My iTunes stopped working the other day for what seemed like no reason. It had previously worked fine through numerous upgrades on my primary laptop running Windows XP. The error below started happening out of the blue without performing an upgrade or changing anything iTunes or Quicktime related that I was aware of.
I clicked on Start >> All Programs >> iTunes and received the following error:
Problem with Shortcut
This action is only valid for products that are currently installed.
Then I attempted to uninstall by click Start >> Control Panel, followed by double clicking Add or Remove Programs, highlighting iTunes in the list, and clicking Remove. The process started and then displayed the below error:
C:\Documents and Settings\NetworkService\Local Settings\Application Data\Apple\Apple Software Update\
After clicking Cancel the final error below was displayed:
The installation source for this product is not available. Verify that the source exists and that you can access it.
After a little bit of research on the Internet I was able to find that many other people have had the same problem and the easiest method to resolve the problem was to clean up the previous install and do a reinstall of iTunes and Quicktime. Follow the below steps and you will be using iTunes again in no time at all.
1. Close out of all applications you are running.
2. Download and install the Windows Installer Cleanup Utility. [located here]
3.Run the Windows Installer Cleanup Utility which will look like the below image. Highlight all iTunes and Quicktime related files and click Remove.
4. Download and install the latest versionof iTunes.
5. Launch iTunes and start enjoying your media files again.
iPhone: The Missing Manual: Covers the iPhone 3G (Paperback)
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For anyone having this problem: **You don’t need to uninstall/reinstall itunes!** The problem is with the shortcut only, not the program.
Itunes breaks all its old shortcuts when it updates. It normally makes a new, working one in your start menu somewhere; if you can find one, you can copy it to other places where you need it (e.g. desktop). If not, you need to find itunes.exe and make new shortcuts to it.
More info (and other disaffected users of itunes on windows) can be found at http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=8580783
I believe these may be different issues however I encourage anyone reading this article to also read the thread posted in the comment above to isolate the issue.
As above, only the shortcut is broken. THE PROGRAM ITSLEF IS FINE. All you need to do is make another shortcut.
Hello ChicagoTED,
I would agree in most scenarios though the problem I had at the time was different as the shortcut had not changed and when following the shortcut it went directly to the application that was also in the same place. In fact launching teh application from the folder itself yielded the same problem. Are you talking about a different shortcut other than the shortcut to the application because if so than that is a definite possibility. I guess I don’t understand how it started happening out of the blue without changing anything.
how do you create a new shortcut for itunes
You can right click on the .exe file in the iTunes directory and select “Send To Desktop” to create the shortcut which will appear on the Desktop. If you want to move it somewhere else then you can drag it to the preferred directory/location.
alex,
where is the itunes directory?
Hello sam,
It depends on what you mean. Where the .exe is located? Where the mobile applications are located, backups, etc. Let me know which data specifically you are looking for and I can point you in the right direction.
Thanks.
alex
thank you! my iTunes hasn’t been working for months but it is now.
Hello Megan,
You are very welcome. It is great to hear that this article helped you resolve a problem you had been having for months with iTunes. It is always nice to hear when anytime any of our information helps people solve problems with iTunes or more specifically the iTunes Shortcut. Thanks for taking the time to leave feedback.
Thanks.
alex
I tried the copy and paste to my desktop but when i open iTunes again it doesn’t work. I reallt don’t want to download it again. I have problems with the shortcut is because i was trying to apply the voice over kit to my new ipod shuffle but then iTunes got stuck so i restart my computer adn reopen it…again it didn’t open! I need my musics and i would like some help. Thanks
Hello estella,
Track down the iTunes.exe which should be located in the C:\Program Files\iTunes directory. If you right click the .exe you can create a new Shortcut from that.
Hope that helps.
Alex,
this worked for me. Thanks for the info.
Hello Moon Dog,
Glad to hear it. Thanks for leaving feedback.
Thanks.
alex
I had this problem on June 19, 2009.
I downloaded V8.2, but the shortcut would not work, stating Quicktime was not present and could not complete download update.
I tried to delete quicktimes, do system restore.
After finding this post I hit start; run; itunes and the program opened to the current version.
Whole process took about 2-hours. I’m starting to hate pc’s
I understand that. Computers can be pretty frustrating sometimes. Hope the article helped out.
all of my icons did not work… but i was able to get around this by->start->Run…-> “iTunes” (capital “T”) and it worked.
Hello austin,
Thanks for sharing.
I’m so frustrated! GRR. When I try and download iTunes, all works well until I try and launch it. I get the error – Windows is searching for iTunes.exe, shortcut not found. I have Windows XP Media Center 2005. I have Rhapsody and Media Player with no problems. Rhapsody wont let me download to my new iPod either. Rhapsody’s help center said I needed to download a few songs to get a new device to work. Apple gave me a support call and they said “my computer is too old.”
Hello Kendahl,
Sounds like you have an old shortcut pointed to maybe an older version that no longer exists or something. You might try launching iTunes from the Start Menu. Hope that helps… good luck.
Thanks.
alex