Issue in Apple Music after moving files to new location in Windows

Hello All,


I have had a good look around but couldn't see anything the same so thought I would ask, as this issue was something easily fixed in iTunes.


I am a Windows 11 user with Apple Music & Apple Devices (because there needed to be 2 programs rather than just one of course) to add music to my iPod and iPhone 16 Pro Max - now I did some quality of life reorganising of the My Music folder and Apple Music then refuses to acknowledge that the tracks are there, now it did initially come up with locate file but was only looking for MP3 files and the drop down had 2 sets of this which I find interesting as Apple has their own lossless in the form of M4A which the files in question are.


Looking about the suggestion is to return everything to where is was which is frankly ridiculous and I can only see a recreation of all my playlists ahead - I am sure I have missed something and one of you kind folks here can point me in the right direction as I am sure that Apple have not taken a whole leap back from iTunes which simply asked where a file was and then even offered to scan the same place for any other missing files as well and all would be sorted and you get on with life.

Posted on Sep 11, 2025 12:46 PM

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5 replies

Sep 11, 2025 5:22 PM in response to Gaijin_no_Nihon_Densha_Ai

Your first mistake was installing Apple Music for Windows. Your second was moving content by hand rather than defining a new media folder and then consolidating to it. You could potentially move things back where they came from, then try again. Or you could uninstall Apple Music/TV/Devices then try to fix iTunes. See this post iTunes Original File Could Not Be Found - Apple Community. The script I've written for iTunes doesn't work with Apple Music.


tt2

Oct 4, 2025 9:11 AM in response to BigAnonaa

BigAnonaa wrote:

Hi there, do you know why I don't get the option to locate missing files in Apple Music? Used to be fine in iTunes.


No. I don't have any access to the code, nor the design specification. I can only assume it was a feature they didn't think necessary to port over. My advice is to avoid Apple Music for Windows and stick to iTunes for as long as it remains functional.


tt2

Oct 7, 2025 5:05 AM in response to BigAnonaa

BigAnonaa wrote:

Unfortunately it's not very functional when transferring music over to an iPhone so probably just going to need to do everything manually.


As long as you don't install Apple Music/Devices/TV then iTunes should remain fully usable. If you have issues syncing with it try iOS device not showing in iTunes for Windows - Apple Community and/or If you have music that won't play on your device - Apple Community.


tt2

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Issue in Apple Music after moving files to new location in Windows

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