The VideoLAN Forums

I don't know if this issue is specific to a certain operating system, so feel free to move the thread. I am using Windows10 Pro.

I have several hard drives with movie files on them. Some I haven't used in a couple years. Now when I try to play some of these in VLC (and less popular players) I get the Error “VLC could not read the file (Bad file descriptor)”:


In some folders more than half have developed this problem. When viewing folders in Medium icons view, Explorer shows a thumbnail for the movies that will play, and the VLC logo for those that won't:


This has happened on most of the hard drives that I haven't used in awhile. Just in case this matters, I've always played these movies on a USB/esata Thermaltake dual docking bay, which is sometimes plugged into a media player and sometimes into my computer. Also it seems that containers (mkv, avi, etc.) are not problem specific.

Has anyone seen anything like this? I fixed all registry errors with CCleaner, but that didn't help. I also found this in the forum, but it didn't work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFC5H9FRoJs (It changes permissions). I find this weird and very disappointing. It's weird because VLC seems to play everything that's screwed up, and it's disappointing because I spent many hours converting and organizing these movies. Now it seems half of them are just gone.

i have a question
do you have an mobile phone?

i have a question
do you have an mobile phone?

Yes I have a cell phone that's on airplane mode 95% of the time (no data in or out). Why do you ask? Can you shed some light on the situation if we talk on the phone?

Speaking of phones, I am very impressed with the durability of Samsung phones. During a rain storm I threw my phone as hard as I could about 50 feet. I hit my mark, which was a concrete wall. I heard and saw the phone break (or come apart) into pieces. I walked away, and let the pieces get rained on. 15 minutes later my nephew said "here's your phone". It looked and functioned as though nothing had happened.

And to trek farther off the subject, it seems my son has his phone permanently attached, and he feels that he can exist no other way. I told him that it's hard to believe, but when his mother and I were his age we didn't have cell phones, and yet somehow we continued to function.

Oh, I don't know how pertinent this is, but I also tried 3 apps that are supposed to fix corrupted or bad video files. None of the apps did so. I assume this is a problem with video files solely, since other file types in the same folders have not developed a problem. I'm not a computer expert, so the more I think about this, the more puzzled I become.

Hey all, I seem to be having this exact problem as well. A Windows update pushed out around Thanksgiving in the US (Nov. 23) caused a few PC issues for me, and I think this must have happened about the same time. Other variables mentioned by the OP are consistent with my problem - issue is not based on file type, changing permissions does not fix. EXIF info is intact, which may not be relevant but the "change permissions" videos on youtube all seemed to show missing EXIF info, implying that those are two separate problems.

Maybe this ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFC5H9FRoJs

Hello team, any update on this? It looks like dipstick and I are suffering an identical issue.

AFAIK, this is a Mingw bug. No Mingw developer read this forum, so don't expect updates here.

I have the same 'bad file descriptor' issue when tried to play some videos from my NAS, and I cannot change the file owner (as it was recommended in the linked video) - this is another issue.

On the other hand I found something strange:
Nobody has reported if these files not played by vlc could be played with other player or not.
In my case:
- vlc fails (bad file descriptor)
- win 10 movie player fails
- windows media player PLAYS these videos without any issue!!

So, where are the real problems?? - permission, player, other win settings ...
(Note: vlc had played these files a few weeks ago)