Spotify unable to play anything, with dreaded "Spotify can't play this right now. ..."

[aavajoro]

Plan

Premium (Family Plan)

Country

Canada

Device

Asus PC (custom build) 

Operating System

Windows 10 Pro

My Question or Issue

Spotify refuses to play anything, greeting me with the obnoxious "Spotify can't play this right now. If you have the file on your computer you can import it" on every single song I click, whether downloaded, local, or streaming content – nothing plays.

This problem has been persistent for a few weeks now.

I’ve tried all solutions suggested in all forums, but nothing so far. Things I’ve tried:

- Clean install, reinstall (via windows apps, also via iobit uninstaller, and in safe mode, with full registry purge)

- Deleting local files, rebooting

- Deleting localfiles.bnk

- Reinstalling from the windows store instead of the standalone windows installer

- Disable/enable hardware acceleration

- Toggle off/on Crossfade songs

- Turning firewall/antivirus off/on (webroot)

- Editing “hosts” file in C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc (can’t change anything there since it already looks the way it should)

I’m on the premium family subscription. I’ve been using the web player in the meantime, but this is absurd.

[batmanhk]

Hey, I have the same problem recently, not yet resolved .

[Hihat1]

Same issue here. i think it started after the latest or the second latest update for the app. Songs that are in playlist already work fine, but not "single" songs when searching something and even albums dont always play. Sometimes this even happens when a certain playlist ends and the app itself is trying to "continue" the playing music.

[austinfelts]

Having a similar issue unfortunately. I have checked everything I can think of, yet songs appear grayed out/unavailable. If I double-click the playlist, it will shuffle me to a song like I'm on a free plan. I can start a new radio station -- but can't play anything. Just get "This content is not available." every time. 

I would gladly just use the Web Player, however, the audio quality seems to be much worse and I don't think there is an option to change it. Any help would be appreciated! I'm also on the latest version after reinstalling and wiping Spotify clean from the PC.

[Eni]

Hey there folks, 

Thanks for getting in touch about this here in the Community. 

Just to make sure, is this happening across devices or only on the desktop app?

On another note, would you mind logging out and then logging back in to your account twice in a row? This will trigger a sync between your account and your device. 

Additionally, could you check if the same happens using a different internet connection? 

Keep us posted.

[austinfelts]

Hi Eni,

Thanks for your quick response. For me, it is only the Desktop app on one of my machines. I can't verify it happens on my other computer just yet, but I'm starting to think it may be a one-off on this specific computer. I tried logging out and back in twice as suggested, but a funny little thing happens. I can't login (at first) and the app errors and asks me to check my firewall/network settings. Sure. I checked them, nothing is set to block the app. I switched from "auto detect" to "No Proxy" just to be safe and restarted the app. I can now login but the playback Issue remained.

I logged out again, and again, was met with a network error. This time, I did the same but picked "auto detect" the proxy settings and restarted the app and suddenly, I can login again. It seems that restarting Spotify (regardless of these "no proxy" settings) is fixing that issue. This odd quirk leaves me to believe it may be my machine. Unrelated to this service, but I have had the same issue with Adobe Creative Cloud, so I think I'm having general networking issues and that's preventing Spotify from connecting entirely. Hence the login, but no playback. Just pure speculation.

Unfortunately I cannot switch networks as this is my work machine, however, I think this would fall into the same category as network issues. I'm going to attach the error just for clarity purposes but I will do some more deep diagnosing in the mean time and can provide an update if you'd like. (Sorry for the lengthy reply)

Best,
Austin 

[Eni]

Hey @austinfelts, 

Thanks for sending us this info. 

That sounds like a network issue indeed. In this case, we suggest that you disable any antivirus or ad-blocking software, and turn off any VPNs if in use.

Also, we'd recommend clearing up your hosts file. Head here to find out how.

If none of the above does the trick, it's worth asking the administrator of the network at your workplace to check if they can help you remove any possible restrictions for the app. 

Let us know how it goes.