Unable to share iTunes library on Mac partition with Windows partition

Cybertronic · 16 Feb 2009 at 14:06

I recently installed MacDrive on my Windows Vista X64 partition so that I could access my iTunes Library on my Mac partition. After installing iTunes on my Windows partition and pressing shift while it opened, iTunes asked me for an iTunes library file ending with the extension ".itl". Now, I do not have any files ending with this extension in my iTunes folder on my Mac partition.

Is there anything I can do to make iTunes on Windows to read my music library on my Mac partition?

I've posted an identical thread on MacRumors and have received any solutions yet

Cybertronic · 18 Feb 2009 at 20:35

Nobody has tried sharing their iTunes library?

Sic · 19 Feb 2009 at 09:16

Windows can't read HFS file systems, so you won't have much luck there.

It is odd that they'd opt for using XML on one system and not on another.

Cybertronic · 19 Feb 2009 at 13:33

Sic said:
Windows can't read HFS file systems, so you won't have much luck there.

I'm using MacDrive to read my Mac's HFS file system as mentioned in the first post

Sic said:
It is odd that they'd opt for using XML on one system and not on another.

If this hadn't been the case, I would be happily playing Audiosurf with my iTunes music library

Sic · 19 Feb 2009 at 17:59

Hah, I didn't see that bit! It wasn't even late. No excuse.

Vonhelmet · 19 Feb 2009 at 19:09

That itl file is probably in your home drive on your mac. Look in home:name:music:itunes. Move that file to your shared drive, then create an alias to it back in your music directory, where you originally found it. Point windows to the file on the shared drive.

That should work.

Cybertronic · 19 Feb 2009 at 21:42

There isn't an .itl file anywhere in the iTunes folder on my Mac partition, there are only .itdb and .xml files. I prefer not use a shared/external drive or a separate partition as a alternative workaround

Vonhelmet · 19 Feb 2009 at 22:51

Cybertronic said:
There isn't an .itl file anywhere in the iTunes folder on my Mac partition, there are only .itdb and .xml files. I prefer not use a shared/external drive or a separate partition as a alternative workaround

Ah, sorry, I misunderstood you - I thought you had a separate partition that you were using on both Windows and Mac. I think my solution will still work. It's a bit simpler without things moving to alternative drives actually.

Windows uses the .itl extension for the Itunes library file, which I presume is the same as the file called "Itunes music library.xml" in your user:names:music:itunes directory in OS X. Under OS X, navigate to the Itunes folder and rename that file to "Itunes music library.itl". Then, create an alias to it in the same folder with the name "Itunes music library.xml". Then you should just need to point the Windows version to that folder and things should work OK.

If you're not familiar with the alias, it means that one file can be accessed by multiple names. In this case, both versions of Itunes can find the same file even though each one wants to refer to it by a different name - Mac Itunes looks for the xml file and Windows Itunes looks for the itl file, and they both end up with the same thing. For the record, I've done this by renaming the original and then aliasing that, because I know OS X will handle the alias just fine, though I can't be confident that your HFS+ software for Windows will interpret it correctly, so it's safest to let Windows find the file directly, rather than via the alias.

PS This solution (assuming it works, which I'm confident it will) is simpler than what has been suggested over at Macrumours in your thread there.

Cybertronic · 20 Feb 2009 at 13:32

Thanks for your thorough reply

It seems the biggest problem in my situation is that even if your solution did work, iTunes on Windows would rename the paths of all the songs in this file to the paths used by Windows. If iTunes on Mac read this file, nothing would play since the paths does not exist on the Mac partition. Unless, iTunes rebuilds the library every time you play it in a different OS from what I've read it does on some solutions to a similar problem

However, I will try your solution but my MacDrive trial has ran out while trying to look for solutions since I didn't know iTunes on both OS used different files. 5 days is pretty poor for a trial

Vonhelmet · 20 Feb 2009 at 13:58

Cybertronic said:
It seems the biggest problem in my situation is that even if your solution did work, iTunes on Windows would rename the paths of all the songs in this file to the paths used by Windows. If iTunes on Mac read this file, nothing would play since the paths does not exist on the Mac partition. Unless, iTunes rebuilds the library every time you play it in a different OS from what I've read it does on some solutions to a similar problem (

That's a good point actually. The file paths are all stored in the library file, and I don't know if Itunes in Windows will be able to interpret the Mac filepaths, or whether Macdrive will convert them on the fly.

That could be a problem.