What would cause iTunes library to be greyed out when trying to choose it

[ambientdaw]

From within Mojave. From within Catalina. On three different Macs. Trying from three different EXTERNAL hard drives, I cannot point iTunes or Catalina's Music app to my library file. I have never had this problem before. I am setting up a new iMac and having no luck. Used to be so easy!

 

[ApfelKuchen]

Do you really mean library file? As in iTunes Library.itl or iTunes Music Library.xml? If so, that's your problem.
iTunes Library.itl and iTunes Music Library.xml are catalog lists. Neither is your actual library, they are documents located within the library. That's why they're grayed-out when you try to open then with iTunes.

To open an iTunes Library (whether on an internal or external drive), iTunes needs to know the location of the iTunes Media folder (the set of nested folders that actually contains the media files).

If you copied only the iTunes Library file to the external HD, and not the iTunes library folders, then what you describe is completely understandable.

 

[ambientdaw]

Do you really mean library file? As in iTunes Library.itl or iTunes Music Library.xml? If so, that's your problem.
iTunes Library.itl and iTunes Music Library.xml are catalog lists. Neither is your actual library, they are documents located within the library. That's why they're grayed-out when you try to open then with iTunes.

To open an iTunes Library (whether on an internal or external drive), iTunes needs to know the location of the iTunes Media folder (the set of nested folders that actually contains the media files).

If you copied only the iTunes Library file to the external HD, and not the iTunes library folders, then what you describe is completely understandable.

Thank you for your reply! There is also a file (with no extension) called iTunes Library (mine is 10mb). The .itl files are not greyed out but they are quite old.

I hope this isn't a major brain error on my part! I could swear I used to point to the iTunes Library mentioned above! I thought about pointing it to the media folder but I assumed there would then be no playlists. I am afraid to make a mess. Perhaps once it sees the media folder it automatically finds the iTunes Library file?

 

[Taz Mangus]

Thank you for your reply! There is also a file (with no extension) called iTunes Library (mine is 10mb). The .itl files are not greyed out but they are quite old.

I hope this isn't a major brain error on my part! I could swear I used to point to the iTunes Library mentioned above! I thought about pointing it to the media folder but I assumed there would then be no playlists. I am afraid to make a mess. Perhaps once it sees the media folder it automatically finds the iTunes Library file?

Maybe this will help.

How to manually upgrade iTunes library to Music.app library on macOS Catalina?

I have a smaller iTunes library on an internal SSD and larger one on an external drive. I have upgraded to macOS Catalina. The smaller music library has been upgraded, the larger one hasn't. How...

apple.stackexchange.com

 

[ambientdaw]

For anyone in the future who has this problem: I added ".itl" to my extension-less "iTunes Library" greyed-out file and that fixed everything.

 

[ambientdaw]

Now I am biting the bullet for the final transfer and the Music App is giving me something new: an order to SAVE AS. My existing iTunes.itl is on an external SSD. What is going to happen when I save-as? Does is matter where I save to?