Spotify App doesn't open in Windows 10

[mikeh340]

Plan

Premium

Country

USA

Device

Lenovo Thinkpad

Operating System

Windows 10

My Question or Issue

The Spotify app won't launch at all - the window does not appear and no processes appear in task manager. I went through the "clean reinstall" process that is posted here: https://community.spotify.com/t5/Desktop-Windows/Can-t-run-or-un-reinstall/td-p/1567813

, but doing that didn't work. I tried the clean reinstall with Windows in Safe Mode, and I'm able to launch the Spotify app in Safe Mode, but as soon as I switch back to normal mode on Windows, the app doesn't launch.

Any help will be appreciated, thanks!

[MauriceMV]

Hey @mikeh340, 

I've read some threads on here about people having the same problem as you are having right now. Some managed to fix the issue by doing one of the following:

• Disabling Firewall and Anitvirus
• Running it in compatability mode
• Opening as administrator

Hope this helps!

[DFBowie]

Same problem, none of the possibilities you mention work, nor does reinstalling.

I'll note that this is a different issue than the one solved in https://community.spotify.com/t5/Desktop-Windows/Spotify-won-t-open-No-error-messages-just-does-noth... because in my case (just as it was with the original poster) there isn't even a process in Task Manager—trying to start the Windows 10 app (installed from the Microsoft Store) results in absolutely nothing happening at all. In fact, as far as I can tell there isn't even the "waiting" cursor that normally appears at least momentarily when starting a program.

[mikeh340]

What ended up working for me is updating to the most recent version of
Windows. That resolved my issue. Hope that helps.

[DFBowie]

Both Spotify and Windows 10 are completely up to date on my laptop (but no Windows beta features).

I should perhaps note that I don't know when this started. The last time I opened my Spotify app on my laptop had been months ago—I usually use it only from my phone. (It may even have been in 2019.) It worked back then, though.

[hsiboy]

I have exactly the same problem. Again, i don't know when it started.

[mpoudrier]

Same Issues here. I followed all the steps and even did a clean install in the end but nothing works. The app still completely fails to launch. I've watched the task manager as I attempt to launch Spotify and there's not so much as a blip of activity.

[Xenia]

Hey @mpoudrier, 

Thank you for reaching out and for confirming the troubleshooting steps you've done so far.

Can you confirm you've followed the exact steps here to perform a clean reinstall?

If that didn't do the trick, we'd recommend restarting your computer in safe mode with networking enabled (usually accessible by pressing F8 during boot-up) and try deleting all files containing Spotify again from there before downloading and installing Spotify from the Windows Apps store.

You can also try running the app as administrator, to see if that makes a difference.

Let us know how you get on. We're looking forward to your reply.

Cheers!

[CaptnCrunch09]

I have had this problem at least twice, where suddenly Spotify no longer opens, there's no task manager process, etc., using Windows 10. I have it configured to open automatically on Start, and this also was not happening.

Today, I fixed it using something I hadn't seen on here; maybe this is helpful to someone:

1. In the Start menu, search for "Spotify"
2. When the icon appears, right-click and select "App Settings"
3. A window will open. Scroll down to the section called "Reset" and there will be a button that says "Repair". Click that.

After selecting repair, a little green check mark appeared, and after that, running Spotify from the Start menu worked again.