iTunes for Windows crashes
To coincide with the release of iOS 15, Apple has also released a new version of iTunes for Windows. It offers support for iOS 15 and iPadOS 15. But apparently this new version has only been tested on English PCs. If you have set a different system language (such as Dutch), iTunes will crash. We received a report from iCulture reader Vivian, who is affected. But you can also read about it in the Apple support forums.
The culprit is iTunes 12.12.0.6 for Windows. The problem occurs with the version you can download from the Microsoft Store, as well as the version available on the Apple website. Users get an error message: “iTunes cannot run because some of its required files are missing. Please reinstall iTunes.”
You can do this
If you are facing this problem, there are two workarounds. You can install an older version of iTunes for Windows, but the problem is that it doesn't have official support for iOS 15 yet. This shouldn't be a problem for people who already sync via iCloud.
Another solution is to change your system language to English, if that works for you. After that, you can open iTunes normally.
In the meantime, we are waiting for a fix. Apple hasn't indicated it's coming yet, but we expect it to be in a few days.