iTunes on (Arch) Linux: installation guide

itunes-on-arch-linux-guide.md

Prerequisites

1. Enable the multilib repository by editing /etc/pacman.conf
2. Install WineHQ and some other optional dependencies:

   $ pacman -Syu wine
   $ pacman -S --asdeps lib32-mpg123 lib32-gnutls {lib32-,}gst-plugins-base-libs \
                        lib32-alsa-plugins lib32-libpulse lib32-openal
   $ yay -S lib32-unixodbc # or your favourite AUR helper

3. We'll install a 64-bit version of iTunes, so no need to set WINEARCH

What iTunes version

Version 12.8 seems to work fine. I had troubles making more recent >=12.9 versions work (see here). Same for older versions (e.g. 12.5), I could not log in to the Apple Store. So find yourself the (64-bit) iTunes64Setup12.8.exe installer somewhere on the internet.

Install and Run

Just

$ wine /path/to/iTunes64Setup12.8.exe

And go through the procedure. Start iTunes with

$ wine .wine/drive_c/Program\ Files/iTunes/iTunes.exe

Issues

1. No playback: solved with

   Preferences > Playback > Play Audio Using > Direct Sound
   

2. CD-ROM detection: to make Wine aware of your CD-ROM unit:

   $ mkdir /mnt/cdrom
   $ ln -s /mnt/cdrom ~/.wine/dosdevices/z:
   $ echo '/dev/sr0 /mnt/cdrom iso9660 defaults,user,noauto 0 0' > /etc/fstab
   $ systemctl reboot

   Check if the /dev/sr0 device really represents your CD-ROM unit. The CD pops up in iTunes only if the CD is inserted before starting the program.

Thanks for sharing this!

I just want to add a few notes from my installation experience:

• If you're running 64 bit, you must download the 64bit installer, and use wine64 instead of wine command
• Download older versions of iTunes from here: https://www.theiphonewiki.com/wiki/ITunes
• For all my efforts, I couldn't get iTunes to see my old iPod, but it was worth a shot

Thanks for the notes, @dlford. I've never been able to make it detect my old iPod classic too, sadly. By the way, did you manage to make it detect CD-ROMs? I don't know what happened by I cannot make it work anymore since a while...

@gipert I don't even have a CD-ROM drive, so unfortunately I can't test that, sorry!

when i open the window the whole window is black with barely visible text, how do you fix this

@dlford What's the latest version you were able to get running?

when i open the window the whole window is black with barely visible text, how do you fix this

According to this wine bug report it looks like when iTunes can't find a theme it defaults to a (very bad) dark mode.

I couldn't detect my both my iPad and iPhone when I did this, tried both yes and no for the Autorun option when running through the setup, did the IOS pairing guide on Arch wiki, still not working. I think I'll just reside to using iTunes on Windows

Here is a link to a version of iTunes which does not have the completely black screen.
https://secure-appldnld.apple.com/itunes12/091-45357-20180123-72201840-FFEA-11E7-92F9-85B67CCC33A9/iTunes64Setup.exe

Here is a link to a version of iTunes which does not have the completely black screen. https://secure-appldnld.apple.com/itunes12/091-45357-20180123-72201840-FFEA-11E7-92F9-85B67CCC33A9/iTunes64Setup.exe

Hi, i got "iTune Library.itl cannot be read" error, fixed it by renaming ~/.wine/drive_c/users/cleff/Music/iTunes/iTunes\ Library.itl to iTunes\ Library.old

After booting iTunes up, logged in to my apple ID, started usbmuxd

Unfortunately, my iPhone still doesn't show up in the iTunes :c

This version worked form me. All good on my steam deck. Couldn't install yay. Had to install https://archlinux.org/packages/core/x86_64/lib32-glibc/ and then clone, compile and install lib32-unixodbc myself.
This version of Itunes worked for me with store and all: https://www.filehorse.com/es/descargar-itunes-64/35820/descargar/