spotify accounts don't work on pc

[Sora3]

Plan

Premium

Country

USA

Device

PC

Operating System

Windows 11

My Question or Issue

Spotify works fine on mobile. A couple weeks ago spotify just completely broke on my PC, the website works fine until I login to ANY account, at which point it pops up with the message "something went wrong, try reloading the page." The app fails to load anything but the settings menu, and my username shows as a bunch of jumbled letters and numbers. I have tried changing every setting multiple times and nothing works. To reiterate, I have absolutely zero problems on mobile whether its with the app or the browser version. I have uninstalled and reinstalled both from the website and from microsoft store dozens of times, and if that gets suggested I will actually explode in anger. Please help.

[OscarDC]

Hey @Sora3,

Thank you for reaching out to the Community and welcome.

We understand you've already tried some troubleshooting steps including reinstalling, but to be sure that we're on the same page - did you use the steps for a clean reinstall mentioned in this article?

If so, and the issue persists, we'd recommend clearing any entries which contain Spotify from the host files on your computer. To do so, you can follow the instructions in this post (even if it's a different issue).

Lastly, would you mind confirming if the affected device is a work computer or if you have any active VPN on it?

We'll be on the lookout.

[Sora3]

Neither of the articles helped, and I did not have a VPN or work computer. However, I did activate a VPN and load Spotify on my browser, and now it works fine even without it. The app still wont work properly though.

[Eni]

Hey there @Sora3, 

Thanks for your reply. 

Would you mind giving a different internet connection a go to see if that makes the difference? You can create a hotspot on your phone and use that. 

If the issue persists, we suggest that you check your firewall and make sure Spotify is set as an exception. Additionally, make sure to disable any antivirus or ad-blocking software that might interfere with the app's performance.

Let us know how it goes.

[Sora3]

Spotify works on my phone regardless of internet, it is only my computer. The website also works fine now, it is only the app. I checked and it is set as an exception and I have no adblock. I don't know if this helps solving the issue but my name in the app turns into a bunch of letters and numbers despite how many times I redownload or sign in.

[Lyubka]

Hey @Sora3,

Thanks for keeping in touch. 

All Spotify accounts have an automatically created username that usually is a string of letters and numbers. This allows our users to be able to choose a display name. Keep in mind that usernames and display names are different. While usernames are automatically generated by our system to identify your account and cannot be changed, display names can be edited and this is the info that other users will see.

It's possible that you've had display name in the past but you've removed it. If you only see the auto-generated username, we'd recommend logging out and logging back it, and you can take a look here to see how to set up a display name. Just a heads up -  you won't be able to use that display name to log in, instead you could just enter your email address and password.

The automatically generated username should show only on your account overview page as an unique indicator for your account.

Lastly, regarding the log in issue, it's worth restarting your PC in Safe Mode with Networking to see if the issue would persist there. Safe mode basically allows only the core Windows programs to run, which would help us narrow down the probable cause for this, as it's possible that another program is interfering with Spotify. Head here to see how to do that.

 Let us know how things work out, we'll be keeping an eye out for your reply 🙂

[Sora3]

spotify still did not work in safe mode

[Alex]

Hi there @Sora3,

Thanks for the post.

Can you try the following:

1. Start your PC in Safe mode.
2. Uninstall the Spotify app, following this guide. Make sure that all files and folders related to Spotify are deleted.
3. Navigate to "%appdata%\Spotify\Users\" in your file browser.
4. There should be a folder "username-user" - enter the folder.
5. Delete the file named "local-files.bnk" if it's inside.

After that restart your PC and reinstall the Spotify app from our website.

Sometimes you can't see all app files in the normal operational mode of Windows, so you need to go into Safe mode and delete those. Such corrupted leftover files can some times cause similar issues.

Cheers.

[Sora3]

Still did not work

[Sora3]

It also stopped working on my browser again.

[Lyubka]

Hey @Sora3,

Thanks for keeping in touch.

Something else you can try out is deleting the prefs file, which holds information about the currently logged it account:

1. Open Spotify and make sure it’s running in the background.
2. Open the Task Manager in Windows and switch to the Details tab.
3. Locate the process Spotify.exe, right-click it and select Open file location to open the Spotify folder. There you'll find a file called prefs, which holds info about the currently logged in account. Simply delete it.
4. While in the Spotify folder, you'll also find a Users folder. Open it and delete its contents as well.
5. Restart the Spotify app.

Keep in mind that if you manually add lines to the prefs file we can't guarantee the app will work as intended.

Also, before you log in, click on Settings and change the proxy type to "No Proxy". Screenshot for visibility below. 

In case the issue persists, would you mind posting a quick video of your experience? This way we can get a clear idea of what's happening on your end. You can attach it to your next response by using the Insert Video option in the post editor. If the attachment is too big - we'd suggest that you upload it to Google Drive and share the link with us (make sure the video has the permissions for anyone to see it).

Hope this helps. If anything else comes up, the Community will be here for you.

[Sora3]

The Spotify app still would not work; I have linked a video below of me attempting this fix.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FQorJztxgWOjQWmPfPNnDSQgQq4oobyn/view?usp=sharing 

[Yordan]

Thanks for the screen recording @Sora3.

Could you let us know the exact version of Spotify you're running? You can check that in the three dots menu at the top left corner > Help > About Spotify. In case you can't find it there:

1. In Windows' search bar, enter Apps & features and open it.
2. You'll see a list of all apps installed on your computer. Locate Spotify and click on it - you should then see the version you have installed.

It's also worth checking if there are any pending OS updates and install them to see if that does the trick.

Keep us posted on this.

[Sora3]

The version it shows is Spotify for Windows (64 bit) 1.2.20.1218.g02aff7a4. and my OS is currently up to date.

[Sora3]

Is this thread still being read?

[MihailY]

Hey @Sora3,

Sorry for the lack of updates on our end. The issue is currently being investigated in this thread. Can you please add your details there so they can be forwarded to the relevant team?

Cheers,

[Alder64]

**bleep** Playlists on the left side of the UI won't load, nothing will play, my Display Name doesn't show up either. Have tried uninstalling, tried the Web Player that doesn't work, tried flushing DNS and cache, tried in Safe Mode, tried clearing host Notepad data, tried using a Hotspot. Nothing is working. Tried other accounts too and even those don't work. Still needs a fix 100%