How to resolve “Error loading player: No playable sources found”?

Since you came to this page, we can safely assume that you tried to play a video (or audio) file directly from a webpage on your browser while surfing the web but the playback operation failed. A message in this form was subsequently displayed:

• Error loading player
• No playable sources found

In most scenarios – where the issue in view manifested itself – the video or audio file involved probably tried to use Adobe Flash Player in some capacity. Well, your browsing experience suffers greatly when you are unable to stream videos online for any reason.

The issue probably has something to do with inconsistencies in Adobe Flash Player code, problems with its settings or configuration, or external influences or interferences – in case you are wondering why videos aren’t playing in your browser.

Well, we will now proceed to the next part of this guide where we intend to show you how to make Chrome play videos and how to resolve the same playback issue affecting other browsers.

How to fix the Error loading player: No playable sources found issue in web browser applications on Windows 10

At least one of the procedures described below should do enough to fix issues affecting the Adobe Flash Player or bring about changes to resolve the video playback problem.

1. Reinstall the Adobe Flash Player:

Reinstallation is a popular procedure known to bring about useful changes in the code or installation state of a program. By uninstalling and then installing the Adobe Flash Player, you get to eliminate the inconsistencies or discrepancies affecting it.

Anyway, these are the instructions you must follow to reinstall the Adobe Flash Player running on your computer:

• First, you must open your web browser app. Input the following keywords into the text field on it to perform a search task on Google: Adobe flash uninstaller
• Once the Google results page for the query comes up, you must go through the entries and click on the Uninstall Flash Player for Windows – Adobe Help Center link (usually the first or second item on the list).
• Assuming you are now on the required page on the Adobe site, you must scroll down a bit to see the Download uninstaller for Flash Player section. Click on the Uninstaller link there.
• Once your browser is done fetching the uninstaller, you have to click or double-click on it to run it.
• At this point, all you have to do is follow the on-screen instructions and perform the requested tasks to uninstall Adobe Flash Player.

Once the uninstallation processes for the Adobe Flash Player reach completion, you must proceed to download and install the Flash player again:

• Perform a search task on Google using these keywords as the query this time: Install Adobe flash player
• From the entries on the Google Search results page, you have to click on the Flash Player – Adobe link (usually the first or second thing on the list).

You might have to disable your ad blocker or similar extension.

• In any case, on the page that follows, you will have to click on the Install now button.

The instructions displayed will guide you through the installation process for the Adobe flash player.

• Once your computer finishes installing the Flash player, you have to restart your PC.
• After the recommended reboot, you must wait for your system to settle down before you move on to launch your browser and try to play the video or audio file with which you experienced problems earlier.

You can go a step further to test things on other pages to confirm that your browser can now play media across all sites or platforms.

2. Update your internet browser:

The No playable sources found issue is sometimes a result of shortcomings associated with old browser versions. If you are using an outdated version of your web browser application – if you have not updated your web browser program in a long while – then your problems might be entirely down to your usage of old stuff.

If you came here to learn how to fix the Adobe flash player not working issue in Chrome, then you are in luck because Chrome is going to serve as our reference browser application in the description of this procedure. It all makes sense since Chrome is the most popular and widely used browser application on PCs.

Follow these instructions to check for updates in Google Chrome:

• Open the Google Chrome application. Once the browser window comes up, you must look to the top-left corner and click on the menu icon (formed from three dots aligned vertically).
• From the list of options, you should hover your cursor over Help or click on it. Select About Google Chrome.

You will end up on the About Chrome screen. Chrome will check for updates now (automatically). If Chrome finds updates, it will tell you about them.

If Chrome does not find updates, then you will know that your problems have nothing to do with your using an old or outdated browser version.

• You will now have to follow Chrome’s instructions to install the updates.

Note: If you use a different browser application, you will have to search online for instructions on initiating or triggering the check for updates operation.

3. Clear your internet browser cache:

Some reports indicate that certain users managed to resolve the media playback issue by simply clearing their web browser cache. We are not exactly sure of what is behind the success of this procedure. Nevertheless, since the proposed operation is as harmless as it gets, we are all for it.

Here too, Chrome will serve as our reference browser application for the clearing of the browser cache procedure. Follow these instructions to give the operation a try:

• Assuming you have the Google Chrome application open, you must click on the Menu button in the top-left corner of the window.
• This time, you must hover the pointer over the More tools option (or even click on it). Click on Clear browsing data…
• Assuming the Clear browsing data dialog or window is now up, you have to make the right selections there. For one, you must set the Time range to All time.
• Ideally, you tick the checkboxes for all the categories.

We know cache is the most important of the lot, but it does not hurt to allow Chrome to remove more stuff to increase the chances of the problem going away once the operation gets executed.

• Once you confirm that the checkboxes for the right items have been selected, you must click on the Clear data button.

Chrome will now initiate the data removal operation for items it stores and entries it uses.

• At this point, you must restart Chrome (or allow it to proceed with the operation). Go to the sites where you struggled to play videos or audios and then test things out to confirm that the problem has been resolved.

4. Turn off ActiveX Filtering for all websites (specific fix for Internet Explorer users only):

Microsoft equipped Internet Explorer with a feature known as ActiveX Filtering – and it is enabled by default. The functionality was designed to prevent websites from installing and running certain applications on the browser platform. Unfortunately, Adobe Flash Player is sometimes one of the plugins against which the ActiveX Filtering feature acts.

In any case, if the issues with Adobe Flash Player have anything to do with ActiveX Filtering operations or activities, then you should be able to fix things by disabling the feature. If the problems persist after you turn off the feature, then you will know it had nothing to do with your video or audio playback struggles.

Follow these instructions to turn off ActiveX Filtering in Internet Explorer:

• First, you must open the Internet Explorer application.
• Assuming you are now on the browser window, you have to click on the Tools button.
• Once the list of options comes up, you must hover your pointer over Safely (or click on it).
• Now, you must locate ActiveX Filtering from the context menu (or sub-list).

If you see ✓ symbol beside ActiveX Filtering, then it means the feature is enabled (or in use). If the symbol is missing, then ActiveX Filtering is not being used.

• Click on ActiveX Filtering to disable it (to remove the ✓ symbol).
• Once you are done making the necessary changes, you have to restart the Internet Explorer application.
• Reopen the browser, run tests on some sites by playing videos and see how things go.

5. Check that websites are allowed to run Flash (specific procedure for Google Chrome users only):

Perhaps, your browser is struggling to play videos because your current settings do not allow its code to run Flash on the affected websites. Well, you might have had no issues with video playback on such sites in the past since the right configuration was in use. Someone or something probably made some changes to the settings that resulted in the current unfavorable outcome.

Anyway, you can make things right this way:

• First, you have to open the Google Chrome application.
• Assuming the browser window is now up, you have to fill the address field with the following text: chrome://settings/content/flash
• Hit the Enter button on your machine’s keyboard to get Chrome to run the code.
• On the resulting screen, you will see the Allow sites to run Flash option and the toggle right next to it.

The toggle must be on (or set to on). If the toggle is off, you have to click on it to enable it.

• Once you are sure the right settings are in place, you can exit the Flash settings screen and restart Chrome.
• Try to play videos on the site where you encountered the Error loading player: No playable sources found error and watch out for changes.

6. Configure or set Flash exceptions (operation applies to Google Chrome users only):

If you continue to experience the video playback failure or a related issue with a specific website, then you might be able to circumvent the problem by providing Chrome with specific instructions to allow the site to use Flash to run its stuff. The Exception setup allows you to do precisely that.

Go through these steps to add a website to the Allow list:

• First, you have to open the Google Chrome application.
• Once the browser window appears, you have to input the following text into the address bar: chrome://settings/content/flash
• Hit the Enter button on your device’s keyboard to force Google Chrome to run the code.
• Check for the Add button on your current screen and click on it.
• Once the Add a site window comes up, you have to fill the text field with the website URL or webpage link where you are struggling to stream videos.
• Click on the Add button to finish the task.

If you are experiencing the issue defined by the “Error loading player: No playable sources found” message on several sites on Chrome when you try to stream audio or video files, then you have to repeat the same steps above to add exceptions for all the affected sites.

• At this point, you have to restart Chrome.
• Now, you must visit the sites where the playback issue manifested itself and confirm that you can now play stuff without issues.

7. Download and install Windows updates:

If your web browser failure or inability to play videos or audios on websites has anything to do with bugs or shortcomings in the Windows operating system code, then you might want to look to Windows updates for some reprieve. Perhaps, a certain Windows update will bring about enough changes to eliminate the issues in view.

There are other possibilities involving the Windows Update setup as the cause of the video playback problem. For example, your computer might be suffering from glitches because installation operations for Windows updates are pending. In any case, you will do well to install all the available Windows updates (both the pending updates and the ones your computer is yet to download).

Go through these steps to force Windows to check for updates (manual initialization):

• Open the Settings app through this keyboard shortcut quickly: Windows logo button + letter I.
• Assuming the Settings window is now up, you have to click on Update and Security (one of the options on the main screen).
• On the following screen, you must look to the right-pane area and then click on the Check for updates button.

Your system will now work to contact Microsoft servers to see if there is anything your computer is lacking. If Windows finds new releases, it will tell you about them and then proceed to fetch their packages.

If your computer finds nothing – if your PC has all the necessary updates – then you will get a message stating that your device is up to date.

• To install the updates, all you have to do is pay attention to the processes as they progress, confirm prompts when necessary, and perform tasks (if the need arises).
• Anyway, after your computer finishes installing all the updates, you have to restart your PC to finish things.

Note: Depending on the volume of updates and the kind of packages involved, you might have to restart your device several times.

• After everything (involving Windows updates) is done, you must fire up your browser application and then test things out to confirm that you can play video or audio files on webpages without issues.

8. Do a clean boot:

If you are not familiar with a clean boot, then we have to tell you that it is a procedure used to force a computer to boot up while loading a minimal amount of startup programs and drivers. Typically, in the environment resulting from a clean boot, third-party applications, processes, and services do not get to run or even initialize themselves.

Since a clean boot does not allow for third-party influence or interference in operations, the procedure provides the ideal operating system environment or platform for troubleshooting all kinds of issues. Well, if the Error loading player: No playable sources found issue is down to the operations or activities of third-party applications (or their components), a clean boot will provide you with all the answers and means to make things right.

These are the instructions you must follow to do a clean boot:

• Use this keyboard shortcut to launch the Run app quickly: Windows logo button + letter R key.
• Assuming the small Run window is now up on your screen, you must fill the text box on it with the following code: msconfig
• Click on the OK button on the Run window to get Windows to run the code (or hit Enter on your machine’s keyboard for the same outcome).
• Assuming you are now on the General tab on the System Configuration window, you have to click on the radio button for Selective startup.
• Click on the box for Load startup items (to get it deselected).
• Click on the Services tab (to go there). Click on the box for the Hide all Microsoft services parameter (close to the bottom of the window) to make this parameter active.
• Assuming the services on the list have become fewer, you must now click on the Disable all button (to disable all the third-party services).
• Click on the Startup tab to go there. Click on the Open Task Manager link. A Task Manager window is supposed to come up now.

Otherwise – if nothing happens – you must use this keyboard shortcut to launch the needed Task Manager program: Ctrl + Shift + Esp.

• Click on the Startup tab (if you are not there already). You have to disable all the startup items under it.
• To disable a Startup item, you have to right-click on it to see the available context menu and then select the Disable option.

You must repeat those steps on all the startup items to disable them (one at a time, one after the other).

• Once you finish your work on the Task Manager app, you have to go back to the System Configuration window. There, you must click on the Apply button and then click on the OK button to save the changes made to your computer boot configuration.
• When the restart prompt comes up, you have to click on Restart. If no prompt to this effect comes up, then you have to restart your computer on your own.

You PC will reboot and end up in the clean boot environment. There, you have to launch your browser and then try to play videos or audios on the sites where you experienced the playback issues previously. Everything should work out well this time.

You will have to test the applications on your computer by disabling and then enabling them (one at a time, one after the other) to figure out the app responsible for the issue defined by the Error loading player: No playable sources found notification. Once you successfully identify the culprit, you can opt to disable it permanently or uninstall it for good.

Anyway, once you are done testing things in the clean boot environment, you will have to make changes to your system configuration again to get Windows to start up normally. Go through these steps:

• Here, you have to bring up the System Configuration window again. You can scroll up to see the steps we provided on performing this task earlier.
• This time, under the General tab, you have to click on the radio button for Normal startup (to get this parameter selected).
• Click on the Apply button and then click on the OK button to finish things.
• Click on the Restart button once the expected prompt comes up. If no dialog or window shows up, you have to reboot your computer on your own.

Your PC will now restart and end up in the regular Windows operating system environment (which you are familiar with).

TIP:

If you find your computer running slower than it used to (or slower than you know it is capable of), then your PC is in need of some optimizations and repairs to smoothen things. You can get Auslogics BoostSpeed to help you perform those tedious tasks that will result in noticeable performance improvements.

Other things you can try to fix the Error loading player: No playable sources found issue on web browsers in Windows

Even if you end up struggling with the problem that brought you to this page in this first place, you still get to go through an additional list of fixes and workarounds to the issue. The procedures in fewer details here might succeed where the previous ones (described above) failed.

9. Check and confirm that JavaScript and other essential plugins or extensions are enabled.

10. Run a speed test to verify that your internet connection can support streaming operations on websites.

11. Disable the Hardware Acceleration functionality and test for changes.

12. Reset your browser. Restore all its options or parameters to their default values.

13. Try out a new (or different) web browser.