Fixes

iTunes keeps asking to allow or deny incoming connections

Posted by Ant on August 19th, 2009 at 10:38 PM | 20 Comments

There is a bug that causes some Mac users who have Leopard’s firewall enabled to continuously get popups asking whether “iTunes.app” should accept incoming network connections.

When Macs running 10.5 Leopard have “Set access for specific services and applications” selected in the Firewall section of System Preferences, programs that access the internet can be configured to allow or block incoming connections. This normally works well, but iTunes might be susceptible to a glitch that causes undesirable behavior. Every time the program is launched, the following message is displayed: “Do you want the application “iTunes.app” to accept incoming network connections?” No matter which of the two options – Allow or Deny – the user chooses, the prompt keeps coming up when iTunes is opened.

I’m not sure how widespread this bug is, but I have experienced it myself on two separate Macs after upgrading iTunes through OS X’s Software Update mechanism. Although it’s not a serious issue, it certainly gets old real fast. The constant nuisance may even drive some Mac owners to disable Leopard’s firewall altogether. Needless to say, that’s not a good thing. Luckily, there is a solution.

If you are experiencing this problem on your Mac, follow these simple steps to get rid of the Allow or Deny popups:

Go to the Applications folder and drag iTunes to the Trash. Don’t worry, your music, videos, and entire media library are not affected and will still be there. Only the iTunes software will be uninstalled.
Reboot or log out of your Mac. This step may or may not be necessary, but it certainly doesn’t hurt.
When you are logged back in, go to Apple’s website to download the latest version of iTunes.
Install iTunes. Do not import any songs or videos if it prompts you to do so.

All of your media should be right where you left it the first time your fresh installation of iTunes is opened. If you get another firewall popup asking to Allow or Deny incoming network connections, make your choice and that should be the last time you see it. Future iTunes launches won’t pester you anymore.

Tags: itunes, mac, os x, security

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20 Comments Have Been Posted (Leave Your Response)

Rick
August 20th, 2009, 1:47 PM

I was plagued by this problem and was surprised it hasn’t yet been addressed by Apple (to my knowledge). It was very obnoxious, and I admit I was one person who turned my firewall off to prevent the pop up from happening.

Your fix seemed to work on my MBP. Thanks!

clem vall
August 28th, 2009, 4:07 PM

that isn’t a bug, I had the same problem for sometime looking arround apple’s website I found an article saying that the registered softwares like apple’s (itcan happen with other programs too) make an integrity check of the app before being allowed throug the firewall… if something is different, the system ask the user to allow the connections or not,
some times changing the icon with candybar can cause this

Frank
August 28th, 2009, 11:38 PM

If you have the firewall enabled and change the icon (or probably any other file) within the iTues application package, you’ll get the “incoming connections” message every time you open iTunes.

Re-installing iTunes as described will fix the problem, until you try changing the icon.

It’s probably some package-signing security thing, but annoying for those who want both the firewall and a custom icon.

Kris
August 29th, 2009, 8:12 AM

Finally! I’ve been trying to stop this popup for months! I eventually turned off my firewall because I couldn’t stand it anymore. I turned it back on now and everything is fine. I didn’t change any icons either. So I don’t know what caused it in the first place.

duncan
September 28th, 2009, 9:44 AM

To the comment “that isn’t a bug,” I say “Bollocks”

If Apple simply provided the “Always Allow” option when it detected a change and displayed this warning dialog then it could be said to be ‘not a bug’.

The incompetence and user-contempt that the current implementation displays can only be described as a bug and one Apple could fix very simply as I described above.

Lazy and dumb Apple.

Please fix this.

johannes.mac
October 10th, 2009, 2:02 PM

I’ve had this bug for about one year and figured out that turning the library sharing off would “fix” it.
What Frank said about package-signing could probably be the issue on my iTunes, I’ve added some extra genre pictures.

Well, I can forsake on sharing but not on the genre pictures, so I would keep it off. But it is good to now what the problem is.

David
November 9th, 2009, 9:07 PM

i have this problem ,but when i try this method, it only works once, then when i load up itunes again, same problem. ive looked all around forums etc, to no avail!

Dan
November 19th, 2009, 9:08 PM

This box pops up so fast that it cant be read on my computer. It only happens when i turn on my computer so im not sure if its related to the itunes problem.

Kevin
March 5th, 2010, 4:12 PM

I have also had this problem. There is no need to delete ITunes, just download and reinstall, this will fix it.
I have done this on my Macbook Pro and Mac Pro and they are now both free of this annoying popup message.

Michail
March 6th, 2010, 8:10 PM

This doesn’t really work – what helped me was to disable Home Sharing from the Advanced menu

Maks
March 22nd, 2010, 1:49 AM

Disabling Home Sharing from Advanced menu didn’t solved this problem on my MacBook. But I can remember that this problem appeared on my MacBook when I enabled Home Sharing on both my MacBook and iMac. This problem appears only on my MacBook, I guess because I use it to sync my iPhone 3GS with it? This is the only difference between my MacBook and iMac.

sputnik
April 4th, 2010, 8:18 PM

Disabling Home Sharing did it for me. Thanks!

carlos
April 15th, 2010, 9:29 AM

I have this problem with adium. Thinking about turning off the firewall but still resisting.

Paul
April 17th, 2010, 7:37 AM

Drag to trash and reinstall seems to have worked on my MBP.

Stephen
April 30th, 2010, 7:52 PM

Duncan was apparently molested by apple as a child and still harbors bad feelings about it. ITunes settings and Mac settings have the options to “always allow” incoming network connections but changing itunes’ stock program files apparently compromises security. If you’ve done this then iTunes will always prompt you before allowing network connections.

I had this inconvenient alert for about a month, probably caused by a program i used to customize my icons. Reinstalling iTunes fixed the problem right away, it takes a few minutes.

cuculu
May 6th, 2010, 8:50 AM

this worked for me flawless (without reboot)

Ashley
June 19th, 2010, 2:13 AM

This has been going on for a few months and it’s not that hard to click allow but I knew something was wrong which worried me. This was exactly what I needed to do to fix it, thanks! :D

Vincent
June 27th, 2010, 5:47 PM

Disabling library sharing fixed it for me. kind of makes sense when you think about it…

Jake
July 1st, 2010, 2:33 AM

I’m having the same problem, and not only for iTunes: Coda, MusicBrainz Picard, and other programs continue to bug me with this. No matter what I do (removing, reinstalling, etc), nothing seems to help, so I turned the firewall off completely. Definitely a bug. OS X 10.6.4

Robert Reichel
July 20th, 2010, 12:39 PM

GREAT! THANK YOU! I have had this problem only after the update to 9.2… Now it’s gone ;-)

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iTunes keeps asking to allow or deny incoming connections

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