Moving .musiclibrary for playlist preservation on Windows 11

Every time I move to a new computer, I lose the playlists and have to recreate them. I'm currently on a Windows 11 box. I have my music files in D:\Music. I don't copy files to the media folder when I add them to the library. I see there is a .musiclibrary in the default media folder location, C:\Users\<me>\Music\Apple Music. When I changed the media folder location to somewhere on my D:\Apple Music, I see that AM created some files in this location, but not a .musiclibrary. How do I get the .musiclibrary to move so that my playlists will be preserved and so that I can sync my music/playlists to my iPhone?

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Posted on Feb 4, 2025 03:01 PM

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3 replies

turingtest2

Level 10

277,729 points

Feb 4, 2025 06:37 PM in response to cbarlock

Unlike iTunes, Apple Music for Windows doesn't have the ability to swap between multiple libraries or open a library from a specific location. Changing the media folder path within the app sets the location that new content will be added to, but it still works with the library database in C:\Users\<User>\Music\Apple Music. To move your library to a new computer copy that folder over to the new computer, move your external drive across, and install Apple Music for Windows. Your playlists, ratings, and anything else not captured in tags is stored in the Apple Music Library.musiclibrary folder.

tt2

cbarlock Author

Level 1

4 points

Feb 4, 2025 07:02 PM in response to turingtest2

Thank you, tt2!

turingtest2

Level 10

277,729 points

Feb 5, 2025 01:57 AM in response to cbarlock

You're welcome. 🙂

tt2

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Moving .musiclibrary for playlist preservation on Windows 11