How do I share a single iTunes library amongst multiple Windows accounts on the same PC?

iTunes has two things:

• iTunes Library (music files)
• iTunes database (playlists, ratings, etc)

To move both of these:

1. Copy your whole ~/Music/iTunes to a shared location (for example C:\iTunes)
2. Open iTunes
3. Go to Preferences > Advanced and change the library location (choose something like C:\iTunes\Music)
4. Close iTunes
5. Hold down SHIFT and double click on the iTunes shortcut
6. A dialog box opens up to move the iTunes database. Choose 'Choose Library' and choose where you copied the database to (for example C:\iTunes)
7. Open iTunes, and it should be back to normal

This should make the current user use the shared library and database. Log into your other Windows user, and see if iTunes there opens the shared folder. If not, use the SHIFT+open trick to switch that iTunes to the shared folder as well.

Sharing a common iTunes Media/Music folder (and Consolidating/Organizing library) does not allow purchases on one account to show up on another. If they all accounts are authorised to the same iTunes account files can however be added from one Windows Account iTunes instance to another (without authorisation hassles)