Playlists on new laptop missing their files

[jtick]

Hello.  I am migrating from an old laptop to a new one.  On my old PC musicbee replaced itunes and found all my playlists and star-ratings.
I copied all itunes and MB folders over to the new PC, and MB found all my music and playlists. 

HOWEVER, none the tracks for the playlists are being found – they’re just lists – so all I get is there missing file message when I try to play any.

I’ve checked the path and it seems right (C:\Users\jonti\Music, and within there I have both my old iTunes folders and my MusicBee folders, copied over directly from the old laptop).  I’ve even uninstalled and reinstalled MB (twice) but that didn’t solve it either. 

I know this is a common challenge for people; I’ve looked and looked through the forum and couldn’t find an answer that would work for me.  Can anyone suggest what I should do?  Huge thanks.

[phred]

none the tracks for the playlists are being found – they’re just lists – so all I get is there missing file message when I try to play any.

That's correct. A playlist is nothing more than a text file containing the path to the track. Uninstalling and reinstalling won't help.
Do the music files actually exist?
Does MB play them when selected outside of a playlist?
Select a track and right-click it > Search > Locate in Windows Explorer
Does that path match what the playlist has?

See if this helps: https://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=33744.0
You can relink the files via Files > Library > Relink Music File Paths

[jtick]

Hi Phred.  Thanks for the reply and advice.  I could sense the frustration in that thread!  Thanks for sending. 
I've solved my issue through reassigning a path, without changing the "from" box.  I can't find where that function is now, but that is how I did it. 

Then I managed to delete PLAYLISTS from the bar at the top. Don't know how.  I've looked through every setting and can't find how to rectify that.  I may be able to go into my old laptop, save the settings file and import that to my new MB, but that's admitting defeat, so any help with that greatly appreciated. 

I will at some point stop frustrating myself and read all the instructions online. 

[phred]

I've solved my issue through reassigning a path, without changing the "from" box.  I can't find where that function is now, but that is how I did it.  

You should make some note when doing things like this to a) easily find what you did again, and b) make it easier for us to try to understand what you did.
I going to make an assumption that you relinked you music files. File > Library > Relink Music File Paths.

Then I managed to delete PLAYLISTS from the bar at the top. Don't know how.  I've looked through every setting and can't find how to rectify that.  I may be able to go into my old laptop, save the settings file and import that to my new MB, but that's admitting defeat, so any help with that greatly appreciated.  

A screenshot may help us with this. Again, I am assuming you right-clicked on the playlists tab and then clicked 'close tab. Did the playlist tab show all playlists, or only one? Do you see a list of your playlists in the left sidebar?

...read all the instructions online.

This is probably the best advice to follow. And since there are so many settings, options, and views in MB, it's often difficult to know what a user is referring to. That's why screenshots help tremendously.

I should also note that if you copy the settings file from the old installation, the paths to the files should be the same or else you'll have to relink everything.