Setting up Apple TV on a different computer

By Jesse Hollington @jhollington ● Friday, October 8, 2010

Q: I recently set up my new iMac and transferred my iTunes media from my old Mac Mini as suggested by iLounge. iTunes is working fine except that it does not recognize my first-generation Apple TV. I am able to sync my iPod and iPad without any problems but the Apple TV does not show up in the devices list or in iTunes preferences. Whenever I launch iTunes I get the message “Do you want the application iTunes” to accept incoming network connections? In System Preferences under Security I have allowed iTunes to accept incoming connections. However the message keeps on appearing every time I launch iTunes. After searching Google for a solution I have installed iTunes again but to no avail. How do I get iTunes to recognize and synch to the Apple TV?

- Rajanna

A: Unlike other Apple media devices which are associated to an iTunes library, the first-generation Apple TV becomes associated with a specific computer. In this case, your Apple TV is still looking for your old Mac Mini and therefore won’t appear on your new computer, even if you’ve transferred over the exact same iTunes library.

What you will need to do is go to the Apple TV, go into the Settings, Computers menu and remove your iTunes library from there. Once you’ve done this, configure your Apple TV to connect to iTunes on your new iMac in the same way as you originally did when you set it up for the Mac Mini. Note that this process will remove all of your synced content from your Apple TV, as you are effectively associated it with a new library, however once you’ve re-associated it with the iMac, you can reconfigure the sync settings and transfer your content back on.