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Change where your music files are stored on Windows
By default, your music is stored here:
Home\Music\Apple Music
You can change where your music files are stored.
Important: For best results, don’t change the location of the Apple Music folder or the folders inside it.
Change where imported files are stored
In the Apple Music app
on your Windows computer, select the Sidebar Actions button
at the top of the sidebar, choose Settings, then select Files.
Select the “Media folder location” arrow
, select Change, then select a new location for your files.
From this point forward, new songs and other items you import are stored in the new location. Songs you’ve already imported stay in their current location.
If you change your mind and want to store imported files in the default folder again, select the Sidebar Actions button at the top of the sidebar, choose Settings, select Files, select the “Media folder location” arrow
, then select Reset.
Add files to your library but not to your Apple Music folder
When you add an item already on your computer to your library, Apple Music places a copy of the file in your Apple Music folder. The original file remains in its current location.
You can change this setting so that files are added to your library without being added to the Apple Music folder. You might want to do this, for example, if you prefer to store files on an external disk but still want to view them in Apple Music.
In the Apple Music app
on your Windows computer, select the Sidebar Actions button
at the top of the sidebar, choose Settings, then select Files.
Turn off the “Copy files to Music Media folder when adding to library” option.
From this point forward, when you drag a file to your library, the item appears in Apple Music, but the actual file isn’t copied or moved.
Tip: You can temporarily reverse this setting by holding down the Alt key while you drag files to the Apple Music window.
Locate your Apple Music files
In the Apple Music app
on your Windows computer, select Songs in the sidebar.
Do one of the following:
Find out where a file is stored: Select the More button
for a song, choose Properties, then select File.
The path to the file is shown at the bottom of the pane (next to location).
Show the file in File Explorer: Select the More button
for an item, then choose Show in Explorer.
If you don’t see Show in Explorer, the file may be in your music library and not on your computer.
If a song no longer appears in Apple Music
If a song used to appear in Apple Music but doesn’t now, it may be because the music library or song was moved from the Apple Music folder. To make your songs appear in the Apple Music window again, try the following in this order:
Locate your Apple Music folder in File Explorer on your Windows computer, then drag it to the Apple Music window. You should see the songs in your library again. If the music library file is included, you will also see playlists, song ratings, and other information you created.
If that doesn’t work, your songs may be elsewhere on your computer. In File Explorer, search for a song by title or artist. Or search for “MP4” to find files downloaded from the iTunes Store or “MP3” to find songs encoded in MP3 format. Drag songs (or folders containing songs) to the Apple Music window to add the songs to Apple Music again.