How to Fix iTunes Error 13014

Having problems opening and using the iTunes software on your computer? 

Recently, there have been reports from several users that they encounter an iTunes error 13014 whenever they try to open iTunes or perform any task inside the program. The issue seems to occur on all versions of iTunes and Windows. 

Now, there are a couple of reasons as to why you see such error on your Windows device. Most of the time, the iTunes error 13014 is caused by corrupted installation files, outdated versions of iTunes, or even the ‘Genius’ feature inside iTunes itself (we will dive into this deeper down below).

We will dive into the various factors for this issue as well as show you a few steps that you can easily follow to try and fix the iTunes error 13014 on your Windows computer. 

Let’s get started. 

1. Restart Your Computer. 

The first thing that you can do when iTunes and other programs on your computer do not function properly is to restart your Windows PC. It is possible that Windows has encountered a temporary glitch, or that some of the installation files for iTunes were not initialized properly.

Hence, it is best that you perform a simple restart on your computer to ensure that all system files are initiated properly. Here’s how you can restart your Windows PC:

  1. On your computer, press on the Windows logo located at the Taskbar.
  2. After that, click on the Power icon inside the Start Menu. 
  3. Lastly, click on Restart to start rebooting your computer.

iTunes Error 13014

Once your computer completely boots up, open the iTunes software and try performing a few tasks like playing a song or editing your playlist to test if the error 13014 would still pop up.

On the other hand, if you are still encountering the error after restarting your computer, you can proceed to the next method below. 

2. Update iTunes.

The next thing that you should do when you are having problems using iTunes is to check for updates. Running outdated software on your computer can cause issues, especially if that specific version of iTunes already has a bug or error that can be fixed with the latest update. 

Keeping your programs up to date is a good practice to avoid issues in the future and to keep your machine secured all the time. 

To check for an update on the iTunes software, you can follow the steps below. 

  1. On your computer, go to the Desktop and open the iTunes app. 
  2. Next, click the Help tab on the navigation bar at the upper left corner of the screen. 
  3. Lastly, click on Check for Updates and follow the on-screen prompts to update the iTunes software to the latest version.

iTunes Error 13014

Once again, test the iTunes application and observe if the iTunes error 13014 would still occur after updating iTunes to the latest version. 

3. Disable Third-Party Antivirus Software.

If you use third-party antivirus software on your Windows device, it is possible that it is restricting iTunes from accessing certain services from your computer, which causes it to encounter problems when doing specific tasks. 

As we all know, iTunes needs access to the internet when you want to download media content from the store. It’s highly likely that your antivirus identifies and blocks the connection with iTunes because it deems high network activity when you try to download files from the iTunes Store as suspicious behavior.

To fix this, try to disable your antivirus first before you run iTunes. You can also choose to permanently uninstall the antivirus software from your computer since you already have Windows Defender in the first place, which is a great free alternative that comes built-in with your Windows operating system.

4. Turn Off Genius on iTunes. 

Genius is one of the features of iTunes that automatically generates a playlist for you based on the songs that you are listening to. However, for some unknown reasons, iTunes encounters issues like the error 13014 when this feature is enabled on your computer. 

To fix the iTunes error 13014, you can try disabling the Genius feature on iTunes.

  1. First, go to the Desktop and open iTunes on your computer. 
  2. After that, on the top navigation menu, click the File tab. 
  3. Lastly, click on Library and select Turn off Genius to disable the feature on iTunes.

iTunes Error 13014

After disabling ‘Genius’, restart iTunes and try to use it to see if the error 13014 would still occur on your device. 

However, if you are still encountering the error 13014 on iTunes, proceed to the next method below to try and fix the issue. 

5. Consolidate iTunes Files. 

If you have your media files for iTunes located in different folders on your hard drive, this can confuse the app, causing the error 13014 on your computer when you try to sync music to your Apple devices. 

To fix this, you can try consolidating your files to ensure that it is stored in just a single location.

  1. Inside the iTunes app, click on the File tab located at the top navigation bar. 
  2. After that, click on Library and select Organize Library.

iTunes Error 13014

  1. Lastly, click on Consolidate Files and hit the Ok button.

Now, wait for the process to finish and try using the application normally to see if the iTunes error 13014 is already fixed. 

6. Create a New Library Folder. 

On your computer, there’s an iTunes library folder located within the Music folder on your hard drive. It’s a common occurrence that has happened to several users in the past where iTunes has trouble accessing that specific folder on the computer. 

To fix this, you can try creating a new library folder for iTunes. Check out the steps below to guide you through the process. 

  1. On your computer, go to the File Explorer and navigate to the Music folder. 
  2. After that, move the iTunes library folder to your Desktop

  1. Now, restart the iTunes software.
  2. Lastly, once it detects that the library folder was moved, it will prompt you to create a new one or select an existing one. Create a new folder, then import the music files from the iTunes folder on your Desktop to restore your data.

After that, try syncing a few songs to your device to see if the error 13014 would still occur on iTunes. If the issue happened while syncing music to your Apple device, then delete the songs that you are trying to sync and redownload them to ensure those music files are not corrupted.

This wraps up our guide on how to fix the iTunes error 13014 on your computer. If you know any other methods on how to fix this kind of issue on iTunes, kindly share it in the comment section below and we would be happy to give you credit once we update this article.

If this guide helped you, please share it. 🙂

Author

  • John Sixto

    John is a staff writer at Saint and comes from a SAP ABAP development background. He has a Bachelors in IT and has been writing since 2018, with over 500 posts published. He loves to build PCs and has a deep curiosity in understanding how different components and configurations work. John spends hundreds of hours at a time, researching and testing the software and apps, before he proceeds to write about it. LinkedIn X (Twitter) Website

    View all posts
Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *