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I have virtually all of my music on a remote computer that is file-sharing the entire directory out (i use a network drive to get iTunes to read the music). One day, i started up iTunes and found that it's marked all of these files as unable to be found. Is there a way to force it to easily re-detect all of the tracks?

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What is the OS? Mac or Windows? –  Mark Oct 26 '10 at 8:11
Windows 7 64 bit. –  RCIX Oct 26 '10 at 8:19

2 Answers 2

Apparently after a little reading around this is what happens when iTunes starts but your network drive is not mapped properly.
You will need to change your default folder back to the network drive you originally had it pointed at.

To do this launch itunes and then point it to the new location (preferences, advanced tab). alternately, launch itunes with the alt key down and choose the new location that way. Source

I also found a VBS script to run when starting iTunes, it maps the network drive and only then launches iTunes. You could modify it with an if statement to only launch iTunes if the network drive is mapped and simply end if it cannot map the drive, but thats up to you. You will however need to modify the variables at the top to match your setup:

' Variables that hold drive letter to use, network path to map, and itunes program executable path
MUSIC_NETWORK_PATH = "\\Gamepc\ipod jukebox"
ITUNES_PROGRAM_PATH = "C:\Program Files\iTunes\iTunes.exe"

' Setup shell to run command line with windows
Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")

' Execute the drive remapping command, and wait for it to complete
returnVal = WshShell.Run("net use " & MAPPED_DRIVE_LETTER & " """ & MUSIC_NETWORK_PATH & """",1,True)

' Open iTunes
WshShell.Run """" & ITUNES_PROGRAM_PATH & """"

Simply replace the iTunes shortcut with this vbs file and it will check the network drive is mapped and then start iTunes. Source is here: tinyurl.com/2bvxqzd

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Well, what i have setup is that the library itself is on my computer but i had iTunes scan the network folder for music. –  RCIX Oct 26 '10 at 10:39
It's acting like the network drive isn't connected when it is. I'd just wipe it and start over, but i have most of my songs rated and i don't know how to export that. –  RCIX Oct 31 '10 at 18:41
Wait, this is odd. I manually located one of my songs and told iTunes to find other missing songs bassed on that one's location, and it found ~95% of them. –  RCIX Oct 31 '10 at 18:43

At least in some cases, if you manually locate one of your songs, then tell iTunes yes when it asks if you want it to find more missing songs based on this one's location, that will fix it.

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