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How to: Fix iTunes Library file error (-48)

Thursday, May 15th, 2008 at 11:14 am by Tom Clarke
Audio, Free, Tips, Windows

If you’re anything like me, you’ll find iTunes to be an essential part of your working day. Whether I’m listening to my favourite podcasts or concentrating with the help of some soothing music, iTunes stays running all through the day. Which is why I started to become pretty worried when a recurring error started to appear recently. Each time I start iTunes, I receive an error warning stating that “The iTunes Library file cannot be saved. An unknown error occurred (-48)“.

iTunes error (-48)

It took me a bit of time to work out how to fix this problem, so I thought I’d pass on what I found. This error basically stems from iTunes not being able to write its Library file to your iTunes folder. To fix it, simply find your iTunes folder (located in My Documents > My Music, in my case), right click the folder’s icon and choose ‘Properties‘. From here, click ‘Advanced‘ and make sure that Fast indexing is switched off for the folder. Also, make sure that in the main properties dialog box, ‘Read only‘ is completely unchecked.

This worked for me, but let me know if you’re having further problems with error (-48).

Reader comments

  1. I have been experiencing the same issue for the past week or two on a Windows XP Pro machine. I tried the suggested fix and it appears to have worked! Thank you.

    Posted at 1:03 pm on May 16th by Mike Doyon

  2. I have been trying to fix this same problem for an incredibly incredibly long time and this worked!! Thank you so much!

    Posted at 12:21 pm on May 22nd by Ami Hunter

  3. I have been trying to figure this out and have tried a million things for an incredibly incredibly incredibly long time and this actually worked. Thank you SO much!

    Posted at 12:22 pm on May 22nd by Ami Hunter

  4. Ami - so good you thanked me twice!! Glad it worked for you ;-)

    Posted at 12:44 pm on May 22nd by Tom Clarke

  5. Wow, I’ve been having this same problem and could not for the life of me find a suggestion on Apple’s site. Thank you!!

    Posted at 3:54 am on Jun 18th by Anna Moore

  6. Thank you!:D

    Posted at 12:11 pm on Jun 24th by Jordan

  7. This worked the first time I tried it. However, my computer keeps checking the Read-Only box everytime I close the “Properties” window. Any suggestions as to keeping Read-Only unchecked?

    Posted at 11:23 pm on Jul 13th by sunflare

  8. Yep, this also appears to have worked for me after a long, long search.

    Thanks to the OP.

    Posted at 2:33 pm on Jul 16th by Ian Harvey

  9. Your advise didn’t help but I deleted all the temp files in my iTunes folder and that solved the problem

    Posted at 3:00 pm on Jul 31st by Chandan

  10. Thanks for posting this! You saved me a long night of tearing my hair out while I tried to figure out what was wrong.

    Posted at 6:23 am on Aug 3rd by Ruth

  11. it didnt help for me, i think i’ll delete all the temp files and see what happens! =]
    Any other ideas?

    Posted at 2:47 am on Aug 6th by Mr.Sté

  12. This worked for me, using windows XP and an iPod classic. If I thought you would accept a marriage proposal, I would ask you, for you sir are my newfound true love.

    Posted at 2:12 am on Aug 7th by Graham Edward Krenz

  13. Graham, I’m thrilled and flattered. But I already have a lady wife.

    Glad the trick worked for you!

    Posted at 7:04 am on Aug 7th by Tom Clarke

  14. its not working for me, there’s no advanced option in the properties.. also when i uncheck read only, press apply and ok, it just checks it again by itself. any ideas?

    Posted at 5:21 pm on Aug 19th by Pondy

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