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PROBLEM OF THE FORTNIGHT

Why does VLC show errors?

Q I’m having problems with my music in VLC. Whenever I open and try to play a tune, error messages now pop up. Could you help me understand what’s going on and let me know if there’s any way of fixing this error using easy steps? I struggle understanding all of the terminology.

John Cranny

A You helpfully included a screenshot so that we could see the exact error message you’re seeing (see screenshot 1). The terminology does look complex to untrained eyes, but it actually tells us a simple story – which is that VLC cannot find the files on the playlist that you’re asking it to play.

Now, why that might be we do not know. However, we can interpret the jargon to tell you that specifically VLC is looking for files on drive F:, and within a folder called Music. The program is not finding the files in this location, so it displays an error message. The reason for this could be that the files have been moved or deleted, or that drive F: has been disconnected or otherwise disabled. Another possibility is that the drive that was at some pointed labelled F: has ended up with a different drive letter, perhaps because you’ve added another drive or USB stick.

Let’s say, for example, that the drive that contains the Music folder (and thus the files VLC is seeking) is a traditional external hard drive that Windows 10 had labelled F:. If for whatever reason you disconnected that hard drive and inserted, say, a USB stick, then Windows 10 might have labelled that stick F:. If you then later reconnected