I recently received a notice from an excellent free program, Secunia, informing me that my version of iTunes had reached its ‘End of Life’ status and would not be kept secure by Apple updates. It suggested that I update to a newer version immediately to minimize security issues for my computer.
I downloaded the newest version of iTunes and began the installation process. Part-way through, my computer flashed a message that Apple’s Bonjour Service could not be started. I clicked ‘Ignore’ and the installation continued momentarily only to stop once more and tell me that it could not continue without Bonjour Services. I opened up the module by typing ‘services.msc’ in the ‘Start, Run’ command window. Then selected Bonjour, and clicked ‘Properties’ trying to change the start command to either automatic or manual. None of this worked.
Next, I removed iTunes from my computer, as well as the Bonjour Service which can also be removed in Control Panel; Add & Remove Programs.
I then went to the Apple Website and downloaded the current version of Bonjour Services. In attempting to install a fresh version of Bonjour, I was presented with the same error message regarding administrative permissions, and was forced to cancel the installation of Bonjour. My file manager showed that after the Bonjour failed installation of Bonjour, I was still left with a Bonjour sub-directory in the directory of my Programs. It contained a single file, mDNSresponder.exe, in the Bonjour Service. I tried to delete this file and the Bonjour sub-directory without success. At this point, I searched online a bit more for possible solutions also without success and then turned in for the night.
In the morning I booted up my computer. Sometime during the boot process, a pop-up from a program called Prevx stated that there was a problematic file discovered. It was the ‘mDNSresponder.exe’ file and the Bonjour directory. It asked me if it wanted Prevx to ignore them or to delete them. Happily, I selected ‘Delete them’, please. Once they were gone, I checked my computer for any presence of iTunes or Bonjour, but only found the unopened reinstallation files. My Program Files contained neither iTunes nor Bonjour.
Then I selected RUN and selected the iTunesSetup.exe file and again began the installation of the newest version of iTunes. Without a hiccup, iTunes installed the newest version AND Bonjour Service, as well.
Prevx is a great malware removal tool that I purchase several years ago after a self-replicating annoyance found its way on to my computer. I tried several other programs, neither of which worked, before trying Prevx.
So that’s it. My iTunes is now current and running. The fix for the Bonjour Services problem is to;
1. Remove your iTunes installation
2. Remove your Bonjour Service installation
3. Attempt to install the most current version of iTunes. If it works, great! If not
4. See if you have any of Bonjour installed as a program or a service. If you do
5. attempt to delete these files manually from your computer. If not,
6. download Prevx (you and buy a year’s or month’s subscription (month only $16
7. Install Prevx and do a scan. It should find any inappropriate entries for Bonjour as well as any malware on your computer.
8. Then go back to the RUN command and enter ‘iTunesSetup.exe’ from the location in which you originally saved the file.