Forced offline mode if Windows Network Connectivity Status Indicator reports false "No internet"

[zxc3]

I would like to report a bug with Spotify Windows application that affects Windows users with disabled telemetry or advanced networking settings.

If the Windows Network Connectivity Status Indicator (NCSI) falsely marks main network interface as having "no internet" status despite actually having internet connectivity, Spotify application enters forced Offline mode, effectively disabling media playback, despite other functions working normally (browsing playlists, artists, genres, albums etc).

The application should probe internet connectivity by itself instead of relying on status reported by WinAPI INetworkListManager or give an option to disable internet connectivity check.

I believe this issue is not well explained on Spotify FAQ or Support pages - the solutions I've found often suggested reinstalling the application or reconfiguring firewall to allow traffic to Spotify servers, which does not remedy this issue. The actual solution that fixes the problem is to disable NCSI probing service in Windows, so the network interface is not marked as having "no internet" status.

However, my Windows system still sometimes reports false "no internet" status on my main network interface.
The solution I've applied is to patch spotify.exe to disable "WindowsNetworkNotifier Thread" subroutine (sub_4F3E14 of spotify.exe version 1.1.72.439.gc253025e) to return immediately without querying network interfaces or listening to events, so it does not switch the application to offline mode. 

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Note: I've initially reported this issue to general Spotify support via email, but was redirected here, because they specialize in account and payment issues. ref:_00DD0pxIW._5002o2uNFu3:ref 

[zxc3]

In case anyone experiences the same issue, I've created a dsound.dll proxy that automatically patches out "WindowsNetworkNotifier Thread". It uses pattern scanning to find function address, so in theory it should survive spotify.exe updates.

Place dsound.dll next to spotify.exe and launch Spotify.  Please note, that this is only a workaround to the problem and running binaries posted by unknown third parties is a security threat.

Source code is attached to the post.

[virgiliu]

I'm having the same issue. I've reported it 1 year ago and yet no fix was implemented.

Thank you for the DLL and doing such in-depth digging.

@SpotifySupport: Why is this not being addressed even though the cause and solution were provided by a user? Privacy conscious users who disable Windows telemetry are impacted by this and can't use the desktop client.

It's silly that Spotify can log in but then say "oh no, you're offline!" because Windows telemetry says there's no internet access since Windows can't call home to check the connection status.

[PennStater]

I am also experiencing this problem on my work computer due to network configuration. Thanks for the DLL... it works! I wish Spotify would fix this.

[virgiliu]

Since Spotify shows no interest in spending time on this issue, here's a solution that worked for me:

Create a powershell script with this content: Set-NetAdapterChecksumOffload -Name Ethernet -IpIPv4Enabled Disabled; Set-NetAdapterChecksumOffload -Name Ethernet -IpIPv4Enabled RxTxEnabled;

Set that script to run at startup-up with elevated rights via Task Scheduler.

Wait a couple of seconds after that script runs, since your network connection will drop for a moment then come back up. Afterwards Spotify will be able to play.

A big 🖕 to the Spotify tech support department. If a regular user would encounter this issue they'd just be stuck with "please reinstall Spotify. Oh, that didn't solve it? We'll look into it for the next 10 years, pls wait"

[sdfsdfsdfaaa]

thank you so much. you are amazing!!

[PeeteCZ]

Thanks a bunch ... MS NCSI can be pain in the a** this helps a lot.

[axaxaxaxa]

Based IDA pro enjoyer