Article
Fixing “Library Locked” message in Mac iTunes
By Jerrod H.
Contributing Editor
Published: Wednesday, June 7, 2006
Articles Categories: Ask iLounge, iTunes
Ask iLounge offers readers the opportunity to get answers to their iPod-, iPhone-, iPad-, iTunes-, or Apple TV-related questions from a member of the iLounge editorial team. We'll answer several questions here each week, and of course, you can always get help with more immediate concerns from the iLounge Discussion Forums. Submit your questions for consideration using our Ask iLounge Submit Form. We reserve the right to edit questions for grammar, spelling, and length.
Q: When I try to open iTunes on my Mac, I get a message that says “iTunes Library Locked” and the program won’t open.

How do I fix this problem?
- David
A: We’ve run into this problem a few times ourselves, and we’ve fixed it a few different ways. Sometimes, simply restarting works. If not, try running the “Repair Permissions” utility found in the “Disc Utility” program in your “/Applications/Utilities/” folder. If that doesn’t work either, you can fix it yourself, for sure:
Navigate to your home directory’s “Music” folder, and under “iTunes,” find the “iTunes Library” file. Highlight it, and select “Get Info” from the Finder’s “File” menu. Then, ensure that your window looks like ours below, in that “Locked” is unchecked and that the pull-down menu at the bottom labeled “You can” is set to “Read & Write.” This should fix the problem.

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