Apple’s support website is very sparse when it comes to tips about iTunes on Windows.
The Apple Support advice contained in transferring iTunes to another Windows computer makes assumptions about both the size of the media folder and the space available on either of the computers.
The user is told to ‘consolidate’ their media file using File > Library > Organise Library.
On my Win10 PC for some reason iTunes tried to consolidate onto my SSD C Drive rather than onto the HDD drive where the folder actually resided. The SSD is only 256 GB and the Media Folder is 110 GB.
I spoke with Apple Support but it seems supporting iTunes on Windows is not part of their training curriculum. As an aside when my iTunes crashed in 2016 I was able to get hands-on help from an Apple Support consultant who knew Windows inside out – sadly things have changed.
I did some more research and found this blog from PC Mag UK dated January 2020. This advised about moving the iTunes Media folder for both Macs and Windows. Moving to a NAS seemed to be a favoured solution so that the folder could be shared across multiple platforms.
Moving from a Win10 to a Win11 PC
A combination of these blogs has helped me to move over from old to new PC.
1. Copy your iTunes Media folder to an external drive.
2. Download iTunes onto New PC . Do NOT execute this download.
If you have executed it by mistake, then look in the Music folder on your C Drive and delete the empty Media folder.
3. Copy the Media folder from your external drive to the New PC.
For this I used my 2TB SSD drive.
4. Execute iTunes on your New PC and hold down the shift key – this tells it to ask where the Media folder is located.
5. From the pop up message now will now be asked for the Media folder
Select the “Choose Library” option.
After selecting your loaded Media Folder, then select the “iTunes Library” file within it and click the Open button
6. So far I am able to open the transferred Media Folder with my music etc without having to authorise this second iTunes.
I do expect at sometime to have to do this as on my original PC I do get asked periodically to connect to the Apple Store!
7. The next and final task is to connect this iTunes to Outlook on the New PC so that I can synchronise my calendar and contacts.
8. Do remember to de-authorise iTunes on the Original PC before disposal.
Note: The Crucial X8 2TB Portable SSD that I used to move my Media folder had the advantage of being fast and it came with a USB-C to USB-C cable plus a USB-C to USB-A adapter.