from the Apple Installation Disk and used TM to restore everything?

Have I got these actions correct?

Next: have you checked in the Applications Folder to see if iTunes is there. What is in the Dock is an alias.

Sorry to ask these tiresome questions, but we do need to know exactly what you did in order to help you.

Ian

Thanks for your responses. Ian - there are no tiresome questions in my (mac)book when it comes to attempting to resolve this kind of stuff!

Q: EHD is what?

See if I can reconstruct this business:
- I got a WD My Passport for MacBook backup; when I connected it, TimeMachine dialog showed up asking if I wanted WD to be the backup disk; affirmative
- Finally figured out that it was, indeed, backing everything from the MBook to the WD -- which took quite a while.
- Checked the WD to confirm that it looked like all the files, etc., had transferred over.
- Put in my OS X 10.6.8 installation disk, rebooted to it; clicked on Utilities / Erase; confirmed that's what I wanted to do (there had been some permission glitches over the past couple of months and I decided just to clear everything off and start afresh).
- There were three or four options when I clicked on Erase, the first one automatically checked (the remainders were about 7x and 35x or some such processes to REALLY clean stuff off, but that didn't seem to be pertinent, so I just went with what was already checked)
- Got all that done, then rebooted from installation disk to reinstall 10.6.8, which it did.
- All the icons / desktop files that had been there previously reloaded to where they had been (I'm assuming they had disappeared when I erased, as I didn't do a visual check...)
- Everything seems to work as previously, with the exception of iTunes (although the icon was in the dock where it had previously been)
- Looked at Applications on the MB and it showed there; looked at Applications on the WB and it showed there
- Trashed the existing icon and dragged the "new" one back to the dock; when I click on it, though, it jumps up and down per usual, and then it either 1) opens momentarily, showing nothing in the Library, then shuts down, or 2) doesn't open at all
- Looked at the pull-downs in Finder, under MyMacBook / Music / iTunes / iTunes Media / Music, all of the library albums/files appear to be there ...
- They just don't seem to want to show up in iTunes when I open it.

So, hopefully, that gives you a clearer sense of what's happening on this side of the planet.

Thanks again for your interest and assistance! Much appreciated.

Nels

EHD=External Hard Drive. Ha, there are two distinct "Types" on these forums, those that use dictation (the ones with the funny grammatical errors) and the typers who (like me) try to use abbreviations where possible to reduce key strokes.
Anyway that is a pretty comprehensive description of your actions and I for one cant fault it.
Have you tried just opening it from the Applications folder?
The only things that you have not eliminated from the list of possible causes is; a. There is something wrong with the System Install Disk. B. Something wrong with your laptop, or c. something wrong with your disk drive.
In any event it would seem that iTunes is defective. I take it that everything else is working as it should?
Obviously the easiest way to fix this assuming it is not a hardware issue (unlikely) would be to install a new Operating System.
Short of doing that you can download the latest version of iTunes for 10.6 from here. https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1774?locale=en_US
Put your version of iTunes from the applications folder into the Trash (don't empty the trash) and scrap your Dock Icon. It will download as a dmg. (disk image) and includes an installer with instructions.
Do let us know if this works, worst come to worst you can scrap the new version and go back to the old one.

Hi Nels

I'm really glad that you responded so fully to my post because it more than adequately tells us exactly what you did. I agree with Rod; you seem to have done an excellent "clean install" as it's called.

I can't add to the excellent summary & advice which Rod has given you.

From all you tell us, your music library seems intact. Let's hope the remedy is as simple as downloading a fresh version of iTunes and then "pointing it" to your music media folder.

Keep us posted, please. We'll do our best.

Ian

If iTunes will open from the Applications folder, it should then show up on the Dock like any other running application. If you right click on that icon and Options, you can then select Keep In Dock. So, what I would do is to trash the icon on the Dock now, then go to Applications and run iTunes and when the icon shows up on the dock, make that selection. That could be a quick and easy fix, if iTunes works.

Ah, thank you each and all!

Did as suggested: Trashed existing iTunes, looked up the link recommended, and discovered that I had -- at the outset -- led y'all astray: I only have 10.6.3, not .8 ... so the link put its sniffy nose up in the air and said that my OLD MacBook was not up to its pristine standards and I would be prohibited (I've always liked how the German says it, as it is, in my experience, much more appropriate to how Apple Inc deals with the peasants ... it is VERBOTEN!!! ACH, FORBIDDEN!!) from installing the updated iTunes.

I have CleanMyMac onboard, so it always shows up whenever I'm attempting to Uninstall something ... and there I discovered a lengthy list of all the times iTunes had crashed during this whole process. So that coincides with your conclusion(s) that something was fundamentally amiss in that program.

So then I decided to act as if I knew what I was doing and clicked on Updates ... to find there did, indeed, exist an update for my existing iTunes, so installed that ... and ... wonders! ... everything reappeared as it should have been, library intact, icon in Dock, and music now filling the air in my cubbyhole here.

And, as the Great SpeareShake'r said: all's well that ends well.

Bah! Enough of this. Again, many thanks to y'all. Take the rest of the week off, OK?

Blessings / nels

Ah well, Nels, you got there in the end and that's all that matters.

all's well that ends well

Click to expand...

Or, "Much ado about nothing". Or, "Taming of the shrewd". Anyway; now it's "As you like it"

Ian

AlteMann said:

I have CleanMyMac onboard, so it always shows up whenever I'm attempting to Uninstall something ...

Click to expand...

[Opinion] You just did a clean install and put this back on? Probably what was the problem in the first place. [/Opinion]