VLC won´t start, even after reinstall

[Midyat]

Hi,

I used VLC for years now and had no problems at all.
Since today it won´t even start. Everytime I try to start or play a video it quits with this message:


OS: Windows 10 64bit - all updates installed
I changed nothing on purpose on my system (no new applications or settings)

What I did:
1. Reset prefs like described here: https://wiki.videolan.org/VSG:ResetPrefs -> I tried both, the VLC option and the manual way. Both including restarts of Windows.
2. Uninstalling, deleting all preferences, cache and folders manually, rebooting, reinstalling vlc from scratch

Nothing works.

I read somewhere else how to create a logfile and tried this:
vlc --extraintf=logger --verbose=2 --logfile=C:\downloads\vlc.log --logmode=text --file-logging

This results in the same error message like the one above plus an empty logfile.

Any ideas?

[Lotesdelere]

Without any log file we can't say anything. I suppose something has changed on your computer that VLC doesn't like at all. Usually a video or audio driver update, or something related to video and audio, or even a new software like a security suite.
https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.ph ... 93#p530193

It might also be related to your Windows profile, try with a new one.
https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.ph ... 58#p530258

[Midyat]

Without any log file we can't say anything. I suppose something has changed on your computer that VLC doesn't like at all. Usually a video or audio driver update, or something related to video and audio, or even a new software like a security suite.
https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.ph ... 93#p530193

It might also be related to your Windows profile, try with a new one.
https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.ph ... 58#p530258

Thank you! I checked and none of the audio driver was updated. But I think there was an automatic nvidia geforce driver update.
Thanks for the registry hint. I uninstalled vlc and again deleted all remaning files + deleted a bunch of vlc registry entries before restarting and installing vlc again.
Unfortunately this also didn´t help.

Then I checked the Windows event log and found this error:

Code: Select all

- <Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event"> - <System> <Provider Name="Application Error" /> <EventID Qualifiers="0">1000</EventID> <Version>0</Version> <Level>2</Level> <Task>100</Task> <Opcode>0</Opcode> <Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords> <TimeCreated SystemTime="2022-08-23T20:21:41.4279641Z" /> <EventRecordID>213232</EventRecordID> <Correlation /> <Execution ProcessID="0" ThreadID="0" /> <Channel>Application</Channel> <Computer>XXXXXXX</Computer> <Security /> </System> - <EventData> <Data>vlc.exe</Data> <Data>3.0.17.4</Data> <Data>a6d0a6c0</Data> <Data>libmmdevice_plugin.dll</Data> <Data>3.0.17.4</Data> <Data>00370031</Data> <Data>c0000005</Data> <Data>0000000000003af7</Data> <Data>4828</Data> <Data>01d8b72df4479d7f</Data> <Data>C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe</Data> <Data>C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\plugins\audio_output\libmmdevice_plugin.dll</Data> <Data>09fd8ed2-6d2b-4668-ac30-551d048145ad</Data> <Data /> <Data /> </EventData> </Event>

So I assumed that the error is somehow caused by this dll: C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\plugins\audio_output\libmmdevice_plugin.dll
I renamed that dll to _libmmdevice_plugin instead of deleting it.... and it worked! I can start VLC and it plays video and audio files again. But the sound is only available via bluetooth speakers/headphones. There is no sound with my build in laptop speakers.

Sooo... any idea what I can do to fix that without deleting the libmmdevice_plugin.dll?

[Lotesdelere]

It seems to be a similar issue as this one:
https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=159261

The workaround is to use DirectSound aka DirectX Audio Output in VLC through the menu Tools -> Preferences -> Audio if you can run VLC, or by editing the vlcrc file:
https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.ph ... 31#p525331

[Midyat]

It seems to be a similar issue as this one:
https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=159261

The workaround is to use DirectSound aka DirectX Audio Output in VLC through the menu Tools -> Preferences -> Audio if you can run VLC, or by editing the vlcrc file:
https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.ph ... 31#p525331

You are a hero ,sir!
That did it, changed Audio Output to DirectX and VLC starts even when libmmdevice_plugin.dll is in place.

BUT: Still no sound via Laptop speakers. Than I tried playing a mp3 file with the windows media player... no sound either!
So I removed my audio drivers, restarted my laptop and installed the (same!) audio driver again. Tadaaa... everything fixed!
The laptop speakers are playing sound again. AND the DirectSound workaround is not needed anymore.

I don´t know why but it seems the my audio drive broke somehow, but only for the laptop speakers.
So basicly my issues was solved by uninstalling the audio driver and installing it again.