App on Windows 11 wont play music

[mwjosey2]

I get "Spotify can't play this right now. If you have the file on your computer you can import it." error. Spotify works fine in browser on same computer. I'm trying to stream and not play a local file. I've tried the suggested troubleshooting steps with no improvement.

[Elena]

Hey @mwjosey2,

Thanks for reaching out on the Community.

Can you let us know what troubleshooting you have tried so far so that we're sure we've covered all the basics?

I'll suggest some less common steps to check if you have tried them:

• Checking your hosts file
• Turn hardware acceleration on/off - you can find that in the 3 dot menu in the upper left corner of the app > Help > Troubleshooting > Disable hardware acceleration and restart.
• Make sure your sound drivers are up to date

In case the issue persists, it'd be great if you could tell us your Spotify version and if you experience this using a different network connection.

Let us know how you get on.
 

[mwjosey2]

I had found a list of steps to follow that I can't find at the moment.  Here is what I can remember:

• Un-installed and reinstalled the current version of the app 1.2.47.364.gf06e5cee
• Turn hardware acceleration on/off/on/off
• Log out/back in

My sound drivers are up to date.

I followed the link you provided for "Hosts file" and I do not see any files in that folder on Windows.  Maybe that is the problem.  Where do I get this file from?

[mwjosey2]

So, I was looking in the wrong place.  I did find the hosts file and there are no Spotify entries in it.

Also under the menu I've tried "reload" and "Reset App Data and Restart" in the troubleshooting section.

This app is on a Desktop computer which is not able to move to another network.  I've checked the firewall settings on my local network and Spotify.com is always allowed.  Again this works within a web browser, but not the app (on the same computer).  So network setting shouldn't be the issue.

[Vasil]

Hey @mwjosey2,

Thanks for letting us know!

Let's try removing the app's cached data to see if that will make a difference.

After this we can also take things a step further and erase all Spotify-related data from the device and install the app anew by following the steps for a complete clean reinstall here.

Note: You can download the app either from our website or from the Microsoft app store. In case the issues persist with one of these versions, I would suggest installing the other one.

Keep us posted! We'll be on the lookout 🙂

[mwjosey2]

After running through the clean install procedure twice, each time installing a different store download, the one from the windows store works fine.  I couldn't get the one from the website to work.