Cannot access internal media when not connected to WiFi

[NozeDive]

I didn't see any topics on this exact issue.

I have several songs saved on my phone's integrated SD (internal storage). They are NOT on the Internet or media server on my network; they are only stored on the internal storage on my phone.

When I am at home and on my WiFi, I can click the music folder in VLC and the songs are there. If I turn my WiFi off or leave my house, the songs will never display. I am able to play the songs in other apps (Podcast Addict and the "files" app that comes with Android.)

This doesn't make any sense to me because VLC should not need any kind of network or Internet connectivity to list local files.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Pixel 7 Pro
Android 14
VLC version 3.5.4

[Aza]

This is in fact a known issue. See https://code.videolan.org/videolan/vlc- ... ssues/2836

This is due to the app trying to discover some network and failing. It prevents VLC's file parsing to work after that. If you kill VLC (in the system settings) are you able to play your music after that?

[NozeDive]

Thanks for the reply! I didn't know it was a known issue.

I just tested it by turning off the WiFi, confirming that it couldn't find media in internal storage, did a Force Stop, re-launched the app, and it still could not find the media.

That looks like a slightly different scenario in that link (https://code.videolan.org/videolan/vlc- ... ssues/2836)

That scenario talks about slow network connection and being able to reproduce the issue by browsing to an SMB network share with a large volume of items in it. I'm able to do that without any delay whatsoever.

When I tested this, it started trying to parse the folder contents before I left my driveway. I drove 15 minutes to my destitution, waited about five, and then drove 15 minutes back, waiting for a total of 35 minutes, and the process didn't move beyond the "loading your media" message. That folder had one MP3, and two sub-folders, each with between five and 20 MP3 files in it.

I guess some work arounds are loading the media before I leave the WiFi, or using a different app altogether, which would be a bummer, since I really love VLC

[Aza]

Could you please share some logs? Reproduce the issue and then go to: Settings > Advanced > Debug logs. Then share the logs with the sharing service you prefer (Google Drive, Dropbox, pastebin...).

[samyangai]

I'm having the exact same problem. It's hard to put it into words to search for others having the same issue. I had to just read through all the titles and lucked out!

This issue drives me crazy. I don't want to have to use another media player!

Edit: I even connected the phone to a disconnected hotspot, and still nada. VLC needs actual internet access to browse the internal storage.

Oops, I didn't say what I have.

Umidigi X
VLC for Android 3.5.4 (probably from F-Droid)
Android 9

Hopefully this is what you needed re: logs... http://pastebin.com/ZL27hfiB

This part is interesting..
04-18 09:24:40.074 E/VLC (30572): [00000076e3c5c210/7782] libvlc stream: cannot open file //soxr (No such file or directory)
04-18 09:24:40.074 E/VLC (30572): [00000076e061d890/7782] libvlc input: Your input can't be opened
04-18 09:24:40.075 E/VLC (30572): [00000076e061d890/7782] libvlc input: VLC is unable to open the MRL 'file:////soxr'. Check the log for details.

[Aza]

This is probably due to this error: https://code.videolan.org/videolan/vlc- ... ssues/2836

We are looking into it.

[samyangai]

Like OP, I'm skeptical the issue is the same as the one in the link. I just completely wiped and uninstalled VLC, reinstalled, and it stopped doing it.