How to unlock iTunes Library.itl?

[Aleksi]

Hi all

I am having some problems when trying to share iTunes library with two user accounts in macOS Sierra 10.12.5.

Me and my wife have separate macOS accounts and most of our data is located on external HD (HFS Plus formatted). So too is our iTunes library. iTunes in both of our accounts is configured to use the very same library located on external HD. (This is because our iTunes library is rather big one and our iMac has only 250 GB flash drive.)

Our problem arises when following happens: my wife opens iTunes and leaves it open when she's done. After a while I log on to my account via fast user switching. (My wife doesn't log out and so the iTunes is still running in background on her account.)

When I try to open iTunes I get an error message saying that iTunes Library.itl is locked. After that I am given three options: to stop, to select a new library or to create a new one.

So my question is this: How do I unlock iTunes Library.itl?

I have tried giving the right permissions (chmod 777) to the itl file, to the iTunes folder and to the external HD in its entirety but to no avail.

 

[Darth.Titan]

Your iTunes library is locked because it is still in use by your wife's account.

To unlock it you will need to quit iTunes on your wife's account.

There's no good way around this. Your library file could easily get corrupted if you try to force two instances of iTunes to have the same file open at the same time.

 

[Aleksi]

Hmm, bummer. I was hoping there would be a workaround for this... So how do families manage shared libraries?

 

[Lioness~]

Why do you need to share same iTunes library?
I suspect out of convenience? As it turned out it wasn't huh?
Maybe you want to rate your music differently, or that doesn't matter to you?

You can still share the same music content on the external HD.

 

[DeltaMac]

You are already sharing your iTunes library.
If the library is currently in-use (someone else is using their iTunes with that library) then you will need to quit that instance of iTunes.
I suggest that if this is a problem for you (your wife simply leaves iTunes running in her account), then one work-around for you would be to turn off account switching (so you have to log out of your wife's account, forcing iTunes closed on that account. I don't know if that is a good answer for you, but a choice, nevertheless.

 

[Aleksi]

Why do you need to share same iTunes library?
I suspect out of convenience? As it turned out it wasn't huh?
Maybe you want to rate your music differently, or that doesn't matter to you?

You can still share the same music content on the external HD.

Am I reading this correctly? Can I create two identical libraries that use the same music files?

 

[Lioness~]

Am I reading this correctly? Can I create two identical libraries that use the same music files?

Well, if you copy paste the lib file it will be identical to start with. At least I think that works from what I remember when I had 2 computers.
I started to try to sync libraries. With not that much success.
So I ended up having different libraries, but of course used the same music that I had on a external disk.
So over time the libraries will not look the same, as you will use your libraries differently.

The same music you most definitely can have access to if you chose to.