No content will play in desktop Spotify

[billyblunts]

Spotify Desktop does not work, no songs will play, even when I download songs to be able to play locally I get the message that "spotify can't play this song right now." I have repeatedly downloaded the latest version, my operating system (Windows) is up to date, my internet connection is stable and no other applications are failing like this. Frankly this is unacceptable. The web application version of Spotify does play the content I request but it doesn't transition to the next song without a very long (10+ second) delay if I don't have the window active. Frankly this is pathetic, y'all need to take more seriously your bare minimum responsibilities to your paying customers. Unbelievable.

[Alex]

Hi there @billyblunts,

Thanks for the post.

Sorry to hear that your Desktop app is not working.

I'd recommend doing a full clean reinstall of the app, following this guide. This way all possibly corrupted app files will be removed, before you reinstall the latest app version. 

If that doesn't help, let us know if you're getting any particular error message or black screen when opening the app.

We'll look further into this.

[billyblunts]

I tried that and it did not work. Actually this is about the TENTH time I've reinstalled -- just pathetic!

This is the specific error message:

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

Know that one? 

What can I do? I am a paying customer and I expect to be able to use the standalone application and not have to play via browser where song transitions take over 10 seconds sometimes.

I am running Windows 10 and have 2.4 ghz CPU so that should not be a problem. This happens on a high-speed internet connection including when no other applications are open -- unbelievable!

[Lyubka]

Hey @billyblunts,

Thanks for getting back to us.

It sounds like you've tried a couple of things already, but let's try some more troubleshooting.

First off, open the Desktop App's Settings and turn off "Enable hardware acceleration". This setting is located under Compatibility then restart Spotify. After you toggle it off, the setting should look like this.

As a second step, we'd suggest that you disable any antivirus or ad-blocking software that might interfere with the app's performance on your PC. 

Lastly, it's worth checking your hosts files - steps for this can be found here.

In case the issue persists, we'd like you to try to reproduce this with a different account. If a family member has a Spotify account, could you ask them to log in on your device to see if the app behaves the same way?
 

Hope something here helps. Don't hesitate to reach out if you have further questions 🙂