How to Fix a Locked iTunes itl Library File?

by Chris Martin on January 17, 2010

What to do if you notice a message as soon as you launch iTunes, “The iTunes Library file is locked, on a locked disk, or you do not have write permission for this file”. Follow the instructions listed below on how to fix a locked iTunes Library file that prevents iTunes from loading.

Locked iTunes

Steps to Fix Locked iTunes library.itl file

Step #1 Click Launch Finder by its icon in the dock.

Step #2 Select Music from the list of places of the Finder window then double-click the iTunes folder.

Step #3 Find the iTunes Library file and drag it to your desktop.

Step #4 Launch the iTunes application. It is important to note that your iTunes Library will be empty. Just quit the application by pressing the Command+q keys.

Step #5 Drag the iTunes Library file from the Desktop back to the iTunes folder you original took it from and then click the Replace button to continue.

Step #6 You can now launch iTunes as normal without receiving a locked library message.

Tagged as: iTunes

{ 5 comments }

Emily May 4, 2010 at 2:30 pm: The only solution that actually worked!!!
thank you!
Matthias May 31, 2010 at 11:04 pm: This problem came up for me and I almost had a fit…tried a bunch of different things and nothing worked. I did the above fix and it also failed. However, the simplest of all solutions did end up working. I used Time Machine on my iMac to go back to soon before the error message started to appear, and a grabbed my iTunes Library file (the same file from above) and I restored it. I clicked “Replace” to change out the locked file with the one that worked and after that iTunes started right up with everything intact. By the way, just a little FYI, I think all this started for me because I was trying to rip a DVD onto my computer…I didn't know what I was doing with the file conversion and I screwed myself.
Matthias June 1, 2010 at 12:04 am: This problem came up for me and I almost had a fit…tried a bunch of different things and nothing worked. I did the above fix and it also failed. However, the simplest of all solutions did end up working. I used Time Machine on my iMac to go back to soon before the error message started to appear, and a grabbed my iTunes Library file (the same file from above) and I restored it. I clicked “Replace” to change out the locked file with the one that worked and after that iTunes started right up with everything intact. By the way, just a little FYI, I think all this started for me because I was trying to rip a DVD onto my computer…I didn't know what I was doing with the file conversion and I screwed myself.
Banga June 20, 2010 at 6:20 am: I removed Safari and this seemed to correct the problem….
Banga June 20, 2010 at 1:20 am: I removed Safari and this seemed to correct the problem….