topic Re: Blank Screen in Desktop (Windows)

Blank Screen

Kaiden-Rogers — Wed, 20 Sep 2017 02:19:13 GMT

Last week after an update to Spotify, it would open but just be a blank screen.
So I contacted Spotify Cares on Facebook. They had me do the following

Restart my router.
uninstall the app from Control Panel > Programs.
Delete the "Spotify" folder in %AppData% and %LocalAppData%
Place the PC in the DMZ to ensure firewalls weren't the issue.
Delete the app and reinstall it in safe mode.
delete the "ru.mo" or "ru.pak" from %AppData%

None worked.

Re: Blank Screen

Kaiden-Rogers — Thu, 28 Sep 2017 05:52:32 GMT

This PC is part of a Domain using Folder Redirection. This setup is used in school & office environments. If you're using a personal computer that isn't connected to a work or school network, or a network where you set up a server to run a domain controller then this will not work for you.

it should be noted that in the case of a folder redirection the Environment Variables

%AppData% = \\DOMAIN-CONTROLLER\Users\{Username}\AppData\Roaming
(The first two directory name's in the UNC above will differ depending what they were named when the DC was set up)
%LocalAppData% = C:\Users\{Username}\AppData\Local

When installed Spotify will install to \\DOMAIN-CONTROLLER\Users\{Username}\AppData\Roaming and C:\Users\{Username}\AppData\Local

I can only speculate that Spotify's code in Roaming AppData is referring to files in Local AppData which should be one folder up (../Local) but doesn't exist.

My Solution was:

Start task manager

End task of
"Spotify (32 bit)" (all of them, if more than one) and
"SpotifyWebHelper (32 bit)"
Cut the "Spotify" folder at %AppData%(from the UNC above) and paste it into C:\Users\{Username}\AppData\Roaming.
Then run Spotify via C:\Users\{Username}\AppData\Roaming\Spotify\SpotifyLauncher.exe
It should then start normally.

Re: Blank Screen

JRV1 — Sun, 03 Dec 2017 21:58:03 GMT

Thanks for posting this; it solved my problem as well. I suspect you're right about the relative path being used, instead of asking Windows where %LocalAppData% is.

This is SHAMEFULLY inept programming. Folder Redirection is nothing new; it has been around for 17 YEARS.

New customer, here, thanks to the Groove/Spotify transition. Windows Mobile app not working yet, either. I will not be a Spotify customer for long, I suspect.

Re: Blank Screen

Seanjohnsn — Thu, 12 Apr 2018 15:01:55 GMT

Thanks for that. Tried it. Still started as black screen.

Our profiles go to \\file-sernamedchanged\Users\<Username> then there is \AppData \Roaming under there where the Spotify places itself.

It's stupid there is no way to change this install location as we don't need our Sportify profile to be roaming.

Moving it to C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming still caused a black screen only.

Pandora it is.

Re: Blank Screen

SteamySteve — Fri, 11 May 2018 23:58:01 GMT

This solved it for me: Click the ... menu icon (top-left), select 'View', then disable Hardware Acceleration.

Re: Blank Screen

Seanjohnsn — Sat, 12 May 2018 00:16:33 GMT

This did not fix it for us.
I escalated a ticket with Spotify support and they couldn't fix it.
It is a roaming profile issue, where the AppData folder is redirected to a
network drive.
They don't have a working solution to be able to choose a install location
path; so their only solution is to use the web interface.
This isn't what we wanted, so we worked out a deal with Pandora to allow my
3,427 employees to use their product.
Oh well.

Thanks
-Sean J