Could Apple make iTunes 9 any harder to install with X64?
You'll be seeing this a lot...
The short answer is NO, I don’t think they could…
A while back Apple released the 64 bit version of iTunes. Since its release, I’ve had to upgrade iTunes 3 times and each time it has taken 4+ hours to both install iTunes AND get it working with my iPod Touch. What bugs me is rather than giving you the option to install with a warning saying, “You’re on your own…X64 isn’t supported by us” they put a bunch of restrictions on the installers. I’ve been using the 64-bit version for a long time now and have yet to see any aspect of the program that is not supported on my computer.
So, here’s the ridiculous process (in a super-condensed list format)
- Download iTunes from Apple’s website.
- Open the installer and have it tell you the installer is 32-bit and you should use 64-bit.
- Go back to Apple’s website and hunt down the 64-bit iTunes installer in their support section.
- Run the 64-bit installer and have it tell you it’s only for Vista. (Didn’t you just “recommend” this to me apple?)
- Extract the contents of the installer using WinRAR or 7Zip.
- Download a copy or Orca MSI Editor, needed to edit the installers.
- Edit the iTunes installer, settings the operating system requirements down to XP.
- Drop various tables from the installers, so you can install each MSI file separately. (By default running the iTunes installer will automatically run through all the other files)
At this point iTunes was installed and worked perfectly…but unlike the last 2 times I’ve updated, the AppleMobileDeviceSupport64.msi was more problematic then usually. So after watching it install to 99% and then rollback and fail over and over, I decided I would just force quit the installer at 99%. If anyone is unsure, yes…that’s a horrible practice, but I didn’t care at that point. Finally, I was able to go into Device Manager and “update” the decide to use the iPod drivers rather than the default camera drivers windows will use.
In conclusion:
The best part about this warning is it doesn't pop-up in front of other windows...
-I have a working copy of iTunes that complains I may not be able to burn CDs when I open iTunes (But I can).
-I also have a iPod Touch that works perfectly, although when iTunes starts it says the 64bit iPod service couldn’t be started. See iTunes Complaining More
-When I plug in my iPod it tell me 3-17 times with a pop-up box that the iPod service couldn’t be started…then proceeds to work perfectly. Warning me just one time would be more than sufficient…This Message is Annoying
-I was able to rent a movie and watched it while working out, which was why I upgraded in the first place (Although it wasn’t until the next morning).
-Around 4 hours of my time was wasted and iTunes is $3.99 richer.
If you’re looking for some tips for installing iTunes 9 on Window XP X64 you can have a look here:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2151665&start=0&tstart=0