iTunes Error: The iTunes Library.itl file is locked, on a locked disk, or you do not have write permission for this file

While we were working on transferring a client’s iTunes library from one machine to another we hit this error when we went to configure all of their iDevices in iTunes:

iTunes

The iTunes Library.itl file is locked, on a locked disk, or you do not have write permission for this file.

Okay, so we don’t seem to have the ability to open the library after the file copy finished.

We searched for some clues on what was going on with an obscure reference to file attributes being found on one forum.

Sure enough, we checked the iTunes’ folder properties and we found:

The iTunes root folder was somehow set to Read Only during the copy process between machines.

We made sure to clear the Read Only attribute”

Note that the speed of the system and the size of the iTunes library can greatly impact the amount of time the attribute change takes. In this case we waited a couple of minutes for the 3.8 GB worth of files to be touched.

Once the attribute change completed we needed to force iTunes to open that library by doing the following:

1. Hold the SHFT key.
2. Double click on the iTunes shortcut.
3. Click the Choose Library button.
4. Choose the library.lti file located in the root folder.

We ended up creating a number of playlists and setting each iDevice to only synchronize the playlist assigned to it so that our client could have a number of different devices tied to the one user account’s iTunes setup.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer