Windows Troubleshooting Guide

[Joan]

Having trouble with the Spotify desktop app? Here’s a step-by-step guide of general troubleshooting steps known to resolve a multitude of issues.

Basic Troubleshooting:

• Restart the Spotify app as well as your PC.
• Make sure both the app and Windows are on the latest update.
• Check if the same issue occurs on different devices, including the web player.
• Perform a full clean reinstall. Even if you're on the latest version, corrupted cache among other things can cause a multitude of issues. These steps are known to resolve many of them.
• Try both the version from our website and the one from the Microsoft Store and see if one works while the other doesn't.

Network Specific Steps:

• Test if the same happens across different networks. Try multiple Wi-Fi connections, if necessary you can make a hotspot from your phone.
• Restart your router/modem.
• See if the issue persists in offline mode.
• If you use any kind of VPN or Proxy network, disable those as they can often interfere with server communication.
• Check your firewall settings and ensure Spotify is allowed through.
• Flush your DNS. Here's how to do that:
  
  Spoiler

  • At the bottom left corner of your desktop, type 'cmd' in the Start menu's search bar and press Enter.
  • Type 'ipconfig /flushdns' in the Command Prompt, and press Enter.
  • You should be prompted with a message that you have successfully completed it.
  • Restart the Spotify app

Advanced Steps:

• Log in with a different account and see if the issue persists. You can use the account of someone you know or create another one yourself.
• Start the app in Safe Mode and see if that works.
• Clear your Hosts file.
• Check if the Sample Rate of the output device is set correctly. Steps below as found here:
  
  Spoiler

  1. Right-click on the "speaker" icon in the system tray and select Open Sound settings.
  2. Click on Sound Control Panel.
  3. From the new window that pops up, right-click on your playback device and select Properties.
  4. Switch to the Advanced tab.
  5. Under Default Format, select a sample rate between 44.1 kHz and 192 kHz.
• Spotify may not work well with IPv6. Here’s how to switch it off:
  
  Spoiler

  • Press Windows + R, type ncpa.cpl, and press Enter
  • Right-click your active connection (Wi-Fi or Ethernet) > Choose Properties
  • In the list, uncheck Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6)
  • Click OK > Restart your computer

If the issue you have is with the web player and not the desktop app, then try the following:

• Clear cache and cookies.
• See if the same happens in incognito mode.
• Try different browsers.
• Try different networks.
• See if the same happens on the web player on different devices.

If after all this your issue persists and basic troubleshooting didn’t help, the Community might have the answer. First, try entering your issue into the search bar to see if there’s an existing thread about it. Remember to try a few different iterations in case someone refers to it a different way to you, i.e. Download > Offline > Internet connection, etc. Make sure to also check out Ongoing Issues to ensure this isn't something currently being investigated.

If you can't find any threads related to your specific issue, don't hesitate to post a new thread about it so we can assist you further! When doing so, please let us know the following:

• Is this on all devices or only on specific one(s)?
• When did this start happening?
• The exact makes, models and OS/Firmware versions of all your affected devices
• The exact Spotify Versions you use.

Hope this serves you all well.

Cheers!