iTunes is a famous digital media player used all over the world. It works fine most of the time, but you may encounter certain errors when running on Windows 7. Recently, there have been several complaints on different forums about iTunes freezing issues. We will provide solutions for this problem.
Troubleshooting Instructions:
Defragment the Registry
Remove your iTunes preferences
Remove iTunes Plugins
Recreate your iTunes library
clean your system
Create a new user account
Defragment the Registry
iTunes is constantly retrieving your settings from your Windows 7 registry. The slow performance of this process causes iTunes to freeze on Windows 7.
You should defragment your computer’s registry using system utility software. This process requires a system reboot to continue. Make sure all running programs are closed before starting the process.
Remove your iTunes preferences
iTunes stores your media preferences in separate files that it creates. If these files are not healthy, you will experience a freezing problem with iTunes.
That is why it is recommended to delete such files and fix this problem. Here are the steps to do it:
You must first completely close iTunes. This will prevent any errors while deleting such files.
Open My Computer.
Double click to open the following directory:
C:Users\AppDataLocalApple ComputeriTunes
You can find a folder called Preferences. Open it and delete everything stored on it.
Remove iTunes Plugins
Did you install any new plugins in iTunes? If so, remove these plugins. This will help you avoid application freezing in Windows 7.
Close iTunes completely.
Open My Computer.
Double click to open the following directory:
C:Users\AppDataRoamingApple ComputeriTunesiTunes Plugins
Delete all files stored in this directory. If you are sure that previously installed plugins were working correctly, do not remove them. Just remove the newly installed plugins.
Recreate iTunes Library
iTunes freezes on Windows 7 due to problems with iTunes library files. By recreating these files, you can avoid this problem in the future.
Close iTunes completely.
Open My Computer.
Double click to open the following directory:
C:Users\MusiciTunes
You will see a file called Library.xml and a folder similar to iTunes Library or similar.
Right-click on the Library.xml file and select Cut. Then right click on your desktop and select the Paste option.
Delete the file named iTunes Library.itl stored there.
Open iTunes and click File | Library | Import playlist.
Browse and select the Library.xml file that you just pasted to your desktop.
clean your system
To clean your system of junk data, the best option is to use the System Cleaner function of a System Utilities software. However, to clean up the selected objects, you can use the Disk Cleanup tool in Windows 7 as shown below:
Click Start.
Click All Programs | Accessories | System Tools | Disk cleanup.
Select a drive you want to clean and then press ENTER.
Follow the instructions that appear on your screen.
Create a new user account
Sometimes iTunes may get stuck in Windows 7 on a particular user account. You can try to launch iTunes by creating a new user account as shown below:
Click Start | Control Panel.
On the User Accounts and Family Safety icon, click the Add or remove user accounts link.
Click Create a new account link.
Enter a name for your new user account, select a type (Standard/Admin), and then click Create Account.
Sign out after creating it.
Sign in with your new user account and install iTunes on it.