Blog Post

How to fix ‘iTunes cannot run because some of its required files are missing’ error

  • By Jonathan Yeung
  • 08 Aug, 2017
Charging iPhone
The majority of these steps were taken from Apple's own tutorial called 'Remove and reinstall iTunes and related software components for Windows 7 and later'. I have added in a few additional steps that have helped me in reinstalling an older version of iTunes.

The Solution - Completely Removing Apple Software Components

  1. Uninstall these applications in the following order.
    a) iTunes
    b) Apple Software Update
    c) Bonjour
    d) Apple Application Support 32-bit
    e) Apple Application Support 64-bit
The Program Files folder and its contents on Windows XP.
The Program Files folder.
2) Open Local Disk (C:) (or whichever hard disk your programs are installed on).
2.1) Open the Program Files folder
2.2) Delete the following folders, if they exist: iTunes, Bonjour, and iPod.
The Common Files folder and its content on Windows XP.
The Common Files folder (which is located within the Program Files folder).
3) Open the Common Files folder
3.1) Delete the following folders, if they exist: Mobile Device Support, Apple Application Support, CoreFP

Now if you’re using a 32-bit version of Windows XP, then skip to step 6.
However, if you’re using a 64-bit version of Windows XP, then do the following:

4) Open the Program Files (x86) folder.
4.1) Delete the following folders, if they exist: iTunes, Bonjour, and iPod.

5) Open the Common Files folder
5.1) Delete the following folders, if they exist: Mobile Device Support, Apple Application Support, CoreFP
The My Music folder and its contents on Windows XP.
Delete the iTunes folder if it exists in your My Music folder.
6) Open the My Music folder
6.1) Delete the iTunes folder, if it exists.

7) Empty your Recycle Bin.
7.1) Restart your computer (just to be extra sure).

Re-install any version of iTunes (or iTunes 7.5, if you want to downgrade your iPhone 2G).

The iTunes 7.5 installer on Windows XP.
The iTunes setup wizard for version 7, which is required for downgrading iPhone 2G models.
8) Simply download (mirror) and run the iTunes setup wizard.

And just like that, you should no longer encounter any errors.


Written and edited by Jonathan Yeung

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