Kodi not working

Having issues with Kodi? We’ve all been there: you’re all set for a binge-watch session, and Kodi decides to act up. And while the age-old advice of “check Kodi’s logs” might sound like Greek to many, it’s not the end of the road. Most Kodi glitches can be tackled in no time, whether it’s Kodi add-ons acting up or a slow internet connection causing buffering issues. This guide is your trusty sidekick, ready to help you navigate and squash those common Kodi gremlins.

So, whether Kodi’s giving you the silent treatment with a black screen, freezing mid-playback or your Android TV is struggling with TV shows and movies, we’ve got your back. This article will talk you through the most common Kodi problems and their solutions. 

Some of the most common Kodi problems you may run into include:

    1. Kodi crashes when it loads
    2. Source not found or unreachable file errors
    3. Addons don’t show any content
    4. Addons won’t delete
    5. All of your addons are gone
    6. Issues with hardware acceleration
    7. Kodi buffering issues
    8. Video stuttering
    9. Black screen or blank screen
    10. Kodi freezes during playback
    11. Kodi search not working on addons
    12. HD and 4K streams stuttering

Now, a quick heads-up: third-party Kodi add-ons can be a wild card. They’re not always the most reliable, and let’s not even get started on the unlicensed sources they sometimes tap into. Our two cents? Stick to the official add-ons and always opt for licensed content. It’s smoother sailing that way.

Friendly Reminder: Kodi’s a fantastic tool, but remember to use it responsibly. Always access content you have legal rights to. We, along with the Kodi Foundation, don’t endorse using Kodi for any shady business.

Why you should always use a VPN with Kodi

VPNs work by encrypting a user’s internet traffic, meaning it can’t be read by anyone. This renders the majority of Man-in-the-Middle attacks useless and also prevents your ISP from throttling your connection based on your browsing habits. You’ll even be able to use P2P-based Kodi addons without anyone seeing your real IP address, which is a level of protection you don’t normally have while torrenting.

We recommend using NordVPN. It offers fast, stable connections to servers across the world. Further, it’s one of the easiest VPNs to install on an Amazon Firestick or other mobile platform. Try NordVPN risk-free with the 30-day money-back guarantee.

Want to know more? Read our full NordVPN review, watch our video review below, or check out our article on the best VPNs for Kodi for some alternative VPN choices.

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What are some of the most common Kodi problems?

Kodi is one of the most portable media center software packages and can be installed on a huge range of devices, including Roku, Apple TV, and Nvidia Shield. However, while Kodi works in a similar way across platforms, each device has different system resources, user profile folders, and subroutines. This can make it difficult to troubleshoot Kodi.

For example, you may run into issues while trying to fix Kodi on your Firestick that never occur on the Android version of the software. For this reason, while the solutions below work in most cases, we can’t guarantee that they’ll address the root cause of a problem across all Kodi installations.

Kodi keeps crashing, freezing, or pausing

Remove recently installed addons, updates, or builds

If Kodi is consistently crashing or freezing, it’s a sure sign that something has gone wrong. Consider when this problem began and what your actions were just prior to the problem beginning.

If the issue started after you installed a particular addon, update or customized Kodi build, uninstall it, and see if the problem persists. Some older addons may not have been updated to work with Kodi 19; if you haven’t used Kodi in a while, it may be better to start over instead of manually reinstalling everything.

Disable hardware acceleration

Hardware acceleration is one of the main causes of Kodi crashes, particularly on Android. Disabling it is simple: from the Kodi home screen, click the gear icon, then Player settings.

Disable Kodi hardware acceleration

At the bottom of the page, you’ll find another gear icon with the word “Basic” beside it. Click this until it says “Expert”. Now highlight the Video tab, scroll down, and disable the Allow hardware acceleration – DXVA2 option. Restart Kodi and see if the crashing persists.

Clear Kodi’s cache

When Kodi streams videos, it downloads a few seconds at a time to the cache. This allows for faster access and smoother playback. However, a full cache can cause Kodi to behave erratically. Although the cache usually empties itself, sometimes it needs to be flushed manually.

Kodi doesn’t have any built-in tools that allow you to do this, so you’ll have to install a maintenance tool such as EZ Maintenance+. Once installed, click the Maintenance tab, then Clear Cache.

Reinstall Kodi

Still not working? Consider a fresh Kodi installation. You can either install the app again from the Kodi site or use your maintenance tool’s Factory Restore option.

Kodi streams won’t play at all

There are three main reasons why a stream might not load. The first (and easiest to overlook) is that you’re not connected to the internet. If this is the case, you’ll only be able to play content that’s stored locally on your device.

Second, the addon may no longer work. Unfortunately, development teams come and go all the time, often due to the threat of legal action. In cases like these, you won’t be able to install new addons from the repo in question, and addons you already have may become unstable or refuse to work.

Finally, you may be trying to access a region-locked service from outside of its required country. For instance, if you’re attempting to use the iPlayer WWW addon from outside of the UK, the streams won’t load or you may simply get an error when you open the addon. You can bypass these restrictions by connecting to a VPN server in the appropriate region before starting the addon.

Kodi crashes and reboots continuously

There are a few reasons why Kodi might get stuck in a crash/reboot loop. If you’ve installed any custom builds recently, they are likely the culprit and should be removed using one of the many available maintenance tools. If this doesn’t resolve your problem, try disconnecting your computer from the internet.

The reason we suggest this is because the URLResolver dependency often causes problems, and if Kodi does not have internet access, this service can’t do its job. If this stops your crashing issue, try updating it by clicking the gear icon on Kodi’s main screen, then System settings. Next, scroll down to the Add-ons tab and click Manage dependencies. Click URLResolver, then click Update. If this doesn’t work, you can either uninstall addons until you find the one responsible for the crashes or just reinstall Kodi to start again with a clean slate.

Kodi is unable to connect to a source

Kodi repositories are usually installed by providing a path to the source. Sometimes, you might find that once the source has been added, you’ll see a popup telling you that it couldn’t be accessed.

This is usually because the source address is incorrect. Check it and make sure you’ve entered it correctly. Common mistakes include misspellings, not using the proper letter case (e.g., inserting upper or lowercase letters where they don’t belong), forgetting to include “http://” at the start, and, in some cases, missing the repo’s file extension.

If the address has been entered correctly (and you’re sure you have internet access), more often than not, the repository has gone offline or been moved to a new address. You can test this by opening the source address in your browser; if the folder is empty or not found, that’s the root of your issue. Try researching the repo to see if it has been moved, but bear in mind that alternative hosts are not always trustworthy.

Kodi can’t install an addon

If you’ve managed to install a repo, but an addon fails to install, there are several possible causes. The addon may be outdated or no longer supported by its developers. In this scenario, there’s very little you can do. Older versions may still be hosted elsewhere, but these aren’t guaranteed to work, and the older an addon gets, the more risk it poses to your system when installed.

It’s also possible that the addon has uninstalled dependencies. These are additional addons that are required for the initial addon to work. That said, addons that have these dependencies are usually not official so we recommend you do a little digging to see what exactly each does.

Occasionally, you might find that an addon that previously worked stops functioning overnight. This is likely because it’s been taken offline unexpectedly, often due to a copyright claim or simply because the developer is no longer supporting the project. Unfortunately, there’s not really anything that can be done in these situations, though if the addon has its own Kodi forum page, you might want to check this to be sure that it’s not just a temporary issue and to see if the issue is impacting other users.

Some addons don’t appear in their repositories

If you’ve heard about a new addon but can’t seem to find it in its dedicated repo, there are a couple of potential causes. First, the addon may have been deleted or moved (which is, unfortunately, extremely common).

It could also be that your chosen addon isn’t compatible with your version of Kodi. For instance, until fairly recently, LibreELEC users couldn’t install the Netflix addon due to its reliance on files that weren’t present in just-enough-OS platforms. This is because new Kodi versions reads and process addon code differently, making some older addons obsolete with newer versions of Kodi.

Finally, Kodi only shows addons that are designed for your version. In other words, addons that only work with Kodi 18 will not appear in repositories if you’re running Kodi 19 and vice-versa.

Can’t uninstall or delete Kodi addons

At times, you may find a build or a specific Kodi addon causes a conflict with your Kodi installation. If this occurs, you may try to load up Kodi, only to have it crash every time. Thankfully, Kodi addons can be deleted from outside of your Kodi interface.

If you need to delete a Kodi addon, you can do some from your %APPDATA%\Kodi\addons\ folder.

To find it on your system, do the following:

  • Go to your C: drive
  • Click on Users
  • Find the name of the user account you use for your computer and select it
  • Click on AppData

delete kodi addons

  • Click on Roaming
  • Select the Kodi folder

delete kodi addons

  • Now find the specific plugin causing your issues, and delete it directly from this folder

If you’re unsure which plugin is causing the issue, try deleting your most recently installed addons or repositories and loading Kodi to see if it works. If worst comes to worst, you can delete as many addons or repositories as necessary without causing any harm to your base Kodi installation. You may, however, need to reinstall your addons again later.

Videos frequently stutter or load for a long time

The majority of the time, a weak network signal or slow internet speeds are the cause of streaming problems. This has been covered in more detail in our Kodi buffering article, so it might be a good idea to start there.

If you can’t find any problems with your network, there might be another cause. Certain content providers restrict access to their videos using a process known as geo-locking or region-locking. This checks the IP address of anyone attempting to view the content and rejects the connection if the IP address isn’t from a particular location.

The good news is that this is easily bypassed. Users can connect their virtual private network (VPN) to a server in the correct location and will be able to access the previously restricted media. The correct server to connect to is usually fairly obvious: the BBC blocks anyone that isn’t inside the UK, NBC blocks those outside the US, and so on.

Videos look strange, or the colors are off

Color issues are far less common and are not necessarily unique to Kodi. If the colors are slightly off, the problem is likely due to incorrect monitor settings. This issue isn’t always immediately apparent and may only be obvious with select videos.

Incorrect Kodi video settings An example of incorrect video settings in Kodi

This is because every monitor’s color profile is different. Most will have a button on the front that grants access to a picture options menu. However, if your monitor is properly configured, there are other possible solutions.

If your video is too large or too small, you’ve likely zoomed in or out accidentally. While playing a video, click the gear icon. Next, click Video settings. Look for the Zoom amount option—if it’s anything other than 1.0, that’s the problem. Make sure that the View Mode is set to “Normal” too.

It’s also worth checking the Brightness and Contrast values. These should be at 50%, and if they aren’t, they’re likely what’s causing your video to look strange.

All of my Kodi addons are missing or have been replaced

If all of your addons are gone, or if you open Kodi and see a huge list of addons you never installed, the most likely culprit is a newly installed build. These effectively overwrite your version of Kodi with a specific collection of addons (usually copyright-infringing ones) and a new visual theme.

If you’d created a backup before adding a new build, you can likely restore this from within the build installation wizard. If not, you’ll have to manually reinstall all of your favorite addons, which is why it’s a good idea to make a list of those you want to keep beforehand.

Kodi addon searches and streams not working

There is a little-known error that can cause your Kodi addons to not perform searches, updates or streams correctly. For example, you may find that some addons can’t pull any newer or older content, even if it normally should be available. If this is the case, try checking your device date and time.

Particularly if you’re using set-top box purchased through Amazon or eBay, there’s a chance the date and time are incorrect. Kodi and its addons utilize the system date and time to correctly pull data. If that information is wrong, you may in-addon searches may pull in bad results or limited results, and it may even impact your streaming or addon updates.

Kodi black screen or blank screen issues

There are a few issues that could be causing a black screen on startup, or creating a blank screen during regular Kodi operation.

One such problem arises when attempting to upgrade from Kodi 16 to version 17+. The change from the Confluence skin to the new Estuary skin may cause you to experience some errors related to the Addons.db file.

Consequently, the fix for this issue is to delete your Addons.db file, which just caches information on your addons. Don’t worry, deleting the file will not delete any of your addons.

You can find this file in the following locations, based on your operating system:

  • Android: Android/data/orgkodi/files/.kodi/userdata/Database
  • Windows: Click start and type %APPDATA%\kodi\userdata\Database
  • Mac: /Users/[YOURUSERNAME]/Library/Application Support/Kodi/userdata/Database
  • Linux: ~/.kodi/userdata/Database
  • iOS: /private/var/mobile/Library/Preferences/Kodi/userdata/Database
  • OpenElec/LibreElec: /storage/kodi/userdata/Database

Alternatively, if you’re using an Android box or an Amazon Firestick, you may want to Force Stop Kodi, and then Clear Cache in the app settings. This should also help clear up the issue.

Kodi search not working on addons

If you’ve been using Kodi 19 (Matrix), you may find that the search function in your addons is not working. This is because you may be using addons that have not been properly updated for Kodi 19.

When you use an addon search function, that addon caches information so that you can easily retrieve a result from the search. Kodi 19 changes some of the Python code requirements, making it so that any addon not properly updated to match will fail to work properly.

There is nothing users can do to fix this problem. You must wait until the addon developers update their code. Many have said that they’ll only be supporting Kodi 19 and up from now on, so there’s really no reason to hold off on updating.

HD and 4K streams stuttering

There are a number of issues related to streams stuttering. For example, your internet speed may not be fast enough to handle the 4K or HD stream, and this may result in more buffering. However, especially with 4K, there’s a good chance your device may not be able to handle the higher quality video.

Do a quick Google search to see if this is a common problem with your specific device. Amazon Firesticks, for instance, are notorious for stuttering during 4K streams. In fact, some older models even stutter with 1080p streams.

My YouTube addon doesn’t work anymore

Due to changes YouTube made to its API, the YouTube Kodi addon, and any addons that rely on it now won’t work without a little extra configuration. However, there is a relatively simple way to fix this, armed with nothing more than a Google account.

Essentially, you have to create a personal API key. This sounds complicated, but there’s a detailed, step-by-step guide to this on the Kodi forums that will get you back up and running in a matter of minutes.

Kodi won’t open

Usually, if Kodi won’t open at all, it’s a sign that something has gone pretty significantly awry. First, I’d suggest opening your task manager, closing any open Kodi processes, and trying to launch it again. If this doesn’t work, you might have installed an addon that’s incompatible, or perhaps your build wasn’t designed for the version of Kodi that you’re using.

The easiest solution is to delete your Addons27.db file (called Addons33.db in Kodi 19). This will disable (but not delete) all of your installed addons, allowing you to enable them one by one and identify the culpit.

Addons27.db and Addons33.db will be in different locations depending on which operating system you’re using. Here’s where you can find them:

  • Windows: %AppData%\Kodi\userdata\Database
  • MacOS:  /Users/<your_name>/Library/Application Support/Kodi/userdata/Database
  • Linux: ~/.kodi/userdata/ Database
  • Android: Android/data/org.xbmc.kodi/files/.kodi/userdata/Database
  • iOS: /private/var/mobile/Library/Preferences/Kodi/userdata/Database

I can’t get a certain Kodi build to work

We often receive questions from people who have a fresh Kodi installation yet who are having problems watching anything. After a little digging, they reveal that all they have installed is a build. There are several problems with this:

  1. Builds tend to include unofficial addons, which we can’t provide support for.
  2. In our experience, builds are rarely kept up to date, which means they often include several addons that have since been taken down.
  3. These builds tend to cause more issues than they solve.

Our advice is to uninstall your build and manually install each addon you want. This way, you won’t have dozens of addons you’ll never use, plus you’ll be able to pinpoint the exact addon that’s causing any problems should anything go wrong.

Kodi hangs when I open it

If Kodi freezes up for a short time when you launch it, it’s likely that your maintenance addon is performing automatic cleanup. Luckily, resolving this is usually just a case of changing a few settings.

For instance, if you’re using EZ Maintenance+, you can just go to the settings menu and disable AutoClean Cache at Startup. If you have a lot of addons, you might also want to go into Kodi’s system settings and change Updates to Notify but don’t install updates. This way, your system won’t automatically try to install updates for dozens of addons simultaneously.

General performance issues

If you’re finding that Kodi runs slowly even with few addons installed, or if you’re having a problem that’s more difficult to pin down (for instance, if it only occurs sometimes, or if it’s more of an annoyance than anything else), the easiest solution is usually to reinstall Kodi.

This may be a good time to consider updating the latest version if you haven’t already. After all, Kodi 19 changed a lot under the hood, and developers will be designing with the new architecture in mind moving forward. In other words, you’ll have less choice and will find it much more difficult to get help in the future if you stick with Kodi Jarvis, Krypton, or Leia.

Conclusion

Considering Kodi can be installed across a wide range of different devices, it’s actually easier than you might expect to troubleshoot. In fact, the most commonly seen Kodi problems can be solved relatively quickly. By the way, if you’re running into issues with Kodi on a Fire TV Stick, we’ve got a troubleshooting article just for you. Hopefully, this guide has helped you resolve your issue, and if there’s a quick fix you’ve found that we haven’t mentioned, feel free to let us know in the comments.

Troubleshooting Kodi: Frequently Asked Questions

Why is Kodi still not working after a fresh install?

If you’ve tried completely reinstalling Kodi and are still having problems, the newly-installed app is likely using files that were left behind. For instance, if your addons27.db file isn’t deleted, even a brand new Kodi installation will have all of your old addons (and the problems they may be causing).

Luckily, getting rid of old files is easy. Just navigate to your Kodi installation folder and delete the whole thing. If you have multiple versions of Kodi installed, delete all of their respecive folders. Now, when you reinstall Kodi, you’ll get the fresh start you always wanted.

Are Kodi builds worth it?

Kodi builds can drastically change the look and feel of your media center, but they’re usually bundled with lots of copyright-infringing addons (and there’s a good chance some of these will be broken or outdated anyway).

We’d advise staying away from Kodi builds for one main reason: they can cause problems that are hard to diagnose since you don’t know every addon that’s installed. If you’d like to tweak Kodi’s appearance, you might want to try a Kodi skin instead — these are more lightweight and don’t include any of the additional bloat that a fully-fledged build does.

How do I fix the Kodi "no stream available" error?

If you try to play a video and see an error that reads “No stream available”, the first step is to make sure you’re actually connected to the internet. If so, it’s likely the addon you’re using is either broken or trying to pull links from third-party sources that no longer exist.

In these situations, your best bet is to try a different addon. Luckily, there’s no shortage of options, with official plugins for most major streaming services. You might also want to try changing your location using a VPN to see if region-locking is behind your error.

Why isn't Kodi working properly on Xbox?

If you’re experiencing issues on the Xbox version of Kodi, the most likely culprit is a broken addon, location-based restriction, or an outdated version of the app. Don’t worry, though: we’ll explain how to get back up and running in our guide to installing Kodi on Xbox.

Is there a way to restart Kodi on Firestick without uninstalling it?

Absolutely! You don’t need to uninstall Kodi to give it a fresh start on your Firestick. Simply navigate to ‘Settings’ on your Firestick, choose ‘Applications,’ and then ‘Manage Installed Applications.’ Select ‘Kodi’ from the list and hit ‘Force Stop.’ After a few moments, relaunch Kodi. This process effectively restarts Kodi without the hassle of uninstalling and reinstalling. If you’re facing issues with Kodi add-ons or a slow internet connection, consider checking your internet connection or resetting Kodi to its factory settings for a cleaner slate.

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