Error: "Spotify can't play this right now. If you have the file on your computer you can import it."

[davebcn]

Plan

Premium

Country

UK

Device

PC

Operating System

Windows 10

My Question or Issue

Hi,

When I try to play any track in the app in my PC windows 10, I'm getting the following error: "Spotify can't play this right now. If you have the file on your computer you can import it."

This only happens in the app, if I try to play from the webplayer it works fine.

I have tried so far:

- restarting

- updating the app

- logging out and in again

- uninstalling, downloading again and installing

None of them work. Please advise.

Thanks,

David

[Vasil]

Hey @davebcn,

Sorry to see this has happened to you!
You have done some great troubleshooting so far, but here's what we can also do:

I'd first recommend clearing all the host files that might be affecting the proper behavior of the app. To do so, follow the steps mentioned in this post (even though it's a different issue).

If this doesn't do the trick, we can go for a complete clean reinstall of the app as well to remove all Spotify-related files from your device.

Let us know how it goes!

[dante23ross]

none of this has worked. 

[Yordan]

Hey @dante23ross,

Could you check if the correct audio output device has been selected for Spotify? You'll find a detailed guide on how to do that here. Make sure also that the sample rate of the device is set to anywhere between 44.1 kHz and 192 kHz.

Keep us posted on this. Cheers!

[muffir]

Hi there,

I've also expirienced this problem recently which appeared out of nowhere (no updates, no fiddling with settings) and none of the solutions posted in similar topics has worked for me. I've tried so far:

• clearing app cache in Settings
• "clean" reinstall (includes some manual app directories removal)
• uninstall standalone app and install it from Windows Store
• multiple logouts in a row
• checking audio settings
• checking host file

As a last resort I've checked application "Help" section and there is an option in application menu (three dots in upper left corner): Help > Troubleshooting > Reset App Data and Restart, which finaly solved this annoying issue.

[Maria]

Hey @muffir,

Thanks for posting on the Community!

We're happy to hear that everything is back on track and we appreciate you letting us know what steps worked for you. This may help other users experiencing similar issues as well 🙂

Should anything else appear, we're just a post away.

Cheers!

[muffir]

Well Maria, it doesn't work anymore and it's just not ok to repeat the whole procedure over and over every 2 weeks.

Could someone please look into this and start working on it? It seems that this is quite recurring problem. It would be good if your app offer some sort of report problem functionality so your developers could obtain relevant debugging info. The error message "Spotify can't play this right now..." does not offer any other details what is the cause of this. So I couldn't help even if I wanted to.

[muffir]

Hello @Maria,

so it's even stranger because some day it works fine, the other day doesn't. Is there a way I could help you guys with progress towards resolving this issue? It's really frustrating.

[Vasil]

Hey @muffir,

Thanks for the reply!
This error can appear due to a multitude of background errors and we're currently looking into what might be causing it. With this in mind, we can't give you an exact timeframe in which it will be completely resolved but it is on our radar 🙂

We suggest keeping your app up to date in order to stay on top of any potential fixes and we're here for you in case there's anything else in the meantime. Cheers!

[notworking117]

Spotify used to work perfectly fine on my computer 
one day i plugged in my HDMI cable in and i changed the speakers to the TV speakers
after that everytime i change to my laptop speakers spotify "can't play right now. if you have the file import it..." but when i change back the speaker to the TV's it works fine

[muffir]

Hello @Vasil,

I've probably figured out possible cause of this problem and recent post from @notworking117 further solidify my suspition. I am using Spotify app on my laptop (64-bit Win 10) between 2 places - working place and home - which both have slightly different audio setups. One have USB DAC to which I plug my headphones, in the other place I plug my headphones directly to laptops' combined headphone/mic jack socket. So audio output device changes between places. I don't fiddle with devices settings in OS setting in any way and always use "default audio output". I usually turn off my laptop between places but this should not matter - other applications (like web browser) detects changes in audio output device or they use "default" and let handle changes by OS, even when I use hibernation/sleep this works fine. It seems that Spotify app somehow remember specific audio output during installation instead of using "default" and could not detect changes in devices - restarting app or OS doesn't make any difference.