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iTunes Locked Folder

S

Stan

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 1, 2003
93
0
After attempting to alter permissions on an application folder so it would require a password to open (which did not work!), I now get the following message when trying to open iTunes:

The folder "iTunes" is on a locked disk or you do not have write permissions for this folder

I have reverted back the settings on the folder as before, to no avail. Does anyone know, firstly, how to repair this, and secondly, how to change the permissions on a folder so it asks for a password to open? I have seen this done before.

Thanks for your assistance.

Stan
 
Select the iTunes folder and hit Cmd+i (or control-click and select "Get Info"). What does it say under ownership and permissions?
 
O&P on iTunes app:

You can: Read & Write

Owner: system
Access: Read & Write

Group: admin
Access: Read & Write

Others: Read & Write

If I go into the iTunes music folder, I can access the music no problem, it just won't launch iTunes!
 
I think you locked your applications folder somehow. (your music should be untouched)

Try creating another account and opening iTunes.

Do other applications open normally?
 
iDuck said:
I think you locked your applications folder somehow. (your music should be untouched)

Try creating another account and opening iTunes.

Do other applications open normally?
Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply. Yep, all other applications open as normal, it's just iTunes that comes up with this. Not sure what you mean by 'creating another account'?
 
Alrighty then. Can you describe exactly what application you were playing with when you began to have this problem?

You can create a new account in System Preferences under Users. This will help to figure out wether or not you currupted preference files or not. I doubt it, but its certainly possible.

Does the iTunes application open then close? Or does it just display the error right away when you try to launch?

You should also repair permissions. You can do this in Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility. Then all you have to do is click "Repiar Permissions" on your Macintosh HD (or whatever you may have renamed it to).
 
In system preferences, click on select "accounts," and add another (test) account by clicking the '+' sign in the lower-left corner. You can delete this account later.

As a side note, have you tried repairing permissions?

Edit: Nevermind, iDuck beat me to it.
 
Repaired disk permissions, it did alter the iTunes permissions, but after I closed it and tried again, the same error message came up. A reboot didn't help either.

I set up a new user account, logged on to it and opened iTunes - no problems. It came up with the licence agreement and asked me to set up, then opened the empty iTunes library.

As the music itself appears to be ok in its folder, would deleting and re-installing iTunes help, do you think? Or is this more complicated?
 
Stan said:
Repaired disk permissions, it did alter the iTunes permissions, but after I closed it and tried again, the same error message came up. A reboot didn't help either.

I set up a new user account, logged on to it and opened iTunes - no problems. It came up with the licence agreement and asked me to set up, then opened the empty iTunes library.

As the music itself appears to be ok in its folder, would deleting and re-installing iTunes help, do you think? Or is this more complicated?
Click to expand...
Deleting and reinstalling might help, but I think what you need to do is delete preference files related to iTunes.

You can do this using spotlight: itunes plist

Delete all files that say something about itunes and end in .plist. Make sure you've backed up your music folder, because this will reset itunes to day one. It may or may not effect the music, I'm not sure. If someone more familliar with preference files would like to correct me, they are welcome to do so.
 
When deleting preferences files it is always a good idea to move them to the desktop, restart, make sure everything works fine, and then delete them.

This way, if there is a problem, you can always restore the originals.


I do not believe it will reset the music, assuming the music is located in the iTunes default location.

PS - the only plist file you should have to delete is com.apple.iTunes.plist located in your user's library under the preferences folder.
 
Deleted this file and rebooted, it made no difference. So then deleted the app and tried to re-install - now it won't re-install, when I've downloaded the app, when I get to the 'easy install' page, nothing is highlighted! I'm guessing the Mac still thinks the original iTunes is installed.
 
Archive and install?? :p

Well..... I guess you could. I think it might make more sense as far as time/effort goes to just to setup a new account.
 
I just had this problem happen to me yesterday. I am new to Mac and have NO clue how to get my iTunes up and running agian! Have you figured it out yet, Stan?
 
Stan said:
Deleted this file and rebooted, it made no difference. So then deleted the app and tried to re-install - now it won't re-install, when I've downloaded the app, when I get to the 'easy install' page, nothing is highlighted! I'm guessing the Mac still thinks the original iTunes is installed.
Click to expand...
Unless you are using an older version of iTunes, afaik you should be able to run the installer, even if it is already installed. Make sure that you have the newest installer http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/ and then reinstall iTunes.
 
I had the same message shortly after installing itunes 7 from a previous version.

In the end I had to delete the "iTunes Library" file (not iTunes Music Library.xml).

It had default preferences and did not remember when I imported music. :mad:

But at least it works now! Wasn't such a big task in the end.
 
hey guys.

i had this problem today and i found this forum when i was looking for a solution. in my case it was something stupid that i did trying to fiddle around with making my music available through the web server. incase this helps anyone, the solution for me was pretty simple. in terminal:

sudo chown -R username:username ~/Music/iTunes

hope that helps someone.
 
How to finally unlock your iTunes

After reading a bit here and there I finally get the answer....You have to find your music files: User>Music and command+i Get Info> till Ownership and Permissions> Details and verified that everything correspond to you and said Read and Write, after that the problem is solve.
 
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